Why keep saying sorry?

Sorry Day commemorations in Wellington Square, Perth, were significant but low key this morning. The usual annual crowd of 3000, comprising school children and business folk, is not as accessible on a chilly Saturday morning. Even so, about 100 folk gathered at the Sorry Pole listened to speeches from Sorry Day leaders, Noongar Elder Ben Taylor, and WA Govermor Malcom McCusker. Traditional dance and a cleansing smoking ceremony accompanied the planting of the “sea of hands” by all present. Coffee and hot dogs completed the occasion.

A letter in today’s paper asks, “Why keep saying sorry? Isn’t once enough?” It is important for our nation’s healing to keep remembering the Prime Minister’s apology to our indigenous people’s for the harmful policies that all but destroyed them as a culture and a people. Many still live with the legacy of the disintegration of family and identity, revealed in over-representation in prisons, poor health and reduced educational opportunities. To say sorry is not to keep on begging forgiveness, but to express the desire to work together in building adequate redress. Saying sorry moves beyond self indulgence in regret and remorse to the frank acknowledgement that things are not good and we want to act to make them better.

“Sorry” is what grammaticians might describe as a “past continuous” concept – the action begins at a point in history and continues on. It does not rest until redress is complete, and there are 50 plus recommendations from the Sir Ronald Wilson “Bringing Them Home” report to parliament that are yet to be implemented.

People smuggler or the Schindler of Asia? – The Drum Opinion

People smuggler or the Schindler of Asia? – The Drum Opinion – Ali Al Jenabi was a people smuggler. Resourceful and compassionate, he took his responsibilities to others seriously. This has cost him dearly. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

I find this article and the accompanying comments moving and disturbing on so many levels. Lamentation, sackcloth and ashes for a country that seems to have lost its soul seems to be the only fitting response.

Salmon Fishing in the Yemen – fishes & faith

A wealthy sheikh decides on a visionary project that would be of benefit to his people (not to mention front door access to  his favourite British sport). Having already built a dam for irrigation, he would now like to stock it with salmon for fly fishing. Money is no obstacle, only the initial stubbornness of a narrowly fixated scientist who is maneuvered into heading the project by a government desperate for a good news story from the Middle East. Throw in a dying marriage, an attractive entrepreneur, and a hint of the current debate between faith and science – mix with the peculiar British penchant for understated comedy, and we have 90 minutes of great entertainment and good story telling. I enjoyed it immensely.

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Blessed are the cheesemakers…

White Dove Bird
White Dove Bird (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sorry – can never hear the “peacemakers” beatitude quite the same again after Monty Python.

Unless I hear it in a translation from the Aramaic text. Here it is:

Healed are those who bear the fruit of sympathy and safety for all,
they shall hasten the coming of God’s new creation. 

(Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons and daughters of God)

In my public harangues I have often drawn a distinction between sympathy and empathy. Sympathy, it seems to me, while exhibiting compassion for another, has tended to stand back and not get too involved – a bit like Lucy’s “I love mankind” sentiment. “Empathy” is much more focused and particular, revealing some costly identification with another person – hence Lucy’s follow through “It’s people I can’t stand!”

In the context of peacemaking, “bearing the fruit of sympathy” might be the appropriate stance. A peacemaker serves best when, assessing the whole picture, is able to bring all parties to the negotiating table. An effective arbitrator needs to be one step removed in order to create the space where reconciliation can be restored. It would not be possible to exhibit empathy for either or both parties without projection or transference/counter-transference issues muddying the waters.

The translation from Aramaic seems to bring greater clarity to the peacemaker’s role.

 

 

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In praise of purposeful passion

Beatitude Deck
Beatitude Deck (Photo credit: upyernoz)

Time to consider another Beatitude from the syntax of Jesus’own native language:

Happy are they whose passion radiates with deep abiding purpose,
they shall envision the furthest extent of life’s wealth.

(Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God)

Again, a translation of this Beatitude from the Aramaic text calls forth fresh vision.

Many of my ilk equate purity of heart with Puritanism – the less said the better – especially with our Down Under larrikin ethos.
The “pure in heart” terminology gets little airing because of the layers of acquired negative cultural accretion.

But “passion radiating with deep abiding purpose?” That’s different. Yet it is the same.

We might call it single-mindedness, yet it transcends mind – even soul and heart – and embraces the interests of all. It is not a single mindedness born of stubbornness, but of having considered all matters from every conceivable perspective. Empathy and compassion are involved.  It is in sync with the preceding beatitudes.

This is a state that eclipses our cultural peculiarities.

 

Terror at the Empty Tomb

“So they went out and fled from the tomb,  for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone,  for they were afraid.” Mark 16:8

So ends the earliest gospel narrative, describing the reaction of the women who, on arriving at the tomb where Jesus’ crucified body was laid, and expecting to perform the last rites of anointing, were confronted instead with his absence and a startling message of resurrection. Terror and amazement were the initial response, not joy and vindication of realised hope.These were for later.

This picture of a flimsy suspension bridge across a wide watery chasm evokes for me something of what I imagine such a confrontation may have meant to those who first entered the empty tomb. Like a good many folk, I have my irrational fears and phobias. When I first saw this image, it awoke my two boss bêtes noirs – a panic of water and a fear of heights. Both evoke instant nausea. Yet the picture draws me in. I am curious to see what’s on the other side, and I am almost compelled  to make the first tentative step, trusting that the cable and the flimsy slats of wood will hold. Terror, amazement, hope and purpose combine into a terrific maelstrom that can be negotiated only one step at a time.

Is resurrection like this? It is a call to something new and transformational. Bridges are archetypes of transition. What is known and familiar is left behind for a new thing that is as yet undiscovered and inviting of exploration.

Terror and amazement are appropriate initial responses.

The empty tomb of the first Easter must have been like that for the friends and followers of Jesus. They said nothing to anyone for they were afraid. Obviously, someone sometime took that first tentative step and said something, because we tell the story today.

 

Mercy from the inner womb

The Spirit of Compassion by Raynor Hoff (1894&...
The Spirit of Compassion by Raynor Hoff (1894–1937), carved from marble on the South Australian National War Memorial, unveiled in 1931. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Healthy are they who from the inner womb birth forth compassion,
they shall feel its warm arms embracing them.

(Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy)

Mercy is often depicted as the grudging letting go of rightful retribution or discipline for a wrong, along the lines of “OK, I’ll let you off this time,but you’re on notice. Don’t let it happen again.” It is often associated with a Western understanding of jurisprudence, allowing for some melioration of the hardness of the cold scales of justice

The word in Greek is eleos, taken after the god Eleos renowned in Hellenistic mythology for pity and compassion. The stories relate to shelter and reprieve for those caught in the maelstrom of political and military conflict.

The translation from Aramaic reinforces not only the notion, but the depth of commitment and nurture behind compassion. Indeed it is a quality that is birthed rather than decided. It is warm and flowing, eschewing all association with jurisprudence.

We may know some such merciful ones.

Recent attention on Uganda has contrasted the viral Stop Kony campaign (for justice) and not so well known rebuilding programs such as those run by the Irene Gleeson Foundation which provides shelter, food, health care, education and vocation for former child soldiers and the following generations. The latter is the face of mercy.

 

 

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