Doodle Bug
January 25th, 2005
Dear Friends
I am not sure if I am a frustrated artist, or just frustrated! For some reason,
committees bring out my ‘doodle’ bug. My first recollection of this disposition
was an incident imprinted on my ‘tail end’ by a Head teacher. Quite why he did
not appreciate my ability to transform her Majesty’s portrait into a hitleresque
figure with spectacles, moustache and pipe, I shall never know. I was reminded
of this trivia whilst feeling smug about Prince Harry’s gaffe and confess that over the years the odd swastika has crept into my distracted artistry! “Let him that is without sin cast the first stone” and all that.
Events in Asia over the last month have checked our sense of reality. Glib views about the acts of God in natural and human history came to a stuttering halt. Some things are really hard to explain! Almost more sobering however, are the 60th holocaust anniversary reflections. Over the years, WW II documentaries have tended to lionise the victors and demonise the vanquished. I don’t recall a series where so many survivors of the concentration camps have reflected on the morality of their experience with such lucidity. I found the musings of threatened musicians in Auschwitz particularly touching. To create music with such pathos as a prelude to mass carnage takes some understanding. Fiddling while ‘Rome’ burns so to speak!
Having once lived in a totalitarian environment, I have long been curious and mystified by the process that numbs the conscience of nations. How do group stereotypes and jealousies arise? What consolidates the public into perverse action? Why are there so few with the courage to resist? Why do we still pin labels on creative people and demonise them? Why do we learn so much about History but so little from History? Why do destructive rivalries arise even within our community of faith? Why do we not have the courage to identify them for what they are?
Doodlers invented the symbols which took on disproportionate influence. For instance the swastika arose as a symbol of ‘well being’ in Sanskrit writing and continues to have that meaning for Hindus to this day, but in Europe the symbol evokes a deep emotion that reminds us of the depravity of our scarred human spirit. By similar token ‘the cross’ symbolises the sacrifice of God’s only Son to the Christian mind. It is a symbol of redemption and hope, of a risen saviour, for those who believe. Never the less, the cross has been abused by the powerful in our history and may well be abused again by crusading politicians and misguided preachers. The symbols on our sleeves are not always understood!
Our commission is to ‘lift high the cross’, not to provoke group rivalry, exclusiveness or superiority but to embrace in love, the lost, for whom God’s deepest emotion is reserved. Our efforts to find more sensitive methods of ministry and homiletic tone have never been more important.
Thank you for the continued clarity of your witness and service. May the spirit of generosity expressed for the suffering many translate into greater sensitivity in our own community.
Yours truly,
Victor Pilmoor
Treasurer