Beyond Conflict
Sometime during the excitement of setting up our first home, a government leaflet was posted through the front door with instructions on what we should do to protect ourselves against a nuclear attack. We were to take supplies of water and tinned food to the cupboard under our stairs, barricade the door with a mattress and remain there until the danger had passed.
I was expecting my first child during the Falklands War and profoundly affected by the TV coverage. Years later, my three children rushed home after realising the images they could see on a shop television screen were not a film. Instead, they were the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Even now, I am at a loss on how to explain such atrocities to a child.
My grandfather served as a stretcher bearer on the Western Front during the First World War. Shortly after the armistice, he collected three poppies from the Flanders battlefields and carefully pressed them in a book to remember lost comrades. He regularly attended annual reunions of his unit and local meetings of the League of Nations. For that generation, it must have been an immense tragedy when their sons and daughters felt morally obliged to enlist in a Second World War, to live through the threat of imminent invasion, and survive a bombing campaign, quite literally in and around their homes.
This generation was also confronted by bitter evidence of the holocaust, that absolute depravity of human nature. Reading Interfaith Group continues to challenge the hatred, warped sense of identity, and misinformation behind attacks on the Jewish community.
Our course through life depends upon an honest understanding of human nature. We have free-will but seldom the knowledge, patience or humility to understand the many different perspectives. Sometimes we do not live up to our capacity for reason. Powerful individuals manipulate the information we receive, distort our judgement, create a warped sense of identity, polarise communities, propagate fear and pitch human beings against each other. In the words of one faith tradition, it is necessary to be “as wise as serpents, and gentle as doves.”
My involvement with Reading Interfaith Group began by attending their annual Autumn event, held at the Friends Meeting House to mark United Nations Day.
Some time after this encounter, I attended a peace demonstration, held outside the old town hall in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan. The following week was rather a lonely experience because for some reason, I was the only one there. Surrounded by passing traffic, and just Queen Victoria for company, I recognised that whatever else went on in the world, Reading people could show friendship through walking, talking, giving and receiving food, whilst visiting places of worship together. It says a great deal for the people of Reading that our Friendship Walks attracted about 600 participants every year, and lasted for over a decade. People still tell me that the first time they visited a place of worship other than their own was through the Friendship Walks.
Conflict is not just about wars, the media and international leaders. It can happen between neighbours, friends, disrupt faith groups and even infiltrate families. At times it can be very hard to see another perspective or accept that we do not possess the whole truth. Our emotional responses may not provide the best guide to resolving a situation. If we try, there is no guarantee it will be a reciprocal arrangement or that justice can be restored. Although we may at times feel powerless, I believe it is always in our power to set a good example, in our homes, communities and faith groups right here in Reading. To forgive and seek forgiveness can require wisdom self-restraint, and often courage. It will be the wisest, most generous and courageous thing we do.
Active support for the peace makers of this world is something my grandfather was able to do through the League of Nations. For me it has been through the Reading Interfaith Group, We are not always successful. Sometimes it rains upon us very very hard! I have, however, absolutely no doubt that a commitment to reduce conflict wherever possible and in every aspect of our lives is the right thing to do.
Sarah Griffin