Heading down to the beach to watch a possible Tsunami hit the beach seems a little daft to me, yet more than a few people chose to this week. You have to ask, “Why?”
I think it’s pretty obvious. Very few people genuinely believed that a huge tsunami of any great force was going to pound the shores on New Zealand. And there’s good reason for that scepticism. So far as I’m aware there hasn’t been a large Tsunami hitting our shores in recent history. So it follows that if we have no living memory of such events happening in our own back yard, then they must only exist in other places.
Of course none of this is even remotely sensible. The fact of the matter is, the Pacific Rim is an earthquake nightmare and New Zealand probably has suffered a number of terrifying marine events over a long period of time. The offshore experiences of the last few years ought be a reminder of just how vulnerable we actually are. Beachfront properties may not be the dream residence after all. If you want sea views, live on a hill.
As I get older I am constantly amazed at how bulletproof we think we are. Because we are not constantly confronted by our mortality like most of world’s population, we live with an air of indestructibility. Likewise modern westerners seem to think that three score years and ten is some kind of fundamental human right that even nature ought to respect. It really is quite absurd. Yet it’s this deluded belief that drives many of the stupid things we do.
Take sex for example. In recent months I have had a number of people in their mid-twenties wanting to sort out the relational and emotional mess they have found themselves in. In all cases they had had multiple sexual partners because they believe there’s nothing wrong with it. However, when asked if they had been tested for STD’s they all looked at me askance. Why would they do that? Simple. If the many people they have slept with also slept with many others, in what way are any of them exempt from STD’s or HIV? We might not live in Africa, but given the attitudes I’m coming across, there is good reason to fear for the health of a coming generation.
Strangely, we don’t learn from the past. As I mentioned earlier, if we have never experienced the end result of natural disaster or certain behaviours, then simple knowledge is rarely enough to restrain us from unjustified bravado. After all, it won’t happen to us.
Inasmuch as I don’t want to live my life under the banner of fear or uncompromising safety at the cost of fun and a degree of risk, I also do not wish to die or get sick or cause the same to someone else.
In the Old Testament the prophets constantly called people to “remember”. Remember the faithfulness of God and also the consequences of previous stupidity. Live within the lessons of history. They’re not as archaic as they seem.
Digby Wilkinson 2009