Langsung ke konten utama

Wednesday 22nd March 2017

On Wednesday 22nd March, a terrorist drove down the pavement of Westminster Bridge, crashed his car and then ran into the Palace of Westminster. He killed four people, including a policeman.

The media was full of the story. 24 hour news coverage meant it was never off our screens. Many of the comments after the attack were angry. Some were more measured. Some sounded statesmanlike, especially from Andrew Neil.

One of the things Andrew Neil said was that terrorism would never prevail, because there were thousands upon thousands of Keith Palmer’s (the policeman killed) in our country.

I did a bit of research, and within minutes, I had found them. I could fill this page with them. People who, on March 22nd2017 were serving our nation, helping our children, promoting good, and in the over-used phrase of mugs and t-shirts, ‘carrying on’.

There’s the fun day at Ashton for the Community Family Support Programme. On the same day, the ‘Eggstravaganza’ day at Honiton for early years children. The Hospice of St Francis was given £5,500 by a firm of lawyers, the proceeds of a quiz night, on that day.

On that day, 22nd March, The Luton and Dunstable District Netball League were in action. On the same day, there was a lecture at Bangor University on the use of technology to help with less resourced languages.

There was even a decision to change our text books in terms of what it says about dinosaurs because of new finds, announced in the science journal ‘Nature’ on that day.

None of these made the headlines. But each underlines goodness, a willingness to give, a willingness to explore, investigate, develop and promote good in the world we live in. Above all, it shows would be terrorists that we live in a society that works well and that will continue to ‘carry on’. There are indeed thousands upon thousands of Keith Palmer’s in our nation. And to every one of them – thank you.

Komentar

Postingan populer dari blog ini

Blinded By Your Grace

In musical terms, I’m a child of the 70s. I grew up on the heavyish rock of Argent, Led Zeppelin, Free and Deep Purple. And when I’m feeling nostalgic, that’s still where I return. So you won’t be surprised to learn that I never really got into Rap, didn’t particularly get along with Punk and as for Garage, Grunge and Grime… it passed me by. That was, until four months back, when the artist Stormzy appeared as a guest on X Factor on TV, and sang Blinded by Your Grace. I’m told he’s a Grime and Hip Hop artist. What I heard was pure Gospel. In fact, for me, one of the best Gospel songs I’ve heard in many years. If you’ve not heard it yet, here’s a link: As I watched, I found myself worshipping: Lord, I've been broken Although I'm not worthy You fixed me, I'm blinded By your grace You came and saved me... You saved this kid and I'm not your first It's not by blood and it's not by birth But oh my God what a God I serve ….. Now I'm in a better place No longer afr...

Sometimes the Mountains are Real

I started this blog nearly 10 years ago. Having reached the age of 50 then (60 now!), and having seen my first child married, I wanted to put into words the ‘meaning of life’ as I saw it, woven from stories, pictures, faith and news items. And that’s what I’ve done. Once in a while, a mountain climbing clothes store or a mountain climbing club comes along and asks if they can advertise on my site. I’m flattered that anyone would want to advertise on my blog, but clearly all they have done is read the headlines! But now and again, the philosophical meets the literal. I’m just back from a delightful week in Wales with friends. Fitter than me, they liked the idea of climbing mountains, so there I was one day, at the top of Cadair Idris, Wales’ second highest mountain. Literal or metaphorical, physical or philosophical, may I continue to encourage my readers to reach the heights!

Tony Benn: He Dared to be a Daniel

Tony Benn (1925-2014) died this week. An amazing man. Someone who stuck by his beliefs throughout his life. Even if you disagreed with him, you had to admire his courage, persistence and lack of compromise. I n 2002 he came to Peterborough for his ‘An Audience With’ tour. A packed theatre sat for two hours with him chatting and answering questions, accompanied only by his beloved flask of tea. (Earlier tours also included his pipe, but health and safety regulations put paid to that!) It was one of my political highlights. I was glad to be there. As Benn put it, the tour ‘ reignites the public meeting, uninterrupted by Jeremy Paxman or John Humphrys’! His autobiography is called ‘Dare to be a Daniel’. It’s a reference to a Salvation Army hymn of the same name, sung to him by his father. His parents appeared to have had a stronger Christian faith than he, but in amongst the ‘honest doubts’ of his first chapter in the book, there is a clear belief too.   Not a traditional Christian on...