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Viewpoint from John Nickerson 08/04/2016
 John Nickerson
St Margaret’s Church, Hopton
Right or wrong? 'We're all in this together,' a politician said. How right he was. He, of course, was referring to the recession. Whether we're all in that 'together' is debatable. What we are all in together is this world of ours. Planet earth is our home
Whether or not future generations will be able to escape from it we cannot yet tell. Space travel happens but the feasibility of establishing human colonies elsewhere in the universe is not yet known. Meanwhile the human race is 'in it together' here on earth
Some weeks ago much media fuss was made of the release of a new Star Wars film. I've not seen it. No doubt, in the film, somewhere out in space a battle occurred between the 'goodies' and the 'baddies'. The conflict between good and evil is probably the longest saga known to mankind
 Historians have discerned accounts of it from some of the most ancient relics thousands of years old. Locally in Caister and Burgh Castle are the physical remains of a town and fort built at the time of the Roman Empire which stretched from the Middle East, including Syria and Israel [the Holy Land], right across Europe as far as the Scottish border. Historical accounts show the Romans were very well acquainted with good and evil, right and wrong. Evil contributed to their downfall
William Shakespeare wrote about it, contemporary novels are based upon it, the television and radio 'soap operas' thrive on it and what would 'Lewis' or 'Midsommer Murders' be without it? Human wiles, plots and counter plots are what these stories are made from. I recently read Sir Winston Churchill's account of the Second World War. That isn't a story, it's real: real people, real suffering, real deaths
Listening to the news on radio or watching it on television makes the events portrayed seem remote; just stories. But this is the real world. The war in Syria, the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Brussels and Pakistan, and other acts of aggression are conflicts of right and wrong, good and evil
Who is right? Who is wrong? What is good and what is evil depends upon one's viewpoint. So are there any pointers? Is there a moral compass to guide us? There is the human conscience, our sense of 'fair play'. Each of us has to make choices. Good and evil stems from the choices each of us makes regardless of our colour, religion or lack of them. We're all in this [world] together so why don't we treat one another as we would like to be treated ourselves?
Mahatma [Great Soul] Gandhi advocated Moslem-Hindu friendship and was influenced by Christian ideals. He dedicated his life to his indomitable sense of fair play. Jesus Christ told the parable of the Good Samaritan in which a stranger showed kindness to a man who had been beaten and left for dead. Christ told his listeners to go and do the same. If, as individuals, each of us followed these examples would we not all be in this [world] together for the good?
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