The co-editors of the book The Syria Dilemma have written in a New York Times opinion piece that there is an abundance of food just a few miles away from the blockaded areas where thousands upon thousands of Syrians are starving. Danny Postel and Nader Hashemi note that, according to the United Nations, about 800,000 Syrians are currently under siege. This sad state of affairs bears out the truth of a pattern of human behaviour described symbolically in the Book of Revelation, chapter 6. Conquest (white horse) brings conflict (red horse), leading to scarcity (black horse) and death (pale green horse).
We will all decry this situation as cruel and tragic, but we need to recognize that, on a personal level, our own mindset can also be cruel and tragic, when our mindset is controlling and manipulative. Let’s be honest; there’s some control freak in all of us. But some people actually know this about themselves and think it is well and good because, just like some leaders on the world stage, they have convinced themselves that their contolling behaviour is for the greater good, without realizing or caring what kind of damage they do, inevitably in the process. The controlling mind is a dangerous mind.