Our good friend and Member from UAE and India, Kumar Bhatia “Bobbie,” remembers the global reach and potential of Doctor Watson and Mr Holmes and sends this poignant thought:
Dear Friends and Fellow Watsonians:
Extremely sad and, indeed, terrible news about the shooting down of the Malaysian Airlines flight.
Why?
See what Sherlock Holmes had to say, more than 125 years ago:
“What object is served by this circle of misery and violence and fear? It must tend to some end, or else our universe is ruled by chance, which is unthinkable.”
Thank you, Bobbie, for your thoughts and for reminding us of the enduring hope of a better humanity in the Canon.
Beautiful words, Bobbie. Malaysia Airlines has suffered two of the worst tragedies this year. While so little is known about the missing flight 370, the most recent shooting in Ukraine shows us the worst facet of humanity and how conflicts result in tragedy for the innocent. One hopes that Holmes is correct and that the universe is not ruled by chance alone.
Dear “Carla” and “Bobbie”
The longer one observes humanity, the more difficult it becomes to understand the cultures of death. I have always drawn hope from Holmes’ humanistic view of justice and compassion; sometimes it is necessary to exact justice, and sometimes it is necessary to grant compassion. What I find encouraging is that, nowhere in the Canon, is the Dogma of Hatred celebrated. There, in 1895, there was Reason, a balance of Justice and Compassion, and the Promise of a better existence.
We need to return, if only philosophically for a moment, to 1895 and the outlook of hope for humanity. Perhaps this is the underlying reason the Canon is such an important part of one’s life: In its entirety, it is a philosophy: Reason and Truth ascend over Dogma and Falseness, and in the end there is Good.