God's other name

Was thinking today

about two men

almost boys

who grew up in chaos and violence

created chaos and violence

and may well die, in chaos and violence

having worked in the Caucasus

I felt no surprise

 

indeed my first thought

was

the culture of violence in Chechnya

created these men

shaped them 

formed them

 

as inexorably as here in our country

family dynamics

ineffective parenting

cultures of hate

and prejudice

anger and violence

shape some of our young men and women

 

doom them?

 

ah this is the question that haunts me

 

can we escape our paths?

can we move away from

bad programming?

 

Someone once said

God's other name is surprise

 

surprise

out of death life

surprise

out of hate..... love?

 

out of chaos..... peace?

can lives battered by places of hate

and violence

by ideologies of hate and violence

be redeemed?

I struggle to say yes

but I cannot bear the idea 

of 

no

God, rescue us

rescue all your broken children