Letters - 30 November 2018
From Collateral damage to artists and sustainability
Collateral damage
I was delighted to see part of the Collateral Damage art installation at Friends House in London featured on the cover of the Friend (9 November) and to read the article about it.
It was also good that many individuals and organisations – not all of them Friends – had contributed and wanted to remember and ‘honour victims of wars in the last century’.
The poppies are unique and beautiful in their own way – just as the victims whom they remember are (some are still alive and living with the effects of war) and were.
What a pity, then, to see that when I visited more than half the display was stuck behind display boards – put out for organisations that had hired and were using meeting rooms that day.
I understand the need to make money from hiring out rooms. However, I feel that covering part up of the exhibition honours neither the victims, nor those who made the poppies, nor those who made a special journey to view the artwork. Imagine if display boards had been put around the Cenotaph or a memorial so that no one could see wreaths that had been laid on Armistice Day!
The artwork has huge potential to help people reflect on the true horrors of war and, if combined with displays about our peace work, to help people understand and reflect on that.
Thank you to Linda Murgatroyd for curating the exhibition. I hope it gets a permanent home, or can be part of a travelling installation for use by Meetings across the country.
Helen Carter-Shaw
Complexity and simplicity
Harvey Gillman (16 November) appreciated Derrick Whitehouse’s article on literal and metaphorical perspectives (9 November), and suggested it should be more widely shared in order to help us explain ‘the diversity of the Quaker way to the world at large’.
I, too, welcome discussion of these important issues in the spirit of bringing people of differing viewpoints together, rather than dividing us. I, too, resonated with parts of the article. I say ‘parts’ because, sadly, I found several paragraphs virtually impenetrable. The extremely long sentences, many unfamiliar abstractions and a high density of multisyllabic words eventually defeated me.
Were other Friends better able to understand this than I was? I have no theology degree (though decent literacy and a Master’s in Psychology) and I really struggled. I would hate for a complex argument to be ‘dumbed down’, to be sure, but on the other hand it would be good for more of us to be able to engage with these discussions and, as Harvey suggested, be helped in our efforts to explain Quaker diversity.
Helen Gamsa
White poppies
I am grateful to Brian Hodkinson (2 November) for his suggestion that the sale of white poppies could be moved from November to May in order to mark International Conscientious Objectors Day. It is an idea I hope Friends and other peace churches might consider supporting.
I have been dismayed this year at the lack of general acknowledgement in my own town (a garrison town) of the sacrifice of conscientious objectors, with so much emphasis being laid on the ‘glorious’ dead.
Now that the 100-year commemorations are over, can we finally begin the process of real peacemaking in our communities by the laying down of so many misapprehensions about conscientious objection?
Brian Hodkinson’s proposal offers a way to acknowledge white poppies not as rivals to the red version but as related; a way of expressing our gratitude to those (many of whom served and died in theatres of war) whose conscience led them not to take up arms.
White poppies carry the message, so dear to Friends, of inclusivity – the fact that lives other than those of British soldiers were tragically and wastefully laid down and continue to be laid down in the pursuit of war. This message should never be allowed to be forgotten.
Incidentally, in response to a letter in the same edition of the Friend, the Royal British Legion did, for the first time, ‘allow’ Friends in Saffron Walden to lay a wreath of white poppies at the town’s war memorial.
Jackie Bartlett
Rabindranath Tagore
Recalling Rabindranath Tagore’s visit to Woodbrooke, Ian Kirk-Smith (12 October) tells of a man of awesome talent with wide human sympathies. I caught a glimpse of this sixty-five years ago when meeting Indian crewmen on a sea journey to Singapore. Their regard for Rabindranath Tagore was tangible.
Since then I’ve discovered much about this wonderful human being. His friendships with Quakers here and in India were maintained by visits to the school he founded in Santiniketan in 1901.
Rabindranath Tagore was a poet, artist, philosopher, social reformer, educationalist and man of faith. The golden thread uniting these was his deep and abiding humanism, which permeates his poems and songs, novels and plays, and his writing on politics and economics, society, religion and education. His faith in humanism was his governing principle throughout his life.
In the Tagore 1961 lecture Humayun Kabir stated that Rabindranath Tagore’s message is of significance to the contemporary world because of his emphasis on the value of cultural autonomy for individuals and groups, and the need for cooperation among all on the basis of the universality of reason.
Two world wars have shown that the denial of the rights of others leads, in the end, to the loss of one’s own rights. There is no security without justice. Force divorced from reason can only lead to disaster.
Rabindranath Tagore stood for creativity and cooperation based on rationalism and universality, principles of human survival, welfare and progress. His wisdom is much needed today.
Tom Jackson
Allegiance and anonymity
We are informed that ‘Friends struggling with addiction do not always feel fully supported by their Local Meetings’ (10 August). A significant part of the problem may lie in the use of language.
It is hard to translate the word ‘alcoholic’ into plain-speaking ‘Quakerese’. This is no problem when describing drunkards, but what about committed teetotallers in Alcoholics Anonymous circles, some of whom have not touched a drop for years and may be confident of their ability to refuse alcohol?
That’s not exactly the behaviour of the besotted, yet we are stuck with the same word, used in this second case in a passive form to describe historical problems (with the suggestion that they could return if one ventures back down that slippery slope).
It would be good to introduce a word such as ‘recoholic’ to patch over this, but we are stuck with an ambiguity that might cause George Fox to choke on his porridge. I found AA beneficial for nearly three years, but left on account of this problem. It had me thinking of a red-faced Elizabeth Fry waving her gin bottle to the gossips in the gutter.
Grey areas still accepted, let us attempt to make some kind of separation between active drinkers and teetotallers in our definition of ‘alcoholic’.
I suggest it should be acceptable for some to describe themselves as alcoholic, though let us try to avoid a clash of allegiance over anonymity. Though not a Quaker principle, we may uphold it as a right for others.
Tim Hughes
Expertise and wisdom
I am grateful to David Boulton (16 November) for expressing thanks for the service of our recently departed – and much-appreciated – editor, Ian Kirk-Smith; also to Harvey Gillman in the same edition of the Friend for reminding us that gratitude and affirmation expressed to those Friends who are called to do ‘strange God jobs’ on behalf of others is a necessary encouragement.
It has clearly been at no small personal cost that Ian Kirk-Smith enabled us, through the letters pages and articles and reports and news items he has selected, to reflect the various and sometimes conflicting opinions and activities of Friends in Britain.
Perhaps it is remiss of us not to have thanked him more promptly. The Friend, which he has guided, will continue to offer us channels of communication, but his expertise and wisdom will be missed.
Barbara Pensom
Artists and sustainability
The Quaker Arts Network is working with Swarthmoor Hall to mount a group art exhibition there by Quaker artists in July and August next year.
The theme will be ‘Sustainability’, focusing on works illustrating Quaker spirituality and witness in this field. It will be a selling exhibition (though this is not its primary function), and works in any medium will be considered, subject to practicality.
We are writing now to give advance notice to artists who may feel inspired to create suitable works.
John Lampen
Linda Murgatroyd
quakerartsuk@gmail.com
