Letters - 3 February 2017
From letters to prisoners to transcendent reality
Letters to prisoners
I must affirm what Mark Humphries has written regarding letters in prison (20 January). They are a lifeline that is critical to coping inside.
Whatever a person’s crimes, it can all too often lead to a loss of their support network, leaving them feeling isolated and alone. A regular letter, and the joy felt when it is slid under the cell door, can make the difference between a life with hope or a life lost.
I would urge anyone with some free time to contact charities, such as the New Bridge Foundation, who can match you with a prisoner and train you in how to correspond safely, as well as supporting you with any issues that arise.
To someone alone in the darkness today, you can be a light that illuminates the path towards a more hopeful tomorrow.
Steve
A prison experience
I am moved to write in response to reading Mark Humphries’ article, ‘Prison, ecology and stewardship’ (6 January).
It was such a heartening surprise to read Mark’s words when all we seem to hear in the media is terrible news and views of life in UK prisons – suicides, drugs, riots, understaffing, and so on.
Even the wonderfully inspiring paper Vision for a Criminal Justice System, from the Quaker Peace & Social Witness Central Committee’s (QPSWCC) Crime, Community and Justice sub-committee, in its benign recommendations inevitably and logically implied many of the ills in our current prison system.
Mark’s description of the educational and vocational opportunities offered in the system was the most optimistic news of the prison service I’ve heard for a long time, and his account of the environmental project he was involved in is so inspiring – something all institutions, including Quaker Meetings, can learn from. Mark’s frankness about his own past conviction was also very moving and salutary – a lesson in Quaker truthfulness. Thanks Mark: you’ve made my day!
Lois Chaber
Quakers and Brexit
I was surprised to read a recent ‘Talking point’ by Antonia Swinson (6 January) and a subsequent letter (20 January) that proposed a review of Green Belt policy. To my way of thinking this is not in keeping with the Canterbury Commitment on sustainability. We must all learn that to be truly sustainable humans cannot keep increasing in numbers on this planet at the expense of the planet’s very fragile biodiversity. Countryside around the world is fast disappearing due to the pressure put on it by one species – man. It is precisely when the pressure is at its utmost that we need to preserve the Green Belt and other countryside rather than build on it.
Sadly, I am becoming increasingly concerned that the commitment of Friends to sustainability places far too much emphasis on its effect on other Quaker concerns rather than true sustainability for the planet and its whole biodiversity. This is why I became a member of Quaker Concern Over Population (QCOP), as until we consider the impact of human population we cannot be truly sustainable.
Jonathan Riddell
Antonia Swinson is one of many Quakers to reflect in the Friend on the decision by the British electorate to leave the EU.
In almost all media, the decision has been greeted with shock, disbelief and horror. Then follows the ‘blame’. They must be ‘racists’, or ‘working class’, or ‘right-wing’, or ‘stupid’, or ‘anti-immigration’, or… or…
Then Antonia, in my view, makes a thinly-veiled attempt to group all Quakers together as ‘Remainers’ (‘Quakers are brilliant at quietness, except when they are all agreeing that Brexit is a tragedy’).
Having a personal opinion is the right of all people, but for individuals to suggest that British Quakers as a whole see the decision as a tragedy, is, I feel, outrageous. Thou shalt… decide for thyself!
We will never know the proportion of Quakers who voted one way or another, but, considering that Quakers are represented on all points of the political and economic spectrum, the best one can assume is that we have voted roughly in accordance with the general public.
Of course, there are good reasons to remain and good reasons to leave. For me, the one word which tips the balance is ‘governance’. Brexit is a wonderful opportunity for the people of Britain to be unconstrained by the political and economic desires of the ‘United States of Europe’, of which, currently, we are one voice in twenty-seven.
Bob Morley
In her article Antonia Swinson makes a number of valid points but then spoils matters for me, as a farmer, with her solutions.
Readers of this letter may feel that my views are prompted by self-interest – I hope that some will begin to understand the dilemmas we all face.
In recent history support has twice been removed from farming and the result has been a major reduction in food production in this country. We have used our wealth to purchase food produced elsewhere, usually in less reliable and more fragile climates. It could be argued that the American dustbowl was created by the demand for wheat, or that the Roman demand for grain resulted in the desertification of North Africa.
Currently we produce sixty per cent of our food. We import the rest, thus reducing the food available in the countries we purchase from and possibly more importantly reducing the water resources in those countries (most food movements are largely water movements).
It is not up to farmers to decide future policy but our representatives are consulting more widely than any other interested party I have come across as we try to develop post Brexit policies. We do not create demand, we respond to it. Ever increasing areas are being used to produce fuels, as ‘green energy’ is in high demand while food is not. Finally, remember that we are farmers so we will always feed our families. If others rely on imported food so be it.
Robert Campbell
Kindertransport
Reading the article about the Kindertransport exhibition (20 January) reminded me of the most memorable Quaker Meeting I have ever attended.
It was an annual one, in a barn in an orchard in the Warwickshire village where George Fox was arrested for the last time.
The speaker was Brenda Bailey (wife of Sydney). She talked about Bertha Bracey, who was responsible for bringing children out of Germany to Britain – and two of the ‘children’ were there. A very moving moment.
Helen Keating
2017 Swarthmore Lecture
I write to offer my unequivocal support for the choice of Catherine West MP as this year’s Swarthmore lecturer (27 January). There are two reasons for this.
One is that the opportunity to have the Quaker faith interpreted through the lens of an individual’s life and commitment enriches our corporate understanding. The lecture does not seek to define what we are for or against as a body. I do not hear ‘an address to voters’ as the focus of the lecture and – knowing as I do the complex and lengthy process of writing, editing and preparing the lecture with the help of several experienced Friends – I cannot imagine that such a simplistic approach could result.
Secondly, we ought to want to offer our support and love to a Friend who has chosen this form of public service, and seek to understand the problems, successes and failures it must inevitably bring. In this year of all years, it is essential to recognise the stresses that being a politician, and a woman politician – I shouldn’t need to remind us of Jo Cox – now entails.
If we are unable as Friends to respect Catherine West’s legitimate choice, that says something I don’t want to hear about Quakerism today.
Jennifer Barraclough
We do not know what Catherine West is going to say in her Swarthmore lecture. Are being an MP and a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn of themselves a disqualification for being appointed Swarthmore lecturer? If that is the case, wouldn’t many past lecturers be disqualified by their various affiliations? Every Quaker has other attributes besides being a Quaker.
Lucy Pollard
Transcendent reality
I so agree with Sam Donaldson (27 January) that ‘Success is not one of the names of God’. Truly, ‘our Quaker way… cannot be founded or driven by success, or even the hope of success’; success in securing what we want in this world, that is.
The devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he would put success first. But Christianity is such a great religion because its Messiah chose to fail rather than fight. Love and Truth won.
To follow the Quaker way is to put our trust in a transcendent reality that speaks to our inmost selves of a peace that goes beyond all understanding, and values that carry us beyond death.
Rachel Britton
Comments
In response to the letter from Lois Chaber, I am sadly not at all shocked that the word “surprise” has been included. Yes, we do have serious problems within our prison system and they are regularly documented on paper, through our TV’s and all the social media that has become our daily existence it seems. A testimony if needed, that bad news outweighs good news every time. There is a saying, that when you reach the bottom, the only way is up. For some people, it is only when they have reached the precipice of the abyss, that the light and truth of the world can be seen again. Sadly, for a few of us, that light and truth can only be found within the abyss. Yes, prisons can be dark places of seemingly lost hope, but oh….there is so much light also. Tales of perspective found, lives turned around and a rebirth of Spirit. Future paths uncovered and latent skills of empathy and care discovered. So yes, always work and prey for the lost souls within those walls and fences, but please, do not lose hope. God is at work inside. It may seem hard to believe, but for every negative act or word I saw or heard each day, mainly brought on by fear and loss, nothing more, I witnessed at least two rays of sunshine. Pure, unselfish acts or words from the heart. There is perpetual night inside, but as Quakers, we know that Light can infiltrate the darkest of existences. There is hope.
By STEVE3967 on 2nd February 2017 - 13:13
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