Why would a god do this to his creation?

As I write this, the last few hundred human lives are slowly and agonizingly being snuffed out in the piles of rubble in Turkey and Syria. This, after days of agony for tens of thousands from the completely natural process of plate tectonics.

More than 40,000 lives gone and counting.

As it happened at 4 a.m., essentially all these people were asleep in buildings. Families, sleeping. Pregnant women, children, babies, elderly people, good people, and nefarious people, sleeping. On top of the initial quake, there are the aftershocks that endanger rescuers’ lives and kill or trap even more.

As if that’s not enough agony, nature threw in freezing temperatures and snow to make the misery stew even richer.

Imagine being under this landfill that was once a city. Come with me now using your own imagination. How will you finally die? Dehydration? Slowly bleeding out? Suffocation? Hypothermia? Or were you one of the lucky ones who died instantly as your skull was crushed to the thickness of a pancake? Will you hear your child, only a few feet away, screaming in terror and crying while you’re unable to do anything for them? Will you tell them that everything is going to be fine, “God will take care of us”? Will your wife’s crushed corpse be draped over your still living body as you realize that her broken rib cage is what saved you — for a while. Will you wonder if rescue will ever come? Will you drink your urine to stave off dehydration? Will you still believe in a god?

If you are a theist, I encourage you to examine these questions honestly and ask yourself why a god would do this to his creation.

What possible benefit is there to this level of human suffering? Don’t settle for a weak answer.

— Konrad Kummli, Longmont

Mistakes make people distrust the media

President Biden did not “promise” to finish the job as stated wrongly in the Daily Camera’s all-caps headline about the president’s State of the Union address. He exhorted Congress (subtext Republicans) to work with him to finish the job of rebuilding the economy. Huge headlines that are wrong make people distrust the media.

— Bruce Henderson, Boulder

Boulder developers laugh all the way to the bank

The proposed high-end student housing project on Moorhead at 27th Way is yet another instance of corporate interests disrupting livelihoods and wiping out small business, as happened with the Limelight Hotel on the Hill.

Big-money capitalism backed by the City Council, the Planning Department, the Chamber of Commerce, and the University of Colorado is sucking the life out of Boulder, and loves doing so. Laughing all the way to the bank is a phrase that comes to mind.

Change is a universal constant. The corporate constant is to maximize profit. In the eyes of developers and city officials, CU students, their parents’ pocketbooks and the residents of Boulder are regarded as open targets for exploitation. Change is what one makes of it. This project does nothing for the residents of Martin Acres.

— Robert Porath, Boulder

Police oversight members should ride with officers

I come from a family that was attached to the local police department so I was able to be around many police officers growing up. One of the main things that I learned about the police job is that it is extremely difficult in all areas.

For the new members of the Boulder Police Oversight committee, I would like to see a requirement that each person ride with police officers while they are on duty to see firsthand what the job entails. Maybe weekend nights!

This will give them a perspective of the difficult and dangerous job that these people perform every day. Believe me, it is not for the faint-hearted!

— John McCulloch, Boulder