When Will They Ever Learn?

opportunities and potentialities which he has been given in whatever manner he chooses. His freedom, however, will be short-lived. If anyone wishes to reject the truth in this world, he will have no difficulty in finding words with which to justify himself. If anyone wishes to deny the true call to religion, he will find other beliefs in which he can take refuge. If anyone chooses to ignore God’s call, he will find other things to hold on to in this world, which will lull him into a false sense of security. When the true nature of things is revealed, however, the props on which he depended in the world will be exposed as false and unreal. When man rises from the dead, and God appears in all His glory, man will be helpless before the Lord. He will have no choice but to accept that which he used to deny in the world. If man only knew the awesome nature of the last day, he would cease the vain conversations in which he endlessly indulges in this world; he would refrain from all the crimes which no humanitarian or moral exhortation could prevent him from committing. The Tragedy of Man Man has lost all sense of reality in this world. So lost has he become in his own vainglory that he has forgotten the greater glory of God. Although man is constantly being reminded of his helplessness, before death he thinks he has power; in fact, he is nothing but a pawn of the reality which he chooses to ignore. Man breaks his promises; he does not pay people their due; he does not bow to the truth; he accuses others, but fails to admit his own mistakes; he turns away from the weak and hails the strong; he bases his life on desire rather than on principle; he persecutes the downtrodden and cowers before the mighty; he concentrates on himself rather than on God. Fear of Hell and desire for heaven do not dominate his life; he is guided by worldly apprehensions and desires alone. Man continues in his evil ways and forgets that in so doing he is moving further away from Paradise and drawing closer to Hell. This is the tragedy of man; he does not care for that which is most to be desired; he does not fear that which is most to be feared.