Today we face what is probably the greatest challenge history has ever known. There never has been a time when millions of people are more desperately in need of faith, hope and courage and peace of mind. The world is in turmoil and has tilted out of balance and overshadowing it are some ominous images. There's something terribly disquieting about what is happening. I try to shake off my negativism and attempt to not allow these concerns to dominate my life. I know that fear is the great destroyer and I recall what Michel de Montaigne observed 'A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears'.

The UN is stretched tight in peace keeping operations throughout the world. They are, under a lot of pressure. It is my conviction and belief that we must not bow to terror. Of course, there are plenty of politicians and people who believe that such countries are not worth the life of a single peace keeping soldier. There are those who believe that we should not become involved and we should let them sort it out amongst themselvesHow can we live with the slaughter of thousands of innocent men, women and children? We've condemned thousands of people to a violent death by our own lethargy. I despise our inactivity. We cannot abandon these people to their fate. If we continue to go ahead as we are, then we will be looking at more potential genocide in the years ahead. That is the tragedy and the irony of the situation. How does this look to the rest of the world? What are we indicating to others by abandoning the Congo to its fate? Are we not showing that the sacrifice of many means little to us if they are of no import? We have to seriously think about it. We have to decide what we are. Do we have the courage and the principle of justice for all men? Or will we continue to be self-satisfied and self-centred? We have to be prepared to take preventative action and if that is too late, remedial action, on a small or large scale to avert such disasters.

What can we expect in the next decade or so? It is my belief, we will see similar scenarios being enacted throughout the world and thousands being driven from their homes from as far afield as the former Soviet Union, North Africa and Latin America. We will see mass flights of homeless refugees flooding across borders into Southern Europe with the rapid de stabilisation of neighbouring European countries as they attempt to deal with this flood. We will see States fall into anarchy and the emergence of further armed rogue nuclear states such as Iran and North Korea, State sponsored terrorism and the further spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons This resulting chaos will not mean the end of the world, but the world, to a large extent, will change.