Letters - 20 & 27 December 2019
From what we can do to divine psychotherapy
What can we do?
Roger Seal (6 December) is right to describe us as a ‘distracted and broken nation’. It feels as if we are in a civil war. Whatever the outcome of the general election, the country will remain divided, probably beyond Brexit or non-Brexit. What can Quakers do, individually and collectively, to help heal our people?
Fiona Pacey
Still changing the world
We are doubtless all horrified by the recent killings around London Bridge. But one thing that struck me was a comment by a former university tutor about Saskia Jones, one of the victims: ‘She was fearless, she was a warrior, she was going to change the world – maybe she will.’ Apparently, Saskia was contributing a lot through her life. But maybe she will continue to do so as a consequence of her untimely death.
Saskia was twenty-three when she was killed. I was much reminded of Lyndi Fourie, a victim of South African liberation army Letlapa Mphahlele’s orders during apartheid times. She was also aged twenty-three. I wrote about this in the Friend of 22 November. Diana Brockbank referred to it in her letter titled ‘Story of forgiviness’ (6 December). Lyndi’s mother has just written a book, The Lyndi Tree. So much has emerged from the seed of the tragedy of Lyndi’s death, through outreaches like the one I recently had with Letlapa in the UK.
Maybe Saskia will also still make a contribution to changing the world. That will depend on what may touch our hearts, and the depth of our response, when we hear of these terrible atrocities.
Howard Grace
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