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Deviating from the script

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Written by Andrée Seu

December 31, 8:00 AM

Thinking it was safe, Newsweek published its 2007 obituary of “Famous in Life, Noted in Passing” in its January 7, 2008 issue, everyone from Brooks Astor to Jack Valenti. Who knew that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto of Pakistan would render the tally unprescient by her December 27th assassination? The fact of it underscores what we all know but like to pretend we don’t — that history and the future will never proceed according to script.

You can dispatch Condoleezza Rice on her if-it’s-Tuesday-it-must-be-Belgium globe trotting, you can throw $10 billion in aid to Musharraf in the war against terrorism, as the U.S. Congress did. And some guy with a will and a way will still snake through the crowd in Rawalpindi and change the equation of power in the Middle East.

What next? Will the anti-government unrest ignited by the murder escalate? Will a broad-based coalition government rise from the ashes to tackle extremists? Will the centrifugal forces on regional divisions worsen? What will happen to Karachi, that hotbed of violence and power base of the Bhutto family?

“Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. When his breath departs he returns to the earth; on that very day his plans perish” (Psalm 146:3,4).

Topic: Commentary, Faith & Inspiration

Keywords: Benazir Bhutto, history, Pakistan

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back to top10 Comments to “Deviating from the script”

BY NJLawyer 12.31.07 AT 8:44 AM

I remember the day JFK was shot. A teacher came into our room to speak to our teacher, and I will never forget the expressions on their faces. JFK was three years into his presidency, and I think most people at the time thought he’d have two terms (not me, I was a kid and didn’t think about such things). The assassination took us by surprise. What I have been mindful of these past few days when I watch the news is that I remember most people back in 1963, then later in 1968 for MLK, Jr. and RFK, were shocked — but in the US, we didn’t have massive riots or burn cars or all the other stuff that’s going on in Pakistan. They are even arguing over what actually killed Bhutto — a bullet or a hit on the head. Either way, she was assassinated.

No one knows what will really happen, but it doesn’t look good. I would like to hope that the people will take Bhutto’s words to heart: that “the best revenge is democracy.” If they have this much energy to riot, perhaps they can focus it against al Qaeda and even Musharraf and take control of their own lives. I guess I’m hoping for a revolution by the people, and I’m hoping they’ll win. Is that realistic? Probably not. But this is a moment in history that will decide not only the future of Pakistan, but the future for a whole region, if not the world.
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BY Random Name 12.31.07 AT 9:06 AM

Well, I don’t think God will need to flood us this time. We’ll do it to ourselves, thank you very much.
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BY Sawgunner 12.31.07 AT 9:14 AM

I thought some segments of the US—large cities with festering urban poverty–in fact did go up in flames. (Alas the rioters burned property/job sources in their own neighborhoods)
Bhutto is on her way to martyrdom. Not quite up there with Che but you just wait.
What I’ve read about Harvard alum (1973)Bhutto on other blogs, she was an international opponent of abortion. She was resented by the avg Paki for looting so much money from a country wretchedly poor to begin with.
Her father sent her to Harvard and the bitter snow of Massachusetts even though she had asked for sunny California instead. Her father reasoned in the bright sunny weather she would not study diligently, but in the Massachusetts snow she’d stay in and do her work!
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BY Sawgunner 12.31.07 AT 9:17 AM

I dont believe any time soon we’ll see Benzir Bhutto airport, Bhutto Blvd, Bhutto memorial hospital etc
As with JFK, I’m certain an early end will seal their legacies from critical enquiry.
Since muslim jihadi fanatics disliked all Bhutto stood for, I dont see them rioting over TIME’s year-end tribute to the recently deceased
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BY mswagg 12.31.07 AT 9:53 AM

Andree,

You seem to always have the right scripture for the occasion.
Do you realize what a blessing from God this is in your life?
(readers….this is not from a “Bible program” …its from reading and knowing the scriptures)
Thank you for daily bringing us back to the Bible.
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BY NJLawyer 12.31.07 AT 11:41 AM

I honestly do not recall rioting after JFK, MLK, Jr. or RFK. I know there have been riots — I live in a suburb of Newark, and I remember the riots back in the day. I think as Americans we are shocked when someone is assassinated because we believe that it’s okay to really disagree with someone, but the overwhelming majority of people would never think to kill someone who disagrees with us, no matter how strong the disagreement is.
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BY John M. 12.31.07 AT 12:26 PM

This may be overly cynical, but because Pakistan is a Muslim country with the Bomb, it’s probably not in the best interest of the West to have a democracy there. The safest thing for us is to have a relatively benign, secular dictator like Musharraf with his finger firmly off the button.
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BY Marie 12.31.07 AT 12:29 PM

John, that’s not cynical, that’s honest. Democracy is for people with self control and personal integrity. Muslim culture is incompatible with it.
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BY Peter Leavitt 12.31.07 AT 2:03 PM

Andree well understand what Lincoln finally came to understand that in the long run human purposes are subject to the both the awful and, we pray, merciful judgment of Gods. The following from Lincoln’s Second Inaugural address is classic:

The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”
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BY pastorholland 12.31.07 AT 4:32 PM

God is slowly, very slowly (I am a slow learner) teaching me to stop planning the year so meticulously. By this time of the year I have usually planned the church calendar for the year, decided on family trips, and committed to this or that study series.

I think this year I will finally let God write the script, and hang on for the ride! What fun it will be to see what each month holds. After all, my meticulous planning never worked out the way I ever envisioned it to on any of the December 31st’s of my life.

May I not pretend to be the prince of my own life in 2008, for in doing so I shall portend my own downfall.
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