The Guild

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Autumn 2006
Tuesday 18 October 2006
I’m not sure if the National Trust for Scotland knew what to expect when they advertised for families to come and live in their vacant cottages on the island of Canna,  But they know now - the international response has been huge.

Perhaps they shouldn’t be surprised.  Isn’t there something in most of us that’s attracted by the thought of a simpler, less hectic way of life in an area of superb natural beauty? What’s not to like? Mind you, I suspect that the list of things we’d like to leave behind is actually far longer than the list of things which would lure us to up sticks and head west.  The way most of us live now undoubtedly ups the stress factor and tires not just the body, but the spirit too.  I know there are days when I wish someone would beam me up and deposit me somewhere as idyllic as Canna sounds.

But one of the long-term residents, whose family can trace its roots on Canna back to the seventeen hundreds, warns against seeing this opportunity purely in terms of an escape hatch from the pressures of life in the fast lane.  She reckons that such people aren’t looking to get away from it all, but instead are trying to get away from themselves.  ‘And there’s no point in them coming’, she says, ‘unless they’re content in themselves.’  

These are wise words, but how do we achieve that sense of being at ease with ourselves?  We certainly shouldn’t confuse it with complacency or laziness, because it requires effort, the effort of honesty, without self-delusion or flattery and with an acceptance of the truth.  It might not be pretty, but it’s a place to start.  People of faith find comfort in the belief that there can be healing for our hurts, and forgiveness for our failures, in following a particular path.  For Christians that hope lies in a God who knows us thoroughly, the complete unexpurgated version of our lives, and loves us still. Being known and loved in that way opens up new possibilities and broad horizons, wherever we live. 

Friday 13 October 2006
I’m at that happy stage when my children don’t much care what’s in their Christmas stocking as long as there’s a cheque in there somewhere and when grandchildren are, I hope, a fairly distant prospect. But I was still interested to read the predictions from the Toy Retailer Association about this year’s wish lists for Christmas. 
The influence of film and TV characters is evident, with spin-off merchandising from various blockbusters making a strong showing.  Gender stereotyping persists as the latest dolls are out front in the “must have” stakes for little girls.  Old standards like trainsets and board games also make the list, and I say - thank God for that.  I was relieved to see that very few, if any, of the nation’s favourite toys are weapons of make-believe destruction.
In too many cultures across the world guns are  symbols of status and power and there can be fewer pictures more shocking than those of child soldiers cradling weapons just about as big as themselves. I’m told there are gangs in Latin America where initiation involves proof that you’ve killed someone and there are babies who are being given names like Uzi or AK.  It’s estimated there are 639 million small arms around in the world today,  and it’s a trade without regulation.  There are in fact more rules surrounding the trade in postage stamps than  the trade in hand guns.
But this month there’s just a chance that something might be done about that.  Our government is one of several sponsoring a Global Arms Trade Treaty at the UN and humanitarian organisations are mounting a mass lobby in New York to press for arms control.  Supporting the campaign is David Grimason, whose son was killed by a stray bullet as he slept in his buggy, a casualty of a dispute where one guy reached for his gun – because it was there. An arms trade treaty could make such casual use of guns less likely, and would be a pretty good Christmas present to the world.