It was the centenary of the Battle of the Somme, a
synonym for mass slaughter. World memory of history was so poor that fanatics
of all kinds arose, finding advancement and comfort. In 2016, Britain became an
island, cut off from the main, although the bells were ringing continually. New
epidemics blossomed. Governments were set in place without the consent of the
governed. Musicians and actors, carriers of the culture, departed taking with
them the genius of their times. Wars and rumours of war produced fleets of
refugees.
In 2016, liberation of the captives: 21 of 276
Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by terrorists in 2014 returning home to their
families. A few, but to those few everything. Terrorists, in spite of
discovering new means of mass murder (especially trucks used in Nice and
Berlin) must suffer more failures than success. Recovery of sight to the blind:
Fred Hollows Foundation gave more than 890,000 sight-restoring operations, throughout poverty, war, and oppression. Medical miracles appearing. Acts of kindness and
bravery. What gets reported is more often of fear than of hope.
Who proclaims the
acceptable year of the Lord? We do. You want to find meaning and purpose in
life? Get up every day, determining to do as you must to make today an
acceptable day of the acceptable year: 2017.
