Where did this all come from?
Well, I've been reading the public responses on the BBC website to the temporary 'suspension of politics' in the wake of the tragic death of David Cameron's oldest son. Some people seem to resent the fact that Parliament was suspended for a short time out of respect for the grief of the Leader of the Opposition. Some people seem to think that it's a bad thing for others to respect the grief of someone in the public eye and to be affected by it.
Well, I've got news for them. Here is a famous quote:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.
The key phrase is this: "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind"
Isn't this what we are ALL called to be? To be 'involved in mankind'... to be in solidarity with those who suffer? To share their grief and to let them know that they do not suffer alone or in isolation.
I do not have the right to presume to know what Mr and Mrs Cameron are feeling right now. Their grief is unique and personal to them alone. But no matter whether someone is the Leader of an Opposition or whether they're the local refuse collector, if I come to hear about a tragedy or a loss they are suffering, it is heartless of me to refuse to feel sympathy out of some misguided loyalty to some concept of 'Britishness' best now left in the wastes of history.
Jesus commanded us to love one another as we would ourselves wish to be loved. It seems to me that the so-called 'stiff upper lip' is in direct opposition to this commandment. So what if we're now more inclined to show our sympathy and be more emotionally affected by the losses of those in the public eye? Those losses are no different to those that are in our own 'private' eyes: those of our own immediate circles... We wouldn't be expected to be unaffected there would we?
If being drawn to sympathy and caring by the plight of someone 'famous' is a bad thing, then I don't know what is good any more.
God asks that I wear my heart on my sleeve. And this I do openly in order to honour Him and those who suffer in my midst. And woe betide anyone who suggests otherwise in my presence.
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