Every day we are more conscious of how fractured our world has become. We are finding it increasingly difficult to live together in harmony. We too easily lose patience with one another. We become irritated with people who hold different opinions to our own.
Yet we have not forgotten how to be kind. I am always impressed by the very British apology I receive when someone’s trolley accidentally crosses my path in the supermarket. And we can celebrate the generosity that fills those same trolleys with produce for the Food Bank to meet a need the welfare state no longer supports.
But beneath the surface is a simmering unease about the changing makeup of our society. We grieve the loss of old certainties. Some are angry and anger sometimes spills over into violence. Although we may not resort to violence ourselves we are choosy about who we associate with and in an unguarded moment we may be tempted to label others inappropriately. And it is not just those with a different skin colour or hairstyle.
Just yesterday a friend, who recently inherited a small property portfolio from her father, told me about one of the tenants. Her first impression was that he was a thug. She felt uncomfortable in his presence. Yet she had to do business with him and, to her surprise, during the conversation her attitude changed. She realised she was not talking to a thug but a mystic. There is more to a person that what we see on the surface.
There are people I have difficulty working with and this is a spiritual challenge. It is too easy to respond aggressively or even easier to just avoid them. If I do, I am contributing to the fragmentation of society, choosing to move in circles that exclude others. I often have to remind myself that people are not a problem to be solved but a mystery to be embraced.
If we are to reduce the tensions building up in our society it will come one choice at a time. It takes a while, as my friend realised, to see the mystery in others who are different from us, those whom we find it hard to like, and glimpse in them the image of God. But a healthy society respects those who are different. We may be surprised by what we learn from them. We may be embracing an angel unawares.
Dave Adams
