Letters - 7 December 2018
From 'a simple Christmas' to a Woodbrooke haiku
‘A simple Christmas’?
I am angered by the urging to eat, drink and consume in gross quantities to which we are subjected this and every Christmas.
Please, Friends, would you make suggestions for some principles for ‘a simple Christmas’. For example:
- A simple menu for a ‘good’ Christmas dinner.
- A rough upper financial limit per person, which each family could agree to spend on food and drink during the Christmas period.
- An agreement about the amount to spend on presents for a child or adult (with the understanding that this is explained to those concerned beforehand).
- An agreement that presents should be bought from a charity shop for all family members. These can be purchased through the year and saved for the occasion.
- An understanding, if needed, that it should be explained to visitors to the household that the residents are adopting the principle of ‘a simple Christmas’.
- An undertaking to invite someone living alone to come for a snack or meal over the holiday period.
I believe that if more Friends could make it explicit how they practise principles for a simple Christmas, others would be glad to adopt them too, and at least some over-indulgence and waste might be avoided.
Carole Sutton
Circles
As a former offender, I write in support of the letter from John (26 October). It beggars belief that our government should seek to withdraw funds from Circles of Support and Accountability, a scheme pioneered in the UK by Friends, which then became an independent organisation called Circles UK in 2008. What about the financial saving achieved when former offenders desist from offending again, to say nothing of the human suffering avoided?
I sometimes think our government has no interest in preventing crime, merely in punishing it. I was an able but disturbed boy. Like most of my contemporaries, I received no guidance as to how I should comport myself in sexual matters. I realised I was homosexual before I had the language to talk about it. As a young man, ten years before my conviction, I sought guidance about the obsessive relationships that led me later on into breaking the law. I was scoffed at and given no help. Reading accounts of criminal trials, I often wonder at the lack of any reference to the early years of offenders’ lives, which might provide clues as to why some people grow up with mindsets that may bring them into conflict with the law.
I remember George Fox’s words on meeting a man on his way to the gallows: ‘Friend, what has brought thee to this?’ I wonder if people’s reluctance to ask this question stems from a realisation of its implications for childrearing – especially of boys, from whom many of the next generation of offenders will come.
Adrian Smith
Addressing climate change
I note that some Friends have decided to back a campaign backing civil disobedience in support of action against climate change (9 November).
Critics of this have argued that the demands are somewhat vague and utopian, with no intermediate steps on the way to winning them.
For politicians to pay any attention, proposals have to be specific and have a definite aim. Trying to put into practice what I preach, I have written to my MP suggesting that, as transport is an area where the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions are still rising and there are one million more cars on the roads compared to ten years ago, the government should do something about getting people to use their cars less and public transport more.
This could be done by making local bus travel free for everyone (not just those currently entitled to it) at the point of use (like the NHS). This could be paid for by raising fuel duty (at last!) and from general taxation. Other benefits would be less traffic congestion, less air pollution, and hence more encouragement for people to improve their health.
Being realistic, I can’t see myself getting very far with this on my own, so it would be nice to have the support of Friends – and better than civil disobedience!
Keith Bradshaw
White poppy experiences
I would like to share two experiences I have recently had wearing a white poppy.
I visit a local primary school twice a week as a music teacher. When I went to collect a Year Six pupil from the classroom, I interrupted the teacher explaining what she wanted her pupils to write about. On the board were three columns: ‘Red’, ‘White’ and ‘Purple’. Under each were adjectives and judgement statements.
As pupils turned to see who had entered the room, one shouted: ‘He’s wearing one!’ The teacher asked if I might explain why I was wearing a white ‘peace’ poppy. I offered a short and fairly clear personal explanation, and mentioned that this was quite a normal position for me and many – though not necessarily all – fellow Quakers. This proved to be the catalyst for further lively debate. The teacher was immensely grateful. Some thirty eleven-year-olds had been engaged.
Attending a local performance of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, I again wore my white poppy. I was the only person there wearing any poppy, despite there being a display of red and white poppies at the chapel’s entrance. I had a chance to speak with the lady behind me, who tapped my shoulder and said: ‘I’m glad you are able to wear a white poppy to this performance.’ She inquired further and I explained that our local Quaker Meeting house had advertised the availability of white poppies leading up to Remembrance Sunday. ‘I really must come to one of your Meetings soon,’ she said.
Duncan Dwinell
Appreciation
I do hope that there was some mark of appreciation for Ian Kirk-Smith on his retirement as editor of the Friend after some eight years. He and the team have been innovative, creative and just in seeking to reflect the variety of experiences and views of diverse Friends.
This is a valuable publication, which is an essential element of communication to inform Friends throughout Britain Yearly Meeting. I hope that the new editor and the team will have support from us all in maintaining this valuable publication.
Michael Wright
The pity of war
I was interested to read Richard Stewart’s letter about red and white poppies (23 November). He writes of the way white poppies are now being used to remember everyone killed in wars, not just the military, and describes an unusual memorial to civilian victims in the form of a patchwork quilt exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Readers may be interested to hear of a new monument planned for the National Memorial Arboretum, which will commemorate the many civilians who have died or suffered – and who continue to die and suffer – in war. It is a joint project inspired by Joyce Gee, a member of Southern Marches Area Meeting, and Peter Walker, a sculptor, currently artist in residence at Lichfield Cathedral.
As a young girl living in Croydon during world war two, Joyce witnessed the mass bombing of London during the Blitz. She was overwhelmed by a feeling of the senselessness of war and the powerlessness of those involved involuntarily and against their will. That feeling stayed with her all her life.
On a visit to the National Memorial Arboretum years later, she was struck by the fact that, amongst all the many and imposing military rolls of honour, there was nothing to remember the countless victims of war whose names will never be inscribed on any memorial.
Sadly, Joyce died recently, but the project, entitled ‘The Pity of War’, continues with the aim of raising a statue and arousing awareness and discussion through an outreach programme and educational resources.
Linda Murray Hale
Fracking
In March 2015, Scientists for Global Responsibility (SGR) published a report entitled Shale gas and fracking: examining the evidence. If people oppose fracking, it is recommended that they study this report so that they know what they are opposing. I recommend that more Quakers join SGR in order to keep informed on other issues, such as those highlighted in The history of accidents in the UK’s nuclear weapons programme and many other SGR articles.
Bernard R Bligh
Woodbrooke haiku
I attended a poetry workshop recently at which it was suggested that we write a haiku a day. This is a three-line poem of five syllables, seven syllables and five syllables. I was moved to write one at the end of the residential weekend of Meeting for Sufferings:
‘A Quaker shake-up
in Woodbrooke November mists:
clarity calls us.’
Jane Edmonds
