Dear Benedict,
My husband and I used to ride a tandem together. Unfortunately I was unable to find a photo of us and want to assure you this was not us!
However, Chapter 34 of your Rule did remind me of our tandeming days. A tandem is a very just form of transport. Each puts in what they can and receives what they need as a result. Unfortunately our country doesn’t seem to run like a tandem. Too often the one on the front is putting in all the effort whilst the one at the back lays back and enjoys the ride.
‘Each one according to their need’ you write and it’s a good Rule. Only too often we inflate our need because of greed rooted in fear. ‘But what if we couldn’t have that?’ we wonder and as a result we order some more or take something that someone else really needs, or reduce our aid budget or …
One of the things that has been obvious to me during the COVID19 lock down is I don’t really need very much. I may have got used to having a lot and it may be challenging to reduce my consumption, but do I really need all these things? It seems not.
In your Rule you really challenge the grumblers too. Whoa! I’d love to see you on Twitter. Today I learnt what some people thought about a young woman, stripped of British citizenship, who is currently trying to return to the UK from Syria. She left UK after being groomed and radicalised on line when a child. One person wrote ‘I wouldn’t want to be her neighbour’. So I thought of this…
When I was young, being radicalised, were you there, were you there?
When I was young, being radicalised, were you there?
And the creed and the colour and the name won’t matter, were you there?
(Borrowed from Sydney Carter)
You might want to add your own verses: abused, groomed, trafficked, and so on. Where were we for children and young people like these? Where are we now? Living next door?
From the remembered gospel: Jesus said ‘which one was the neighbour??’
Help me live the life of a true neighbour.
From a Friend of St Scholastica and a Member of the Lay Community of St Benedict.
