By Victor J Webster (ret. surgeon), Sydney ~ I recently received an email, alluding to the exemplary behavior which had been observed and widely reported following the recent earthquake and subsequent disaster in Japan, which included the following list: Victor Webster THE CALM Not a single visual of chest-beating or wild grief. Sorrow itself has been elevated. THE DIGNITY Disciplined queues for water and groceries. Not a rough word or a crude gesture. THE GRACE People bought only what they needed for the present, so everybody could get something. THE ORDER No looting in shops. No honking and no overtaking on the roads. Just understanding. THE SACRIFICE Fifty workers stayed back to pump sea water in the N-reactors. How will they ever be repaid? THE TENDERNESS Restaurants cut prices. An unguarded ATM is left alone. The strong cared for the weak. THE TRAINING The old and the children, everyone knew exactly what to do. And they did just that. THE MEDIA They ...

By Victor Webster, (retired surgeon), Sydney -- This is a genuine letter to an evangelical which, against all expectations, made him stop and re-consider: Vic Webster M y apologies for describing your writings as "gibberish". Science does not purport to have the answers to everything. There are many things we just do not know, and many things humans will never know the answers to. What you are asking is the age-old question - "why is there something rather than nothing?" Scientists don't know the answer to that. Like all mammals, our brain power has its limits. For example, you could try to teach, say, a dog the principles of calculus for 5 years non-stop, at the end of which he would not understand any of it. Similarly, understanding why there is something and not nothing - that is the real question -or why the universe exists at all - may well be simply incomprehensible to the human brain - let's hope not. To then say that some god or other ...