The Value of a Soul

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children."
Nelson Mandela

Anyone who has known me from a young age will know my passion and love for animals. No group of animals am I more passionate about than the Big Cats. I had every series of "Big Cat Diaries" taped off the TV onto VHS. I watched Lion King on repeat. I had endless books and drawings. I adore Tigers and Lions above all other animals. They are magnificent, majestic and mighty creatures. Such was their beauty that even pre conversion they convinced me of a Creator.

As I have grown up my love for animals has not waned, although becoming a vet was beyond me, I have channelled this passion into owning a Bull Terrier. I believe animals should be loved and respected and try to teach these values to the young people I work with. I have made lessons based on Blackfish, Virunga and the Dangerous Dogs Act to try and get them to broaden their understanding of wildlife and human interactions with animals.

So it might surprise some that I have found the response to the killing of Cecil the Lion this week a bit disappointing.

Cecil is no doubt a beautiful specimen and to see such a regal animal slaughtered for sport is appalling and wrong! Make no mistake about it, it's wrong. But the response in both the media and social media of outcry, outrage and mourning has struck me. I see no such response when a young teenager is gunned down or stabbed to death in London.

And herein lies my issue. The death of a lion, beautiful and fearfully made as he is, has received more media coverage and public sympathy than the deaths of young people in London and across the country receive.

I'm a Londoner through and through. So when I learn that 175 teenagers have been murdered in London in the last 10 years I'm heartbroken. How many of them can you or I name? Cecil the Lion has been granted more of an identity than the majority of these children and that causes me great discomfort.

More than my love for animals is my love for young people. I work with some of the most vulnerable in the country. I work with young people who live around guns, knives and death and are completely desensitised to the threat of them all. Of these 175 young people who have been murdered in London I worked with 1 and knew 2 others.

The media will call young people  "gang members","youths" or "hoodies" as if they therefore warrant the death that befalls them. They fail to recognise or address the social issues that lead young people into these lifestyles. I often hear "they have a choice". Yes the choice between a broken home full of abuse and neglect or the choice of a peer group that feels safer despite the threat of violence. In the borough I work in 50% of children live in poverty. They are eating from food banks with little to no parental input and people wonder why the lure of crime and quick money is so attractive to them?! 

The experiences many of these young people have had to endure by the age of 14 are enough to break an adult.

Yet when these young people are killed society affords them very little outcry, very little outrage and very little mourning.

As a society how is it that we value the life of a lion over the life of a young person?

This is not a lecture. This is just me thinking and writing but I can't help but comment on these things.

As a Christian I believe we as people have souls. We are made in God's image. So when a young person dies, I have to ask myself. What has happened to their soul? It's a question we all need to ask ourselves. Where will our soul go when we die?

Cecil had no soul. We as people do!

I feel a responsibility to tell and show young people the Lord Jesus Christ. For it is only through knowing the Lord Jesus Christ that we can be assured of an eternity in heaven. I need to tell them and show them now! Because the reality is they are walking life's tightrope everyday!

Jesus himself said “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matthew 19 v 14).

Jesus calls children and young people to come to him so that they may be with him in heaven. It's my desire to tell as many young people as I can about Jesus so they can know him for themselves.

Our priorities as society should lie in our children. They are our future. And is there any higher matter of urgency than our eternity?

I hope and pray that my young people and the others will be kept safe over the summer and when I see them again in September. I will be able to replicate Jesus love and care for them and they may desire to know Him for themselves.