Today’s
widely reported news that Scotland has the highest rate of drugs-deaths in
Europe is a glimpse beneath the veneer so often painted over our society.
The latest
figures represent hundreds of ruined lives, broken families and the
heart-breaking loss of human souls made to be great and glorious. The statistics
are all the more jarring when so many in Scottish public life seem to be
obsessed with virtue-signalling policies, lecturing the rest of the world about
(and indeed imposing on it) its liberal values, and congratulating themselves
as the champions of progressive enlightenment.
A deep malaise
Now of
course there are many good things to celebrate in Scotland and it would be
churlish to pretend otherwise – but running through Scotland is a deep malaise.
It’s at heart a spiritual problem, and thus not unique to Scotland, but it often
seems to manifest itself here in particularly chronic ways. Its symptoms are seen
in….
Abortion[i]
– rates at a 10-year
high. That’s 255 unborn children killed every week.
STIs[ii] –Gonorrhea up by 24% in a year. Chlamydia up by 4% in a year. Syphilis rates at 15-year high.
Marriage Rates[iii] – the bedrock of a stable society and the provider of the best life outcomes for children – now at an historic low.
Anti-depressants[iv] – 900,000 Scots prescribed at least one during 2017/18. A rise of 3m (+73%) such items prescribed in a decade.
Mental Health[v] – a 68% increase in the number of students seeking help with MH issues in 10-years. The number in Edinburgh alone doubling in 5 years.
Alcohol deaths [vi] – 54% higher than in England & Wales (2015 fig).
Drug Deaths[vii] – a 27% increase in one year. The highest rate in Europe (and exceeding even that of the USA)
STIs[ii] –Gonorrhea up by 24% in a year. Chlamydia up by 4% in a year. Syphilis rates at 15-year high.
Marriage Rates[iii] – the bedrock of a stable society and the provider of the best life outcomes for children – now at an historic low.
Anti-depressants[iv] – 900,000 Scots prescribed at least one during 2017/18. A rise of 3m (+73%) such items prescribed in a decade.
Mental Health[v] – a 68% increase in the number of students seeking help with MH issues in 10-years. The number in Edinburgh alone doubling in 5 years.
Alcohol deaths [vi] – 54% higher than in England & Wales (2015 fig).
Drug Deaths[vii] – a 27% increase in one year. The highest rate in Europe (and exceeding even that of the USA)
Now of
course individual statistics can be misleading and fraught with pitfalls – also
not every social trend is negative (e.g. suicide rates have decreased, as have
unwanted teenage pregnancies and the overall crime trend[viii]
- there are also some government initiatives that may yet push against some of these
statistics, e.g. minimum alcohol pricing).
No solutions
Taken
together, however, it’s evident that Scotland is a country full of deeply
wounded men and women. Behind every one of these measurements are lives lost, confused, and seeking fulfilment in dead-end promises
– and then off-setting the emptiness of it all in ‘medications’ of all kinds.
Our society
offers no lasting solutions – just a few slogans about ‘believing in yourself’,
‘following your dreams’ and ‘not letting anyone hold you back’. In a world
where the pursuit of self-fulfilment is paramount no wonder record numbers of
the unborn are disposed of and partners left behind as personal tastes change.
The broken image of God
But of
course, it doesn’t deliver – it never can. We weren’t made for gratuitous self-seeking.
We were made in the image of God – who is supremely self-giving. It may be an
image we reject and thus have broken – but try as we might to seek an
alternative the fracture will never stop aching.
As the Augustine
famously said – ‘Our hearts are restless until they can find rest in You’. It is
the truth expressed by Jesus – only ‘if you lose your life for my sake, you will find it’. Only by being what we were
created to be can we find the peace and satisfaction we crave.
Anything
else and Scotland’s people will continue to stumble from one false promise to
another.
There is an alternative
Good government
programmes can help but the great solution Scotland needs is the Gospel – the good
news of Jesus Christ – a Saviour who alone can meet the deepest needs of the human heart - a way
back to God, forgiveness, healing and life-giving purpose.
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