THE CALL FOR PEACE

I have just finished watching a TV series about a serial rapist in France. It was called Sambre after a River of that name. The movie Sambre stretched over 30 years before finally convicting the perpetrator for 50-plus assaults. It covered the work of 3 successive prosecutors before the man was brought to Justice.

Underlying the movie was played the song "Zombie", by the Cranberries. I was intrigued by its association with this movie. Researching on Google I learned that it was a song set in the Irish Roman Catholic war against the British Protestants and was a tribute to 2 young boys killed by the fighting. 

Sambre had escalated into a subtle war against women. Set initially in the 1980’s it continued through the turn of the century and finally concluded when the man was caught and sentenced in 2018. The change in male attitudes was slow from not taking it seriously to one of fundamental importance can be seen slowly unfolding over these years, yet the damage done to the woman raped, whether in 1988  or through to the perpetrator's capture was life-destroying for these women.

I researched the lyrics to the song:

Another head hangs lowly,

Child is slowly taken.

And the violence cause such silence;

Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it's not me,

It's not my family,

In your head, in your head,

They are fighting.

With their tanks and their bombs,

And their bombs and their guns,

In your head, in your head,

They are crying.

In your head, in your head,

Zombie, Zombie, Zombie.

What's in your head, in your head?

Zombie, Zombie, Zombie.

Another mother's breakin,

Heart is taken over.

When the violence causes silence,

We must be mistaken.

It's the same old theme since 1916.

In your head, in your head,

They're still fighting.

With their tanks and their bombs,

And their bombs and their guns,

In your head, in your head,

They are dying.

In your head, in your head,

Zombie, Zombie, Zombie.

What's in your head, in your head?

Zombie, Zombie, Zombie.

Last year over Christmas I published the song, ‘The Voice’ by Johnnie Farnham, another song calling for peace in the face of war. In abbreviated form it read:

You're the voice, try and understand it

Make a noise and make it clear

Oh, whoa

We're not gonna sit in silence

We're not gonna live with fear

Oh, whoa

Ooh, we're all someone's daughter

We're all someone's son

How long can we look at each other

Down the barrel of a gun?

You're the voice, try and understand it

Make the noise and make it clear

Oh, whoa

We're not gonna sit in silence

We're not gonna live with fear

Oh, whoa

War goes on in many forms. The abuse of women through rape is a war. It is worldwide and just as bad, destroying the souls of millions of women each year. There are an estimated 150 million deaths by someone in the family year by year, 140 per day. 370 females are raped every day.

This is the time when we celebrate the birth of the great voice of peace, Jesus the Christ. His message was one of peace to humanity in the widest application of his calling.

There is no better example of this calling than in the sermon on the Mount:

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Rejoice, and be glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.