‽istis ponders forgiveness (weekending November 27th 2021)
The week began with a three part political phrase that one day (perhaps sooner rather than later) may be used to sum up at least the prime ministerial phase of the life of the current UK Prime Minister: “Forgive me... Forgive me... Forgive me...” (1)? A place was lost in a speech that detoured off (with fossil-fuel driven car noises optional) to Peppa Pig World; and how the business leaders laughed - with or at?, the jury may still be out.
Real tragedy followed as the desperate channel crossings of many ended in a terrible, terrible death for a few - people probably with far more in common with you and me than that which differentiates us; dehumanised perhaps into a collective term ‘migrant’ and a numerical addition to the record of deaths in similar circumstances this year. The ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors from last week’s blog seem to continue to ebb and flow - and many possibly cannot forgive the architects of attitudes, policies and systems constructed over decades and now maybe working their way out on the seas and in the actions and tears of desperate people; in the eyes of the voting public and the world’s media.
Meanwhile, the ‘Daily Mail online records a potentially complex news item (2): ‘Cricketer Azeem Rafiq meets Holocaust survivor (Ruth Barnett) and tours Jewish Museum in London: Rafiq, the ‘cricketer-turned-whistleblower had rocked world of cricket with allegations of 'institutional racism' - but then ‘last week apologised for posting historical anti-Semitic messages... to a cricket colleague.’ Hailed by some as the way to do an apology. Layers and levels of apparent misdemeanour, ‘crime’ and forgiveness to ponder.
The week began to draw to a close in the UK with news of the death of a 12-year old girl in Liverpool, with four teenage boys arrested in the early stages of the police investigation (3). The occasion of the turning on of Christmas lights coincided with the terrible snuffing out of a young person’s life leaving parents, family and friends who may not be able to forgive - even as the commercialised festive preparations (for what some see as the birth of a Saviour and a supposed cosmic gesture of forgiveness) begin and which come round year after year - potentially bringing fresh waves of grief.
When the investigation is over and any charges brought, when ‘facts’ are presented, possible ‘mitigating factors’ highlighted and verdicts pronounced - can it ever be that to know all is to forgive all when it comes to matters of culpability?
And so, strangely, that brings ‽istis to a final point of wonder: at the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim whose death was announced yesterday. So much could be drawn out to represent a life and talent, to illustrate or express a point. And whilst ‽istis believes that the beauty of ‘Sunday’ (4) can prompt personal forgiveness for perhaps more tricky, maybe less 'easy' sounds of some of Sondheim's music - it is to the lyrics of ‘West Side Story’ that ‽istis is drawn and which somehow seem to resonate with this week’s theme.
Enter Officer Krupky, Diesel, Action, Snowboy, Baby John, the other Jets and assorted professionals: a judge, a social worker, a psychiatrist - all perhaps seeking to bring analysis, to bring insight into the locus of the problem (who or what do we blame?) and the focus of a solution and response (how can we make things better?) (5)
So, perhaps, if “Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos.” (Stephen Sondheim - see link 4 below), then let us add art in all its many forms (possibly beautiful, challenging, in memoriam, provocative, dreadful, disturbing and cathartic) to a toolbox that already may contain political theory, historical analysis, sociology, social psychology, criminology, psychology, etc, etc... For just perhaps, possibly, maybe they can all help us to make sense and form a response to an everyday gaff-laden (6) speech; to personal, sectarian, social, cultural, political, organised, institutionalised and structure-embedded expressions of racism in a pernicious hierarchy; to the awful, tragic, fatal chaos in the channel or in Liverpool.
Surely we need as many tools to help us express and explore, to understand and deal with the ‘stuff’ which (whilst acknowledging that explanation may be very different from excuse) perhaps, possibly, maybe seeks and needs forgiveness - for and in us all.
© Pistis
NB: further reflections and comments linked to this week’s theme and past blog
entries to be found on Twitter: replies, retweets (which don’t necessarily indicate approval, sometimes the very opposite!) and ‘likes’: @Pistis_wonders. ‘Follows’ and respectful comment and dialogue welcome...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10243235/Azeem-Rafiq-meets-Holocaust-survivor-apologising-historical-anti-Semitic-messages.html (my addition of Ruth Barnett’s name from elsewhere in the headlines - in brackets). Also, perhaps further complicated by reports that: ‘At the beginning of the 1930s, the then Viscount Rothermere (Harold Harmsworth) owned the Mail and the Mirror. In January 1934, he wrote - under his own byline - articles that appeared in both the Mail and the Mirror. The former was headlined "Hurrah for the Blackshirts". The latter was headlined "Give the Blackshirts a helping hand." ‘ From a 2011 article by Roy Greenslade: https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2011/dec/06/dailymail-oswald-mosley
(Bo)risible...?
