The Cost to Kill
Many have undertaken to calculate the cost to governments and/or tax payers to kill a single enemy combatant. For instance, it’s been suggest that it might have cost less than $1 to kill an enemy soldier in the time of Caesar, possibly as much as $2000 during the Napoleonic wars, nearly $20,000 during the First World War, and double that by the Second World War. By the time of the Vietnam War, the US had spent about $168 billion (equivalent to nearly $1 trillion today!) on the war effort, resulting in a “kill cost” of approximately $170,000 per downed enemy.
In contemporary terms, it’s hard to calculate the cost to kill, since the US government will not fully divulge the true cost of our “modern” and highly technologically driven conflicts in the Middle East and our war on Terrorism. It has been suggested, however, that it might cost as much as $50 million per enemy combatant vanquished.
As high as the cost to kill an ememy might be, it will never be as high as the cost that God was willing to pay to save those who, through disobedience, had become His enemies. That's because every single enemy combatant that God has redeemed cost Him the life of the Son of God.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
Most Prolific Cannibal
Udre Udre holds the Guinness World Record for "most prolific cannibal."
The name Udre Udre still stirs fear in people even though he is said to have died and is resting in Rakiraki.
From stories passed down generations, Udre Udre was from Draqara in the Nakauvadra mountain range. It was the time when tribal war was going on and people were killed, cleaned and eaten beside a river — a spot known as Kanakana Bridge. … Udre Udre and his people moved to Korolevu and some went to Lovoni ...
"When Udre Udre and his group settled at Korolevu, they used to beat the lali an idiophonic Fijian drum from the top of the hill and it could be heard as far as Yaqara," said Epeli Bukadogo of Vatusekiyasawa Village.
"From what I was told by my forefathers, the beating of the lali meant Udre Udre was looking for someone to eat.
"People used to hide their children, who even went and hid themselves when they heard the beating echoing through the mountains.
"He would go for those who were fat and healthy, even children. If he wanted to eat someone, he would just get that person."
Mr Bukadogo said Udre Udre killed his victims by smashing their heads on a sharp stone. …
Udre Udre reportedly ate between 872 and 999 people.
He kept a stone for each body he ate. The stones were reportedly placed alongside his tomb in Rakiraki.
According to Udre Udre's son, the chiefs of Rakiraki would go to the battlefield along with Udre Udre and they would each give him every body part of their victims, especially the head, preserving what he couldn't eat in one sitting for consumption later.
Did you know that not all Christians are alike? Some actually consume their own! We learn from Scripture that there is what might be called an Ecclesiastical-Cannibal.
"But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another" (Galatians 5:15, ESV).
Vanilla Ice Cream and Vapor Lock
According to snopes the source of the following story is uncertain. Nevertheless, it offers us a valuable lesson.
A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it.
It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine.
I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?'"
The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.
The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc. In a short time, he had a clue: The man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store.
Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out. Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time.
Once time became the problem — not the vanilla ice cream — the engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.
Sometimes we fail to see the role timing can play in our problems. For example, have you ever confronted your spouse with how poorly they handled something moments after the incident? Chances are an arguement insued. Next time try waiting a day or two, after the vapor lock has had a chance to dissipate, to discuss sensitive topics. You just might discover that good timing can make all the difference. Cars aren't the only things that need time to cool off.
"A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger" (Proverbs 15:1).