LOCAL PRIDE

Pride is one of the 'Seven Deadly Sins' - together with gluttony, greed, and all the rest - but there is one aspect of pride that is positive and beneficial for us all. It is the pride that people once took in the quality of their work and of living together in peace and harmony, with respect for the feelings of those around them - something that we seem to have lost and has nothing to do with wealth or status.

This loss of pride is evident throughout our society - showing itself in contempt for authority, aggressive behaviour, apathy when it comes to voting for national and local leaders, ambition and selfishness which tramples over all those who may be perceived as obstructing the achievements or 'rights' of the individual, as well as abuse of the environment. Locally, this manifests itself in graffiti, rubbish strewn over our streets, damage to private property, damage to public property like our parks and gardens, rudeness to workers in shops and businesses, aggressive driving of motor vehicles, and much else.

What sort of mentality is it that makes a person smash glass on the safety surface of our childrens' playground or thinks that they are being very clever in jumping on glass beer and spirit bottles? - leaving a hazard for tiny children, animals both domestic and wild, as well as a danger to the tyres of cyclists and the elderly who rely on their electric buggies to take them around the neighbourhood.

Young people may be to blame for some of these things, but why do we regard them as some sort of alien species who descend upon us after dark and disappear by morning? These are our children and grandchildren - and those of our neighbours and friends. We are all responsible for what goes on - by saying or doing nothing, we are in a real sense, approving of their activities.

More importantly, what sort of example do we as adults, set for them? We often ignore each other in the street and are too busy to bother about the needs of others. We have taken away the authority of our police. School teachers are not allowed to touch a child - if punched in the face, they cannot retaliate. When a parent told a local teacher 'you are just a civil servant, because we pay your wages through our taxes' - what sort of message was that giving to their child? We prefer to blame London-based politicians for what is happened on our own doorstep - as if they should have the universal remedy for everything. It is much easier to blame someone else than take responsibility for our own actions.

Many of the world's great religions and philosophies have a version of what is often known as 'The Golden Rule' - that is, 'Do to others as you would want them to do to you.' In the teachings of Jesus, it has several expressions and one of them runs 'As you sow, so shall you reap.' We need to sow a few seeds of the right kind of pride once again, so that we can begin to change the world. We can start right here, where we are - and it is not someone else's responsibility. It is for all of us!

Martin Fredriksen - Vicar

Archive Summer 2005 | next

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