Thought for the Week

It was with the utmost sadness and revulsion that we learned this past week of the vicious and cowardly attacks on two elderly women. One lady was 100 years old and had already survived the horrors of being a prisoner of war. She was on her way to church when she was attacked. She had no chance whatsoever against her assailant and she died days later from her horrific injuries. The other lady was in her 90s and was savagely bludgeoned while lying in her bed. Our minds just cannot conceive such cruelty on defenceless people and we recoil in horror at such barbarity. However, I have to take issue with some of the headlines from the tabloid press when they say things like: ‘What kind of animal could do such a thing?’ The answer, sadly, is that it is the human animal who can sink to such depths of depravity. I know of no other animal that will attack a defenceless older member of its family for no reason. Animals have a code by which they look after the older and vulnerable in their community and do not behave in the way many human beings sadly do. The human animal can rise to the heights but can unfortunately also sink to the depths of behaviour. Jesus said we could learn much from the birds of the air, the beasts of the fields and the animals who give us unconditional love and companionship. Gandhi said: ‘The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.’ Let us not always compare them to human beings.