Man was made to mourn: A Dirge, by Robert Burns

Many and sharp the num’rous ills
Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves
Regret, remorse, and shame!
And Man, whose heav’n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn, –
Man’s inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!

The following article from March 14, details the attacks in Lagos, Nigeria, which is one of the most war torn countries in Africa.  It begins:

“Nigerians woke last Sunday, to the news that more than 400 people of Dogo Nahawa community in Jos south area of Plateau state had been sent to their early graves by rampaging invaders.

News of the attack spread like wildfire creating panic in parts of Jos North, which had earlier in January, witness another round of the orgy of violence that has now become and existential reality in the state.

The panic-stricken Jos north saw traders and shop owners locking up their stall in wait for what follows next. But as measures were being forcefully taken to ensure that the attack does not spread to other parts of the state, residents of the Dogo Nahawa, were either crying their eyes out or still picking up their dead.

For them, it was an attack that had broken the peace of the community and left wounds that will take decades to heal.”    http://allafrica.com/stories/201003150005.html

I cut and pasted the first 3 paragraphs of the article and then just changed a few words . . . imagine such an article, if newspapers existed 1000 years ago:

“The Cymry (the Welsh) woke last Sunday, to the news that more than 400 people of Bangor community in Gwynedd had been sent to their early graves by rampaging Viking invaders.

News of the attack spread like wildfire creating panic in parts of Gwynedd, which had earlier in January, witness another round of the orgy of violence that has now become and existential reality in the cantref.

The panic-stricken Welsh saw traders and shop owners locking up their stall in wait for what follows next. But as measures were being forcefully taken to ensure that the attack does not spread to other parts of the state, residents of Bangor, were either crying their eyes out or still picking up their dead.

For them, it was an attack that had broken the peace of the community and left wounds that will take decades to heal.” 

Man’s inhumanity to man seems to defy the passage of time . . .