Difficult to reply to this one: this is a 'feel-good' forum and most of us have double standards when it comes to political issues - v- our private lives or ways of dealing with our fellow human beings. It is very difficult to be totally consequent, straight-down-the-line, least of all our churches, who have to be umbrella organisations for humanity as a whole. And humanity is 'sinful'; prone to say this and that and prone to temptations of all kinds and - it seems - we revel in the 7 Deadly Sins in this day and age. I am always amazed at my friends how they can be so caring and sweet in face-to-face dealings with myself, their families friends and make sweeping statements like: 'we need another war, there are too many of us, look at the Africans - they all have big families - or look at the Pope who encourages his flock to procreate same as the Muslims' etc. etc. Then I watch TV and there is a huge effort in place to separate some lucky babies, born attached to one another and to poor parents in some Asian country - and the West intervenes and spends huge amounts of money to give them a life worth living - everyone cries, the mother is beyond happy, the viewers think: 'well done!' and pat themselves on the back for living in a progressive country which can afford such luxury. etc. etc. There is no clear answer why we are inclined to be charitable, yet can be heartless and cruel on a massive scale. So my point? not really a point, just to say, we are all friends and should tolerate, even applaud each others acts of kindness whether it goes to deserving people or not is not really the question. Kindness is a bit like Yoga, or any exercise, it needs to be practiced. Cheers Madam Tau
