I wrote these down when one of our children passed the driving test.
I've never done anything with them or shown them to anyone and the piece of paper on which I wrote them has become tattier by the day, so here goes.
I'll share them with you and then I can throw the paper away.
Maybe they are possible guidelines.
1. IF IN DOUBT, DON'T!
2. ALWAYS DRIVE WITHIN YOURS - AND THE CAR'S - CAPACITY.
3. ALWAYS MAKE ALLOWANCES FOR OTHERS' MISTAKES - AND YOUR OWN!
4. REMEMBER YOU ARE DRIVING A LETHAL WEAPON!
5. DRINK - OR DRIVE - NEVER BOTH!!
6. NEVER DRIVE TOO FAST FOR THE SITUATION.
7. ALWAYS BE IN CONTROL OF THE CAR - DON'T LET THE CAR BE IN CONTROL OF YOU!
Wednesday 30 April 2014
Saturday 26 April 2014
An Afterthought on Us
Perhaps Pilate is 'Everyman' and his guilt represents the guilt of us all as we 'stand on the sidelines', 'sit on the fences', 'keep our heads below the parapets' and 'hide under the radar' of life. (Look how many metaphors we have for everything that those phrases represent.)
How many of us can put our hands up and say, "Not I, surely, Lord"; certainly I can't.
It is Jesus who struggles up the hill of hatred, carrying the weight of our guilt and bearing the full punishment for it, and yet, even as he dies, is still able to find the strength to show his unshakeable love for us all and to forgive us and all humanity, then, down through all the ages and for all time.
PS I remember reading, quite some years ago now, a poem by John Dunne, which began "Spit in my face, ye Jews" which might be of interest to some people.
How many of us can put our hands up and say, "Not I, surely, Lord"; certainly I can't.
It is Jesus who struggles up the hill of hatred, carrying the weight of our guilt and bearing the full punishment for it, and yet, even as he dies, is still able to find the strength to show his unshakeable love for us all and to forgive us and all humanity, then, down through all the ages and for all time.
PS I remember reading, quite some years ago now, a poem by John Dunne, which began "Spit in my face, ye Jews" which might be of interest to some people.
Thursday 24 April 2014
A postscript on Pilate
I feel dissatisfied and annoyed with myself for the postscript I added to my last post, and yet I wanted to add something. It did, however, set me thinking again about that scenario. Why was it that Jesus didn't speak to Herod and why did he speak to Pilate?
I'm sure, in the first case, it was because he knew it would have been a complete waste of time. There would have been nothing he could have said to Herod that would have had any effect on his closed mind.
It is, perhaps, more intriguing to consider why he spoke to Pilate and why he answered his questions. It must have been because he saw in him something real - something that could be reached and Jesus would never fail to respond to that in any human being.
We know that it had no effect on the final fate of Jesus but I wonder how it affected Pilate in his life thereafter. His wife had tried to to warn him against condemning Jesus but he was trapped by his own weakness and all the water in the world could never wash away that guilt from his hands.
Maybe the interplay between them, Jesus, the victim, apparently powerless, yet wholly innocent, strong, dignified, unatraid; Pilate, seemingly powerful and yet powerless to follow his conscience and free Jesus, was enough to eventually produce a redemptive change in his life.
One thing we can say is that , as I once heard someone comment, Pilate is the only other human being, apart from Mary, the mother of Jesus, to be mentioned in the Christian Creed because, by his actions, he became an instrument in the Redemption of all Humanity.
I'm sure, in the first case, it was because he knew it would have been a complete waste of time. There would have been nothing he could have said to Herod that would have had any effect on his closed mind.
It is, perhaps, more intriguing to consider why he spoke to Pilate and why he answered his questions. It must have been because he saw in him something real - something that could be reached and Jesus would never fail to respond to that in any human being.
We know that it had no effect on the final fate of Jesus but I wonder how it affected Pilate in his life thereafter. His wife had tried to to warn him against condemning Jesus but he was trapped by his own weakness and all the water in the world could never wash away that guilt from his hands.
Maybe the interplay between them, Jesus, the victim, apparently powerless, yet wholly innocent, strong, dignified, unatraid; Pilate, seemingly powerful and yet powerless to follow his conscience and free Jesus, was enough to eventually produce a redemptive change in his life.
One thing we can say is that , as I once heard someone comment, Pilate is the only other human being, apart from Mary, the mother of Jesus, to be mentioned in the Christian Creed because, by his actions, he became an instrument in the Redemption of all Humanity.
Thursday 17 April 2014
A Poem for Holy Week
These words began to form in my mind quite some years ago.
It concerns Jesus after his arrest when he is brought before King Herod and then the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate.
ONLY SILENCE
He didn't speak to Herod,
But for Pilate there were answers;
One, of his own race, a king,
And one, the hated foreign ruler.
We may wonder why this silence
for the one and not the other.
May we learn when not to answer
Is the wiser path to follow.
When the hearer doesn't listen
Only silence speaks our truth.
Why is it that we can see these things, and even write poems about them, but not be able to follow our own advice or, even more so, the example of Jesus? Still learning, I suppose.
It concerns Jesus after his arrest when he is brought before King Herod and then the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate.
ONLY SILENCE
He didn't speak to Herod,
But for Pilate there were answers;
One, of his own race, a king,
And one, the hated foreign ruler.
We may wonder why this silence
for the one and not the other.
May we learn when not to answer
Is the wiser path to follow.
When the hearer doesn't listen
Only silence speaks our truth.
Why is it that we can see these things, and even write poems about them, but not be able to follow our own advice or, even more so, the example of Jesus? Still learning, I suppose.
Tuesday 1 April 2014
About "In Time", a poem by Robert Graves
AboutWhen I was younger, Robert Graves was one of my favourite poets and this was one of his poems that I specially loved.
IN TIME
In time, all undertakings are made good,
All cruelties remedied,
Each bond resealed more firmly than before-
Befriend us, Time, Love's gaunt executer!
I love the brevity, the spareness of thought, the encapsulation of so much in so little.
I would love to think that it was true and maybe it is, 'sometimes', but in the light of my last post perhaps I would add, if not 'in time', then, from my perspective, most certainly 'beyond time', it will be true.
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