The Last Supper. pexels.com
I’m writing this week’s column against a backdrop of feeling troubled as I’ve wrestled over issues that plague today’s world.
Murray Smith
We live in seriously tempestuous times. It’s challenging attempting constructive comment on the plethora of problems confronting this dark, beleaguered age. The diverse sociological pathology this generation faces is being amplified by the ‘deafening noise’ of aggressive polarising agendas, conflicting opinions and roiling confusion that muddies the water.
I don’t want to add to the clamour, yet writing innocuous little sanitised think pieces that trivialise matters won’t help to make a strong plea for deeper thought as to, “why are we in the state we find ourselves?”
Our culture’s appetite for truth-telling, has been exchanged for lies called ‘alternative truth’ which have buried us under layers of complex brokenness and dysfunction extending beyond all borders throughout the earth. When it becomes apparent things are broken, scrutinising where disorder began offers hope for determining how to bring healing and restoration of order.
In many respects, the 2024 Paris Summer Olympic Games which came to an end last weekend, epitomised how corrupted and shamelessly messed up the world has become. Right from the outset, the controversial and blatant mocking of Christian faith in the opening ceremony’s parody of Leonardo de Vinci’s “Last Supper,” hinted that this was going to be a Games where tolerating a bit of pollution was no big deal… whether it was from the Seine River or the kitchens of the Olympic Village. The transgender debate flared with complexities that will continue to create headaches for officials and broken hearts for competitors until fairness and common sense prevail.
Last Supper Altarpiece in St Barbaras Church, Kutna Hora, Czech Republic. Photo: Magda Ehlers pexels.com
With 10,600 competing athletes from 206 nations, competition for gold and glory was always going to be intense with bragging rights and status claimed by nations scooping the most medals. Cheating claims relating to doping were rife with unsuspecting athletes inadvertently eating laced hamburgers evidently. (Tui Advert?) Drone spying, racism, underhand tactics and dubious decisions… it was all there. Countries with massive delegations (US, China, France), hoped to strut their nation’s superior ideology and international image. Global tensions bristled with human rights issues, controversy over allowing Israel to participate amidst the Israel–Hamas war, Russia and Belarus being banned from representing their countries after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Bravely, 15 Russian competitors participated as “Individual Neutral Athletes.”
My observation of the Paris Games showcasing so much that was blatantly hypocritical, ugly, dark and broken in our world, was mitigated somewhat by cameo moments of things noble and right in the world, spotlighting the very best of human courage and decency. The fact it was blighted with too many shaming elements to itemise, was indicative of how rapidly evil undermines the moral compass of truth, to establish darkness as normative.
The stated reason for the Games is, “to cultivate human beings, through sport, and contribute to world peace.” Sounds noble. But no matter how hard the 2028 Los Angeles Games organisers work, they’ll be up against it, without eyes to recognise and deal with the entrenched nature of corruption.
Our start point must be, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”
