With Blood On Our Hands
I didn’t want to write this piece when it came to mind about a month ago. I wanted to try and forget about it. I wanted it to simply fade into history. I didn’t want to deal with it. But I feel compelled because it happened again this week.
On November 5th there was a collision between a petrol fuel tanker and lorry in Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone. In and of itself that is not much of a story. But the tanker exploded and at least 144 people are now dead as a result. The death toll is expected to continue to rise as Sierra Leone has no burn unit to treat the victims. That’s right, an entire nation without a burn unit.
On December 14th there was a tanker explosion in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second largest city. That explosion has so far resulted in 64 deaths, the number is expected to rise.
One theme links these two tragedies on either side of the Atlantic Ocean - POVERTY.
In Sierra Leone following the collision with the lorry the tanker began to leak fuel. A sure sign to get as far away, as quickly as possible, from the potential danger of an explosion and the ensuing fireball. In Haiti the tanker also began to leak and fuel flowed out onto the street.
If I found myself in that situation I would turn and run. That’s what many people did. They ran. Only they ran towards the tankers. Due to the level of poverty in these nations the people thought the possibility of getting a little free gasoline was worth risking their lives. They took a risk and lost. They died.
In Sierra Leone many of the dead were motorcycle taxi drivers. A significant number of these drivers were former child soldiers forced to fight in the civil war that raged from 1991-2002. I have ridden on the back of motorcycles through the streets of Freetown.
It breaks my heart to think that people died, not because of a tanker accident, but rather because they felt the need to try and get a few bucks worth of gasoline. They died because they were poor.
I could have paid for the gas that they were trying to grab and barely noticed the hit in my bank account.
We need to understand that the way we manage our wealth and resources has a direct impact on others around the world. All too often we look at what’s happening around the world and in the haunting scene from the movie Hotel Rwanda where Paul Rusesabagina says he is glad the journalists have filmed the atrocity because it will force people to sit up and take notice to which the reporter, Jack says, “I think if people see this footage they'll say, ‘Oh my God that's horrible,’ and then go on eating their dinners.”
As Christians we have a responsibility to sit up and take notice. Going on eating our dinners is not an option if we believe the gospel. The love of our neighbors is a command not a suggestion. Taking care of the “least of these” is the measure by which we shall be judged. If we don’t take notice and pursue a more equitable and just world then we have blood on our hands. The blood of the poor who ran towards a leaking tanker in a desperate attempt to get something they needed but couldn’t or could barely afford.
