Yesterday the MOD sought to reassure us that their radioactive leaks into the waters of Western Scotland were of no significance and caused no danger.
Aye right!
Maybe its my inherent cynicism, maybe its because I and my family will be actually swimming in those waters next week off Iona, but it makes me rather nervous: its not just the warheads on board that make these submarines frightening. Or maybe its because I have been re-reading Henri Nouwen's 'Wounded Healer.'
Some of his examples are a little dated now but the insights remain startlingly fresh.
He says: Nuclear man (sic) is a man who has lost naive faith in the possibilities of technology and is painfully aware that the same powers that enable man to create new life styles carry the potential for self destruction.
Four royal sons were questioning what speciality they should master. They said to one another, 'Let us search the earth and learn a special science'. So they decided and after they had agreed up-on a place where they would meet again, the four brothers started off, each in a different direction. Time went by, and the brothers met again at the appointed meeting place, and they asked one another what they had learned.
'I have mastered a science,' said the first, 'which makes it possible for me, if I have nothing but a piece of bone of some creature, to create straightaway the flesh that goes with it.'
'I', said the second one,'know how to grow that creature's skin and hair if there is flesh on its bones.
The third said, 'I am able to create its limbs if i have the flesh and skin and hair.
And I, concluded the fourth,'know how to give life to that creature if its form is complete with limbs'
Thereupon the four brothers went into the jungle to find a piece of bone so they could demonstrate their specialties. As fate would have it, the bone they found was a lion's. but they did not know that and picked it up. One added flesh to the bone, the second grew hide and hair, the third completed it with matching limbs and the fourth gave the lion life. Shaking its heavy mane, the ferocious beast arose with its menacing mouth, sharp teeth and merciless claws and jumped on his creators.
He killed them all and vanished contentedly into the jungle.
Let those who have ears to hear etc
Aye right!
Maybe its my inherent cynicism, maybe its because I and my family will be actually swimming in those waters next week off Iona, but it makes me rather nervous: its not just the warheads on board that make these submarines frightening. Or maybe its because I have been re-reading Henri Nouwen's 'Wounded Healer.'
Some of his examples are a little dated now but the insights remain startlingly fresh.
He says: Nuclear man (sic) is a man who has lost naive faith in the possibilities of technology and is painfully aware that the same powers that enable man to create new life styles carry the potential for self destruction.
Four royal sons were questioning what speciality they should master. They said to one another, 'Let us search the earth and learn a special science'. So they decided and after they had agreed up-on a place where they would meet again, the four brothers started off, each in a different direction. Time went by, and the brothers met again at the appointed meeting place, and they asked one another what they had learned.
'I have mastered a science,' said the first, 'which makes it possible for me, if I have nothing but a piece of bone of some creature, to create straightaway the flesh that goes with it.'
'I', said the second one,'know how to grow that creature's skin and hair if there is flesh on its bones.
The third said, 'I am able to create its limbs if i have the flesh and skin and hair.
And I, concluded the fourth,'know how to give life to that creature if its form is complete with limbs'
Thereupon the four brothers went into the jungle to find a piece of bone so they could demonstrate their specialties. As fate would have it, the bone they found was a lion's. but they did not know that and picked it up. One added flesh to the bone, the second grew hide and hair, the third completed it with matching limbs and the fourth gave the lion life. Shaking its heavy mane, the ferocious beast arose with its menacing mouth, sharp teeth and merciless claws and jumped on his creators.
He killed them all and vanished contentedly into the jungle.
Let those who have ears to hear etc
but where can i get lead lined swimming trunks
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