大象传媒

From the Reverend Richard Coles:

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We鈥檙e half way through Lent, the season in which we鈥檙e encouraged to examine our consciences and try to put right the things in our lives that are wrong. A friend of mine, who does not hold with such things, gets annoyed with this. 鈥淭he worst thing you vicars do,鈥� he said to me, 鈥渋s make people feel bad about themselves. And think that middle aged men skateboarding to Kylie in a cassock looks cool鈥�. He鈥檚 right about the latter charge (don鈥檛 judge me), but not, I think, the former. 听Religion, done properly, is about relieving people of the burden of wrongdoing, so they can do right again, not putting it there to weigh them down. But it insists we accept responsibility for our actions first.

This goes against the trend now. Stern-faced interviewees on the news, or witnesses at Parliamentary Select Committees, or communications directors for dodgy governments, chorus their innocence of whatever charge has been laid before them.

I utterly refute these charges鈥�there is no evidence to support these allegations鈥� we deny any knowledge of, or involvement in, these tragic events鈥�

It sounds a bit rehearsed, doesn鈥檛 it, weasely legalese instead of full disclosure? And it reminds me of an old neighbour, an artful dodger, whom I once watched kick a ball through my window. When I raised this with him, he denied responsibility. 鈥淣o, it wasn鈥檛 me. I wasn鈥檛 even there鈥�. I said, 鈥業 saw you鈥�. He said 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got me mixed up with someone else鈥�. 鈥業 live next door. I buried your nan鈥�. 鈥淣o, mate, I don鈥檛 even live here,鈥� he said, as his mum called him in for his tea. 听What can you do if people flatly deny breaking your window, or their promise, or your heart?

In the end there鈥檚 no getting away with anything. You may escape jail, but you don鈥檛 necessarily escape judgment, and if everyone thinks you鈥檙e a crook, you may end up paying a heavier penalty than the one you actually deserve, for disgrace is a stalker, and a persistent one. So maybe it is better, in the long run, to take the rap? Everyone does wrong, some get caught. Admit fault, accept responsibility, and make it right, if you can.

Any resemblance in this Pause For Thought to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

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