A silence speaks a thousand words...
But what words does the three minute silence observed in Europe today in memory of the Asian Tsunami's victims speak? It could say any of these things, depending on your beliefs:
We don't know what to say-nobody does and everybody knows that- in the face of this tragedy, so it's best for everyone to say nothing, unitedly.
We are silent so that you can tell us why, God. Please answer us, we leave this silence so that you can answer us. If not now, please answer us some time. We will wait for your time. We think of you and hope that you think of us.
Listen: The heavens are silent. God is not there or he is not interested in us if he is. The answer is in the silence: there is no answer from above, the answers lie below, with Man, and with Nature: both are kind, and both are cruel; Man gives, and Nature takes away.
This is the only respectful act a multi-faith yet multi-faithless nation can observe unitedly.
This silence is the silence of a Father who's child asks him "Why did [insert god or religious figure] permit this?". It is an honest silence, it is an agnostic (even if one is not agnostic) silence, the answer the Father in turn gets from [insert god or religious figure]. It is the silence of not knowing, the honesty of not trying to pretend to answer when one doesn't know the answer, of not pretending to know [insert god or religious figure]'s answer when [insert god or religious figure] hasn't revealed this answer him/itself.
We don't know what to say-nobody does and everybody knows that- in the face of this tragedy, so it's best for everyone to say nothing, unitedly.
We are silent so that you can tell us why, God. Please answer us, we leave this silence so that you can answer us. If not now, please answer us some time. We will wait for your time. We think of you and hope that you think of us.
Listen: The heavens are silent. God is not there or he is not interested in us if he is. The answer is in the silence: there is no answer from above, the answers lie below, with Man, and with Nature: both are kind, and both are cruel; Man gives, and Nature takes away.
This is the only respectful act a multi-faith yet multi-faithless nation can observe unitedly.
This silence is the silence of a Father who's child asks him "Why did [insert god or religious figure] permit this?". It is an honest silence, it is an agnostic (even if one is not agnostic) silence, the answer the Father in turn gets from [insert god or religious figure]. It is the silence of not knowing, the honesty of not trying to pretend to answer when one doesn't know the answer, of not pretending to know [insert god or religious figure]'s answer when [insert god or religious figure] hasn't revealed this answer him/itself.
posted by John Doran-Armstrong at 4:56 PM
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