It was quite hard, turning over the rippling waters of the River Tweed, but I was rewarded with this!
I do rather wonder if Aberdeen really looks so calm and sunny in April? But I love the purpley-blue colours and the two relaxed yet stylish day-trippers. My going away-outfit was a bit like their daywear! I'm looking forward to what everyone does with this theme. Thank you for all your contributions - the more varied the better!
So, archaeology was my real passion through childhood and my teens (OK, there was a guy too, for much of that period, but we won't talk about him today... much). I was, and still am, captivated by the everyday lives of people in the past. Things that bore other people, presumably because they are merely the pages of a book or the stones of a wall or the broken remnants of a pot, jump into life for me. Interestingly, our Son 1 is the same, and the photocopied words of his history lessons become real people to him.
I was thinking about which of the Cardinal Virtues that I haven't covered should be the subject of my last post, and I just couldn't choose! Instead I decided to just think about the idea of the virtues as a whole. This won't take long...
What I've been thinking is that, until last year, I thought that these lists of 'nice things' were rather sacharine and cute. They seemed to be about pretending that nasty things don't happen, and didn't appear a realistic way to look at life - similar to the way that I thought about Paul's exhortation to think about 'whatever is good' (I did a post about that last Lent). An alternative way to look at them was that they are all rather dull and hard work - how could a real life full of these virtues be anything other than worthy and unpleasant?
As I discovered last Lent, however, choosing to think about the good things, and choosing to live with sacrificial virtues rather than 'a bit of fun', turns out to be neither twee nor bleak. It turns out to be the best way to actually go on living and loving and thriving and growing. Drat. Teenaged cynicism is given its final death-blow. Life is fun and God is good! How hard can that be, really?
Seemingly random shootings culminated in terrible deaths at a school gate, and a frightening siege which ended with the gunman's death. Family, bloggers and other friends have sent me emails, left comments and made calls - I told our pastor, who lives near the gunman's flat, that people around the world have been praying for us all - thank you so much. And please keep praying, because it isn't all over, despite the death of the killer.
The religious communities seemed to be more able to speak peace at this point. I copied the most simple, heartfelt prayer from a local French friend on my Thursday post, below. I've been looking now for some of the beautiful, noble words that were said at the time of the killings at the Jewish school - Jews and Muslims both spoke so simply and with such humanity. But here's the strange thing: the news articles where I read those words have mainly been deleted. Plenty of articles in English and French about the events and their repercussions, but the gentle thoughts of leaders and ordinary people aren't on the web any more. Humble thoughts and good news don't last as long as grouching and political analysis, perhaps.
One thing I do know is that people who spend more time forgiving the little things are better practiced at forgiving the big things. This is what the poor vicar whose family was torn apart in the vicarage attack back in the 80s said - I'll never forget it. He said something like: "Forgiveness had become a daily habit, so that when I needed to forgive this huge wrong, it still came naturally". His daughter, who was raped in the attack, has also said: "It's not whether you can or can't forgive, it's whether you will or won't". She went on: "Of course, sometimes I thought it might be quite nice to be full of hatred and revenge. But I think it creates a barrier and you're the one who gets damaged in the end. So, although it makes you vulnerable, forgiving is actually a release. I don't think I'd be here today without my Christian faith. That's what got me through."
I recognise a desire for humility and forgiveness in people responding to the Toulouse killings - of course they don't have to be Christian to value those virtues. But I also recognise in myself something that Nancy said in response to my last post: "It is so difficult to be strong; and to be stronger than darkness is only possible with The Light."
I can't put it better than a French friend did on Facebook:
I wish I had more news to give you about the gunman who has now been under siege in Toulouse for about 16 hours. We are so glad that they have cornered him, but it is anxious, waiting. He can't get to us, now, but we have friends from church all around the area where he is holed-up, and of course we fear for the police too. Your prayers are still very much appreciated, for the bereaved (the funerals have taken place today, as I expect you saw) and for a peaceful transition from siege into custody now.
In fact, my mother collected Chinese embroidery, and I hardly display it at the moment, so this is a good opportunity to bring some out.
I think my grandpa brought the soup bowls, plates and spoons back from his naval escapades in the Far East - they've been languishing in a box for far too long, and I really like having their spring-like colours on display.
They go well with the usual European vintage and hand made selection too!
Thank you so much for your comments and prayers about the killings and ongoing threat in Toulouse. Security around the schools has been really stepped-up and everyone is talking about it, but in fact when I had to drive to two different businesses in Toulouse for work today I wasn't affected by road blocks or anything, which I'd feared. We're being warned that the killer is likely to strike again, and I guess we can only pray that he is thwarted and caught before he can do any more harm. We aren't terribly scared - perhaps we should be, but life has to go on and we can't be crippled by terror, just cautious and prayerful.
We don't really fear for ourselves but the tragedy in our own home area is hard to accept. I've already forwarded one kind, prayerful email (sent by a blogging friend in the USA) to our pastor, as he and his wife will definitely be more affected by all this than we are. Schools and religious buildings are being urged to increase security. The soldiers who died were all of North African or Caribbean ancestry and the latest victims, Jewish. It's impossible to tell if there is a racist, 'religious' or other type of motive, or even if the latest killings are connected to the earlier ones. But shootings like this are not really known in France and we are sad, confused, alarmed and disturbed.
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