One of the most mysterious traits in human nature is the repeated incapability of learning from one’s mistakes. When we learn, and it is often circumstances that force us to do so, a high price is frequently paid for this failing. One of the most striking examples of this is the attitude that was taken by the victorious powers of the Second World War against the defeated nations, especially Germany, when compared to the attitude of the same powers, notably Britain and France, after the Great War of 1914-1918.

Following the First World War, enormous reparation was exacted from Germany, a nation that was economically shattered. The result in the ensuing chaos of the Weimar Republic was the rise of a radical nationalist movement whose leader, Adolph Hitler, promised to give Germans dignity and a good standard of living. He did, but also a devastating war and untold atrocities.

After the Second World War, with communism controlling half of Europe, the victorious nations behaved very differently. Germany was helped financially and the hard-working Germans turned their country into a leading economic power. The key question to ask is why did 50 million people have to die in order to come around to the fact, among others, that humiliating one’s enemy never really pays?

One should keep all this in mind when one reflects on the following saying: “God forgives always, man sometimes forgives and sometimes not, but nature never forgives”. The last few decades have seen man, as never before, abuse nature and go against its laws. The environment has taken and is still taking much battering as a result of the short-sightedness and greed of those who often think solely of their monetary interests. Sadly, to right the wrongs committed, albeit not always successfully, often comes at a huge cost.

The commercialisation of the contraceptive pill in the sixties was greeted with enthusiasm and great expectations. Its aim was to thwart nature from following its natural course and ‘liberate’ women from unexpected pregnancies, enabling them to be in control of their life. The use of the pill, especially for recreational sex, naturally led to a rise in unplanned pregnancies. The solution frequently taken was abortion with the resultant heartache and pain that many women undergo when they resort to this unnatural procedure. Moreover, the pill put the onus for avoiding a pregnancy firmly on the woman and turned it into a problem that was and is left mostly for her to solve. Condoms can never be compared to the pill because a man can rarely be forced to use a condom unless he really wants to. Another serious consequence of artificial contraception and the tampering with nature is the fact that most developed countries are on the verge of demographic suicide. The falling birth rate and an ever-increasing ageing population will ensure that future generations will have to grapple with major problems regarding pensions, rising healthcare costs, and so on.

In China, for over three decades, a law was passed that decreed a one-child policy for each family in order to keep the population in check. This law has recently been partially revised because the authorities realised that nature does not forgive after all. Among the population, especially the rural one, after pre-natal tests were carried out and it was found that the unborn child was a girl, the baby was often aborted and another conception was allowed to take place so that perhaps a baby boy would result. Thus, there was a huge discrepancy between the (inferior) number of girls born when compared to boys, something that nature never intended. The consequences of this are that now there are millions of young men who are having difficulty finding a wife. Moreover, many young couples in China today have to support four elderly parents as they have no siblings to share the burden.

There are, of course, instances when trying to help and improve the natural order of things can be extremely beneficial to mankind. But it never behoves man to go directly against the laws of nature. One of the most clear examples why this cannot be so is the mad-cow disease that erupted around 25 years ago. The most accepted theory for this tragedy, which resulted in the killing of millions of heads of cattle is that the latter, which nature intended to be herbivores, were given meat-and-bone meals that came from sheep which were infected with scarpie, a prion disease that affects sheep. Trying to turn herbivores into carnivores has had devastating consequences on the agricultural economy of many countries, especially the United Kingdom.

The temptation for man to go against natural law constantly accompanies him, especially today when the attempt to exclude God and His laws from the public sphere seems irrevocable. Indeed, to the believer it is God who, as the Book of Wisdom tells us, “created the world according to His wisdom”. Men and women made in the “image of God” were created to live in harmony with nature and respect its laws, thus ensuring their own well-being and that of future generations.

Jacqueline Calleja

Balzan