Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: January 2010

The last decade (sometimes dubbed the Noughties) began with high hopes as fireworks soared over cities around the world. Economic confidence was high, globalisation was the catchword, and it seemed that despite worries over climate change, we were the "masters of the planet" if not of the Universe! Finally we had put an end to "boom and bust".

But the mood soon changed as 9/11 triggered fears of terrorism, provoking military actions around the world which have not yet solved the problems they were meant to address. Then the devastating Asian Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina brought home to many that we are all vulnerable to the vagaries of the natural world. As the decade ends we have worries over how we can deal with the debt mountain and emerge from the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s. We also have sharp disagreements over whether the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference has been a success or a failure. Then, at the very end of the decade, we saw the destruction of the carefully nurtured image of the world's richest sportsman (Tiger Woods) - a development symbolic of the illusion shattering decade through which we have just lived.

The Noughties have indeed been a pivotal decade in which the reality behind many illusions has emerged. We cannot defend freedom by locking people up without trial. We cannot spend without eventually paying the bill. We cannot defy nature or defile the planet with impunity. We cannot live a lie for ever - truth will out.

So how can we avoid constructing another fool's paradise in the decade ahead? We need to recognise that those who live only for themselves and are careless of the rights of others can never achieve true happiness. This is true for communities as well as for individuals. An ancient sage wrote about the true path to happiness as follows: "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).