大象传媒

Ruth Scott Anglican Priest and Quaker:

Earlier this week it was lovely to listen to all your banter about being 50 and how you can鈥檛 imagine yourself being so old. I almost texted you to say that from where I am 50 looks very appealing. Oh to be back there! All this makes me think that how we see things is shaped by where we stand. Recently, a Syrian friend who鈥檚 working with children in Damascus came over to England for a conference. It was Amal鈥檚 first visit to this country and she was like an excited child herself, revelling in everything but, most particularly, the freedom to go out without fear of being killed. She didn鈥檛 want to talk much about what she and her family are living through in Syria. She simply wanted to savour every moment before she had to go back home. 鈥淗ow lucky you are,鈥� she kept saying. 鈥淚sn鈥檛 it wonderful here.鈥� Amal鈥檚 words were in sharp contrast to those of a local woman I overheard in a hospital outpatients鈥� department who鈥檇 been kept waiting for half an hour for her appointment. She was grumbling about everything she thought was wrong with the hospital, the NHS, young people today and life in general! The contrast between her attitude and that of Amal couldn鈥檛 have been more marked. You鈥檒l know the well-worn clich茅 about walking in another person鈥檚 shoes. Usually we鈥檙e encouraged to do that in order to understand and empathise with their experience. But I think there鈥檚 more to it than that: I鈥檝e come to see my situation very differently by looking at it from the standpoint of friends who, like Amal, are living with challenges way beyond anything I have to face. In the gospels, too, Jesus constantly takes his friends out of their own small world to meet others: In those encounters they, too, are confronted by their own short-comings.聽 Like them I can spend my life complaining about what鈥檚 wrong with it, or I can consider how people living through violent conflict or without basic necessities like food, shelter and health care, might see my position. Amal鈥檚 responses remind me to value more what I sometimes take for granted, and to think twice about complaining when I have so much to be thankful for, including the fact that 60 is still a few years away yet!