Fishers of Men, and Terror

No sooner had we heard of the terrorist strike on Bombay, than Hezbollah terrorists kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. Israel responded with two days of bombing, the heaviest air strikes against Lebanon in twenty-four years. Hamas in Gaza kidnapped a third Israeli soldier leading to a forceful response there as well. The question is whether force is a deterrent for future acts of terror, or does it merely rachet up the violence? I suspect the latter. As to another sufficient response? Let me know your thoughts. The outcome, of course, is a heightening of chaos and instability, that I suppose is the point. Poet Susan Kiguli from Uganda, which is no stranger to violence, wrote this poem called "Fishers of Men."

The nets are out in the depths
Doing the job
The silver grey moon floats
On the surface of the waters.
Fishermen pull their nets
With big hearts waiting for fish!
Out come the meshes

Full of the moonlit harvest!
The fishermen flee
As the silver wonder
Turns into bullet riddled chests
And water logged eyes!

It is a terrible poem, in the meaning of terrifying and terror, and yet it describes the catch that is being pulled up in this sea of chaos. Jesus called Peter to be a fisher of people, but not in this way. We too are called to fish for people. It is a mark of the evil in the world and sinful domination of one over another that we pull up the dead instead of draw the living to life indeed.