Original sin: alive and well across globe

DEAR EDITOR:

In the media, reporters thirst for a crisis, a fall from grace, to scent a downward trend and then to poke about in the wounds. It is a kind of delight in downfall, in destruction, in corruption, which has now developed a culture of despair.

Something very sickening is being fed to us; ignoring our deepest hunger as created beings. Soap operas are about people destroying one another as entertainment.

The greatest victims are youth, who are being sold a bunch of half truths about themselves that blocks out the real desires of their hearts; making them fugitives from life. Tennessee Williams wrote: “I have only one theme for all my plays which is the destructive impact of society on the sensitive, non conformist individual.” What youth are hearing from media does not deal with the real questions they have about themselves, as created beings with a religious sense and infinite longings.

A recent development in political arrogance is pledging to eliminate racism. Has a cure been found for original sin?

What have political leaders been able to do about the social disintegration caused by post traumatic stress, drug abuse, child abuse, pornography, promiscuous sexuality, abortion, murders, suicides, family breakdowns and the rise of misfits? Todays refugees and boat people are warning us that the footsteps of the starving, angry, deceived and dispossessed people will make the world tremble.

An interesting, modern film, Winter Sleep, from Turkey makes a thrilling attempt to shine a light on our understanding of their human existence.

It is a film about you and me. It focuses on the deprived souls of the spectators. The director, Celan, said on the film’s success at Cannes: “I try to understand the human soul more. It spells out that unhappiness unrecognized is unhappiness compounded. Today we know less about man and how he reacts on earth than we do about Mars.”

Fr. Harry Clarke

Penticton