Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

CHRISTMAS 2007

Christmas will be a tough time for those who mourn. On special days, the hole in the family gathering where that person should be is somehow greater. I lost my brother Mark in January this year to a sudden heart attack. We always used to gather, the whole tribe at our house, on Boxing Day and this year, the first year without him, the day will be full of poignant memories, funny things he said or did, treasured recollections. We will light a candle in his memory and talk about him and celebrate the wonderful person he was. Whatever view you take of life after death, we can ensure that people live on in our memories and in our conversations.

But predominantly, Christmas is a time of hope. I love it. All year long we politicians deal in the things that go wrong: burgeoning anti-social behaviour, the lost discs, the darkening economy, the gloomy international prospects. It is the stock in trade of politics, understandably, because to make things better you have to grapple with the defects in our society.

Over the festive season we can raise our heads and be boosted by a ray of hope from the Christmas story. The people living in darkness have seen a great light. A child was born, not as a great king in a marble palace, but in humility and vulnerability, in a smelly stable. Joseph was told to name him Jesus – the one who will save his people. He grew into a man who said and did outrageous things. He claimed to know the true meaning of life and offered redemption to those who followed him.

Isn’t it amazing that 2000 years later many are still following him and most of our cherished freedoms and rights that have made us a great nation have been built on the foundations of his teachings? It is no coincidence that only in countries with a Judeo-Christian heritage do we find these values.

And this inspirational story brings hope. Nothing is so bad it cannot be made right. I see it in the faces of my excited grandchildren. I see it in the energy of the sixth formers as they receive their awards for their school efforts and look forward to adulthood. I see it in the rewarding smiles of those serving others less fortunate than themselves – all over the constituency: hope.
Merry Christmas and a Hopeful New Year to you all

posted by Nigel on Thursday, December 20, 2007