A Bad Day
However bad a day you might have had a couple of days ago I suspect that Gordon Brown will think he had a worse one. After an encounter with Gillian Duffy, a lady who probably counted herself as one of his supporters, he made the cardinal error of not ensuring that his microphone was switched off before expressing his less than flattering view of her opinions. In the end he spent forty minutes in Mrs Duffy’s home trying to put things right.
For some this is an event which will change their vote – for others its rather perturbing – while other might be wondering what the fuss is about. But there was, I think, a part of the story that was a cause for concern. I think that most people looking at the encounter actually thought that Mr Brown had played it quite well – he obviously thought otherwise, that it had been a disatster and so, and here’s what concerns me, he immediatley looked around for somebody else to blame. Who’s fault was it, who had allowed him or caused him to meet Mrs Duffy?
As it turned out, this truly was a chance encounter – or as chance as it can be when a Prime Minister is on the campaign trail – and so nobody was to blame.
But it does speak to me a little of the sort of society we live in where the temptation is always to think that somebody else is to blame and somebody else is responsible for putting things right. The end result of us all thinking that way would be that nothing will get done. And there is so much to do. One of the things I point out in sermons from time is that as many children in Africa die each day becasue of a lack of clean water or proper sanitation and died in the attack on the World Trade Centre on 9/11. The day of that attack will live in infamy – the daily deaths in Africa are a hidden disgrace.
I said I might try to get some links in here so that we can try to become a community which seeks to make a difference. Those who know me will know that I try be be a supporter of WaterAid. Why not think of saving some lives today? Link below.