Today I have a headache (dodgy sinuses and a lifelong issue). It’s not helped by reading about the madness going on generally both at home in the UK and outside it.
So I am not going to mention any particular things that are bugging me as it is a very long list. Rather in particular one thing which seems to be very clear from public discourse at present is the total lack of empathy generally. I am getting way too much deja vu recently as it feels like the 70s again but not in a groovy far out prog festival hippy squatters on lentils way, but rather the those NF leaflets that were ubiquitous. So it’s an uncomfortable familiar feeling seeing mobs with union flags carrying messages of hate. It seems like something has gone every wrong starting with Brexit and the Covid lockdowns it feels to me as though I now inhabit a weird alternate universe on many days. Everybody that’s not ‘us’ is ‘them’ and the enemy to be hated, or despised or belittled. And who is the enemy? You or me perchance in some quarters it would seem judging by recent developments. And it’s everywhere now like some weird virus which the fact averse seem particularly susceptible to. So I shall lean back on a bit of scriptures (hypocritical perhaps as I am not a believer) but there are certainly a few gems in terms of how human beings could be a little bit nicer to each other generally.
Zechariah 7:10 (ESV)
Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”
Leviticus 19:34 (ESV)
You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
In a sense all of us are the sojourner, our time on earth is finite and we are often among strangers. We are always them to somebody else at some time so just for our own self interest it behoves us to try and at least do no harm or intend for others.
Those of you that know me may also know that my good friend Vicky Martin was an ordained church minister as well as a band mate for about 18 years and help for me at times when I was in crisis with my mental health. One thing Vicky did well was to try and build bridges between people. I am not so great at that sort of thing and perhaps rather more intolerant despite my best efforts but I salute all those that try.
A tiny drop of empathy can spread along way if you let it.
In other news I am re-working a few things like old videos that Vicky Martin made for the Delta Ladies. They are on youtube but not seen much so they will manifest on TikTok and Instagram and Facebook directly…
@dianastonemusic #lovemymusic #dianastone #violin ♬ original sound – Diana Stone