HAPPY EASTER

I would like to wish everyone who reads this a happy and holy Easter.
Because I feel that Easter should be a time for reflection and renewal, I will take a break from posting to this blog for three or four days.
The past weeks have been a busy time, and our energies have been consumed at times by unexpected and unfamiliar activities. In many ways our thoughts and lives have been turned upside down. As we come to grips with what Norfolk faces on the political front, it has forced us to look inside ourselves, and also to look around us to sort out what is important to us in our lives.
In many ways we have been re-discovering so many good things about this island, and especially learning to value each other. Unlikely groups of people have been thrown together, united by a common desire to keep this island very special and beautiful.
However, when feelings are running high, there is a tendency to become single-minded and not see what is going on around us. We allow ourselves to be driven by fear and anger and even resentment, and sometimes this causes us to turn on each other. We begin to label people and groups, and stereotype them. We start to view people with mistrust and suspicion. If the community starts to polarise around differing viewpoints, we run the risk of destroying the very way of life we say we are fighting for!
We should remember there are people who are struggling to get their heads around what is happening to the island, and there are people who have deep questions, doubts and concerns. Some are really doing it tough, and are looking for someone who cares enough to try and make things better. Others are feeling sidelined and insecure, and don't know how their voices can be heard.
We have seen it before in the 70's. The pressures, even those that come from outside the island, can lead to us blaming one another, and there can be tensions in families and in workplaces.
I do not want this to happen. I hope we can really be sensitive to one another's needs and aspirations, and try to understand where everyone is coming from, whether they agree with us or not.
We should be sitting down and listening to one another, and finding out what we have in common.......respecting one another's point of view and agreeing to differ, if necessary.
The Norfolk people are strong and resilient, but we do need each other, every last one of us.
Let us keep the "INASMUCH" principle alive.

Today is Maundy Thursday. Maundy is actually an old word for "mandate" or "command".In the Christian calendar, this is actually the day when Christians have traditionally focussed on one of Christ's most important commandments, given to his disciples at the Last Supper:

LOVE ONE ANOTHER. AS I HAVE LOVED YOU, SO YOU MUST LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

John 13:34