The Solidarity that Comes from Fear

The Solidarity that Comes from Fear

Current Affairs

1985 5 May 21-22 The Solidarity that Comes from Fear (420)

The British nuclear submarine HMS Conqueror was in the thick of the conflict with Argentina over the Falkland Islands (April-June, 1982). It was the Conqueror which fired the three torpedoes that sunk the Argentinian cruiser General Belgrano on May 2, 1982, thus initiating the shooting war proper.

Lieutanent Nyrena Sathia was one of the crew of the submarine. In a 51-page diary, which has come into the possession of The Washington Post newspaper, he describes “the day-to-day activities on the Conqueror from April 6, just after it set sail for the Falklands, until its return to port almost three months later.”

One of the incidents covered in this “extraordinary diary” occurred on May 5. A leak developed in one of the steam generators that drove the submarine's propulsion system. This, the diarist writes, “is probably going to require us” to drop to lower power, providing not more than 15 knots. He goes on:

“This could be disastrous – suicidal – if attempting evasive maneuvers after an attack. Christ! I hope politicians see sense and call it a day. The ships company remains nervous and subdued, though performing their duties admirably. The whole thing seems to have brought us closer together than ever before··.

(The Guardian Weekly, February 24, 1985)

Countless incidents of this nature can be cited to show that people who share a common fear come closer together than they had been during times of comparative composure. Nations always hold together more firmly during wartime, burying their differences and presenting a united front to their enemy. Petty squabbles only surface when the clouds of war have cleared.

The whole of mankind is facing a threat much more acute – much more real – than any wartime threat. The spectre of the Day of Judgment looms above the world, ready to engulf all in its wake. On that day God Himself will become manifest to man. Reality will become plain for all to see. There will be no opportunity for denial, no room to run away. Only those who become conscious of the realities of that day before they actually descend will be successful in the future, eternal world of God.

If mankind were to realize the common concern that they all share to escape the torments of that day, then they would all come close together. This is the only fear that can provide real and universal human solidarity, for its object is inevitable – it is bound to come to pass – and is at the same time shared by the whole of mankind.