The signs of the times

Another day, another (suspected) assassination attempt. More alleged victims of Diddy have come forward. Nazis in Corowa. 2024 just won’t quit.

Other stories, now retired from the headlines until new developments, linger on through creeping dread. The ravages of the climate crisis, for one.

Also, the Pelicot trial that has stunned a community, nation, world, half the human race.

What is a woman? The question designed to launch a culture war has a horrific answer: A woman is the person who fears that an apparently normal, ordinary man might abuse them, and loan them out to dozens of other apparently normal, ordinary men to use as a comatose sex doll.

Consuming the endless stream of bad news stories is like drinking (drowning) from a firehose. Sure, carnage is clickbait, which makes it harder for good stories to get a run. Plus, the algorithm wants our attention, not a healthy news diet. Even so, it still feels as though the bad outweighs everything else.

Here’s another way to interpret the signs of the times: the news is an inglorious parade of human failure, broken systems, power bent to evil ends. Same old story.

But that isn’t the sum of human existence. There are always those doing what they can to make for a better tomorrow. Anyone battling their own demons is a cause for hope. Still more are those who persist in that seemingly futile fight for the good on behalf of others. The more they persevere, the more morally beautiful they seem.

These are the people the world needs right now. The people we need to be. They aren’t God, because only God can be God, but they can channel something of his “light”: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”.