HappySad

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Romans 12:15-16

This is one of those easy to understand passages, and quoted often, especially when we get alongside those who are going through a hard time. We tend to stress these tough times, mainly because we are comfortable helping others when their humanity is weakest and most frail. This makes us feel good and helpful. However, the verse has another side, and we ignore at our peril.

It has been said often that pride is the greatest sin, and at the root of many, if not all, other sins. Maybe that’s why we don’t find it easy to talk or preach about being happy for others in the happiness of their achievements. When our friends do a great deed, especially for the Kingdom, we don’t usually rush to congratulate them because sometimes we think: Why all the attention, after all I did that same thing ages ago and nobody made a fuss of me? Oh yes, pride goes before a fall, can be unseemly, and very un-Christian.

(By the way, ‘HappySad’ is a word coined by my daughter Heather, and I have used it often!)

Prime Minister Weeps! News!!!

The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and his wife Sarah are seen to weep during a TV interview as he recalls the pain of losing his 10 day old daughter, and the press seem to have a field day! What's wrong with us as a nation, and as individual people? Do we really think that we are the only ones who weep, and that those in high position have no right to cry, or express their feelings, whether in private or in public?


Before the interview was even screened, the papers (or at least some of them) weighed in with tackity boots and said it was all politically motivated. They said it was all a stunt for the media to get people to see the 'softer side' of the one time 'Iron Chancellor'. Do these people really forget that he is, after all, human? And while we are at it, what thoughts do some of these sub-human commentators have of his wife, the mother of that little life? Obviously not a lot either. Here are parents who have had the tragedy of laying to rest their baby, and all that can be heard from the editorial rooms is the sound of baying for blood. It is said that there is no greater grief than that of a parent who buries their child!


I remember it wasn't so long ago that David and Samantha Cameron buried their very young handicapped son. I don't recall there being a press 'break/tear down' of their sorrow or tears in the way that has followed the Brown's personal tragedy. What does that tell me anyway? Firstly, there are newspapers and TV programs who see this kind of thing as 'open game' and they pursue their quarry in the cause of more sales, or viewers. Secondly, these same people are below humanity, and certainly have no moral scruples. Thirdly, this is the media we deserve, because we buy their drivel, and accept their thinking. 


I have no allegiance to any political party, and am not a member of any either, so I am not motivated from that direction. I am however, a supporter of human life and dignity, at all levels. This is a clear case of 'selective journalism' and 'targeted character assassination'. Can we not allow them to grieve, and forgive them if they are caught on camera shedding a tear for their 'beautiful daughter'? If that is too much to ask, then we as a nation are further down the drain than I had previously thought.


(Related blog posted on 9 Nov 09)