‽istis ponders
eye-watering (weekending October 22nd 2022)
In a week for future pub quizzes (if ‘Liz Truss and
44 days’ is the answer then what is the question?) and when the final report from
the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse[i]
(IICSA) was published and shamed us all – the current Chancellor of the
Exchequer[ii] warned: “We must take
decisions of eye-watering difficulty.”
And ‽istis
wondered whose eyes might be watering:
‽
not it seemed the resigning Prime Minister. No tears shed or voice cracking at
the lectern – even, unfortunately, a trace of wry smiles; perhaps a way of
coping after a devastating few weeks when the greatest delivery may have been that
of a semblance of personal coping; a level of public resilience to be admired
at least
‽
quite probably those whose dreadful, dreadful experiences lie behind and within
the 468 pages of the IICSA report[iii]; even perhaps some of those
people in positions of power who failed to be curious enough, to ask questions,
to raise a concern and raise it again and again, to suspect, to speak out, to
believe, to act, to protect…
‽
maybe not the owners of the means of provision (the new capitalists across
financial services, health and care services, education, energy, water and
sewerage, the criminal justice system, transport, logistics and delivery?) and
the remaining (old-fashioned) owners of the means of production – whose
aspirations for growth and surplus might just allow for some trickle down even
if thems were not quite the (tax) breaks that wer first dangled in front of
them[iv]
‽
almost definitely those who have only just been coping up until now; those who
are having to choose whether to heat or eat; those newly using food banks;
those planning their week’s visits to the warm spaces popping up in their
community (banks, libraries, churches, schools, etc.); those whose new mortgage
rates or energy bills are the final straw; those who will weep in the day and
in the night for their children and themselves and maybe see no way out…
‽
definitely those who are still being abused: in their homes by those they know,
in care by those who are responsible for their care, in cars and parks and alleyways,
in the homes of strangers, near our homes, trafficked away
The
actions and inactions of churches and religious groups and those who belong to
them feature in the IICSA report and whilst ‘suffer the little children’ may be
a phrase from the Bible (though I’m sure that it will be claimed that context
and translation is everything), there is perhaps, possibly, may be other phrases
from the Bible that could guide when ‘my face is red with weeping, and on my
eyelids is deep darkness’ (Job 16:16 ESV): may we ‘weep with those who weep’ might
be a start.
Might we also perhaps recognise the criteria on the day of judgement for all nations (as presented in the Bible), when the goats and sheep are separated for damnation or glory – and that is: responding through actions so people (those who live nearby, those who are constituents, can say: ‘I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ (Matthew 25 :36, The Bible).
And perhaps we can
hope that ‘Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!’ (Psalm 126:5
ESV); possibly even hope that political ideologies and policies could make a
difference for those most in need; may be even work tirelessly to deliver not
some seemingly abstract concept like ‘growth, growth, growth’ but at least sufficient
for all - so that ‘neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain
anymore, for the former things have passed away.’[v]
Just imagine how
different the world could be‽
©
‽istis
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...
[ii]
Perhaps the tenure of the former Chancellor might make for a footnote in future
PhD theses of budding economic historians?
[iii] https://www.iicsa.org.uk/document/report-independent-inquiry-child-sexual-abuse-october-2022-0
[iv]
See ‘mini-budget’ that proposed abolishing the top rate of tax (https://uk.news.yahoo.com/chart-mini-budget-rich-45p-tax-rate-u-turn-145231498.html)
and the resignation speech of Mr Johnson
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOhaLEyOPE8)
[v] The
former things have passed away… Prime Ministers, Chancellors, economic
theories, the likely myth of a golden age in Britain in the 1850s or 1950s, the
old world order, statuses, hierarchies and social structures, a belief that
some are somehow more deserving or worthy than others… oh dear, sounds inherently
like a progressive agenda not a conservative one‽
