St George's Day

Today we celebrate the anniversary of the death of St George or so do those of us who have him as their patron saint as he is the patron saint of not only England. He was born a Christian in Syria, became a soldier in Diocletian's army and a Tribune and because he would not recant his religion was put to death, so they say, in 303 when Diocletian refused to continue tolerating Christians in his army. St George was beheaded in front of the walls of Nicomedia (now Izmit in Turkey) having been tortured several times beforehand. Curious isn't it that all these years later barbarism is alive and well, indeed thriving, in these ancient places. Even today the Syrians are firing on and killing mourners at the funerals of those they killed as they exited the mosques yesterday. Evolution there may be but it is quite unnoticeable when it comes to beastliness being visited on men by men, often in the name of religion. St George became a saint because he refused to deny his Christianity. What would he say today about the efforts of the new branch of the IRA and its campaign to kill policemen? What would he say about the Muslim extremists blowing themselves up and their enemies? We imagine he lived in a world where violence was a part of everyday life but was it when everyone had to worry about whether there was enough necessaries to survive and also about their health. Might it have been a more compassionate society?