It’s unfair isn’t it how, so often in life, the innocent majority regularly pay the price for the actions of a culpable minority. The first time that most of us experience this is at school where the whole class are detained in the classroom, and prevented from going out to play, due to the actions of a naughty boy (it was usually a boy, wasn’t it!) who refused to admit responsibility for his act of mischief.

We were reminded of this in the most horrific way when a German airliner crashed into the French Alps on Tuesday killing 150 men, women, and children. The tragedy was caused by the direct actions of the co-pilot who, for whatever reason, seems to have deliberately crashed the plane into a mountain but indirectly these innocents were killed as a result of 9/11 and the legislation that followed.

On September 11th, 2001, the deaths of nearly 3,000 people were caused by Islamic fanatics gaining control of four commercial airliners and, as a result, it was decided that henceforth all doors leading to the flight deck would be made ultra-secure. An unfortunate consequence of this undoubtedly sensible and logical move was that on Tuesday, the captain of the German airliner was unable to open the door and gain access to the flight deck once he returned from taking a short break.

Similarly, tragedy occurred at the Hillsborough football stadium in April 1989 when 96 innocents were crushed to death against barriers preventing them from seeking the safety of the football field. Indirectly, they lost their lives as a result of the actions of a hooligan minority whose violent actions in the 1970’s and 1980’s caused the authorities to order the construction of cages preventing fans from invading the pitch and attacking the players and one another.

How terribly tragic and sad. Sometimes it’s difficult not to despair of humanity.