There is obviously no evidence about the exact nature of the heaven and hell concept once we depart Mother Earth.
There are as many opinions and beliefs as there are religions or spiritual entities.
For the purpose of this column, I’d like to hang on to the old, basic teachings I received as a youngster that heaven is a splendid, gold-paved domicile where good people live happily ever after in perfect harmony as a reward for exemplary lives, and that hell is a torrid swamp of misery where really bad people atone for their evil deeds by stoking fires day in and day out as punishment.
The notion that serial killers and rapists, murderers, child abusers and molesters, drug and warlords and such simply die and that being the end of it, doesn’t sit comfortably with me.
There must be some penance for the suffering these sorry excuses for human beings cause.
I have serious misgivings about applying the seventy times seven forgiveness principle.
And I’d like to add to the list of immoral miscreants who should be at the forefront of hell’s coalface.
The scammers.
Elsewhere in this edition is the story of two desperate domestic workers who advertised their services in the hope of obtaining employment.
They have nothing and their families are suffering.
Many of us know the drill. The victims are contacted, promised work by unscrupulous bloodsuckers once they have deposited several hundred rands into a money market account for uniforms, medical tests or some such, and are never heard of again.
The despairing victims had spent their last bit of money – and hope – of finding work to elevate them to some degree out of poverty and hunger.
The fraudsters are organised and cover their tracks so well they cannot be traced.
Running sting operations is a way of catching at least some of these good-for-nothings, but our under resourced law enforcement entities have more serious issues to deal with.
And it is not only those at higher risk who are being snared by the scammers.
Pensioners – many of whom should know better given their life experience – regularly fall victim to smooth-talking conmen who promise exorbitant returns on investments.
They have often enough heard the adage of if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
But in their desperation to boost their dwindling pension funds, they simply can’t resist the temptation of ignoring good advice and stake all their investments into fly-by-night schemes sold by persuasive peddlers.
They also eventually lose everything and end their twilight years in destitution and misery.
The sad fact is that our society is infested by unscrupulous thieves with no conscience.
Most will never be caught.
They will not stop and desperate people will continue to lose the little they have.
A heartbreaking state of affairs.
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