Tarzans of the Concrete Jungle

Then God will reach into the north and destroy Assyria. He will waste Nineveh, leave her dry and treeless as a desert. The ghost town of a city, the haunt of wild animals, Nineveh will be home to raccoons and coyotes — they'll bed down in its ruins. Owls will hoot in the windows, ravens will croak in the doorways — all that fancy woodwork now a perch for birds.

Can this be the famous Fun City that had it made, that boasted, "I'm the Number-One City! I'm King of the Mountain!" So why is the place deserted, a lair for wild animals? Passersby hardly give it a look; they dismiss it with a gesture.

- Zephania 2:13-15 The Message

I did a reading of the book of Zephaniah with a couple of friends just yesterday, and it yielded some quite astonishing findings: God is very concerned about People, yes, but He is just as concerned about Places.

And that got us thinking, and talking. About the different towns and cities that people all around the world inhabit. And the power that places have in supporting life.

Which, of course, begs the question: Just what kind of life do they support?

The ideologies, philosophies, habits and practices that emerge from whole towns and cities have the power to shape a nation - and its people's future.

We need no more reminding that the divide between nature and nurture is an artificial one, and even the best of people can have their potential squandered and squeezed into pulp in squalid, dismal and nefarious environments.

Where would I raise my child if I had all the world to choose?An urban concrete jungle of skyscrapers, billboards and flashing neon lights?

I'm not so sure.

Coincidentally, I noted John Grimmond's observation in The Economist, which would befuddle most tarzans of the concrete jungle.

In an article titled The World Goes to Town, Grimmond said, "Whether you think the human story begins in a garden in Mesopotamia known as Eden, or more prosaically on the savannahs of present-day east Africa, it is clear that Homo sapiens did not start life as an urban creature."

With broad brushstrokes, he surveyed the history of how "the world went to town" - and how the town has since changed the world.

Urbanisation has changed the way we communicate with one another, and the way various communities are formed and built.

Many of society's ills seem to come from within as much as they have come from without. And the full effects and reactions to these stresses, cracks and fractures of a postmodern, or a post-postmodern generation, we are still discovering.

But as the parable of the wise and foolish servant serves as a useful caveat: whither shall I plant my seed?

To read the full article of John Grimmond's The World Goes to Town, click here.