Rediscovering the Common Good
One of my favourite stories- and you don’t have to be a Christian to identify with it- is that of Saint Peter caught in a terrible storm while out fishing, and with Jesus seemingly far away and up a mountain. With no fish and his boat flooding, Peter throws himself into the water and starts sinking, convinced that God has abandoned him and all is lost. Then he sees Jesus reaching out his hand and he is rescued.
I guess I am not alone in feeling a bit like a troubled Peter this week. Witnessing the riots on TV and seeing part of my local neighbourhood (last night in Clapham)trashed was to feel a terrible sense of powerlessness.
And yet today civility is showing signs of fighting back in a way that should put the hooligans to shame. In Clapham and other affected areas, ordinary people turned up quite spontaneously with brooms and bin bags to help with the clearing up, and to offer a cup of tea and simple comfort to those whose premises had been destroyed. Such gestures of solidarity was something our parents and grandparents experienced during the Blitz when large parts of London and other British cities were being badly bombed.
That spirit shows signs of surfacing again, as people react to the utter callousness of those who have looted and torched the livelihoods of ordinary working people in recent days. Finally social networking –twitters, facebook, texts- is being used in a positive sense, not to identity the next target for trashing, but as a way of connecting with people who want to help restore a sense of co-stewardship in our society. People are rediscovering there is such a thing as a common good, and that brings with it a sense of dignity, personal self-worth, and positive power to all of us Peters.
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