大象传媒

From Father Brian D鈥橝rcy, a Catholic Passionist priest:聽
This is a dreadfully anxious time for parents, teachers and children as we try to get some semblance of normality into children鈥檚 lives. Even if things are not perfect we have to do the best we can to make back-to- school work; education is the key to a better future. We can鈥檛 live in lockdown forever. The author and teacher Malachy McCourt wrote about his battle with addiction. The cause of his addiction was his unhappiness and the source of his unhappiness was bitterness.聽
He held onto grudges as if they were precious pearls. At an alcoholics anonymous meeting he was told: 鈥淭o hold unto bitterness is like taking poison yourself and expecting your enemy to die.鈥� It鈥檚 that irrational. A young mother spoke to me a few weeks ago. Her husband walked out just before Covid, leaving her with two young children. She was struggling to live. I realised how impossible it was for her to have to explain to her children that she hadn鈥檛 money for the necessities of life. Her unanswerable question to me though was: 鈥淗ow am I supposed to forgive him?鈥� I explained I couldn鈥檛 ask her to forgive him. Only she could make that decision.聽
But I did explain that if she kept focussing on his inexcusable behaviour, she would never find peace. 鈥淗e doesn鈥檛 deserve the power you鈥檙e giving him to live inside your head destroying you even more brutally鈥�, I suggested. She thought about it. This morning she鈥檒l start a new chapter in her life when she brings her children to school. She realises a good education is the one thing nobody can take away from you. A good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity; it is a prerequisite for it. Malala Yousafzai is a powerful advocate for education, especially for girls.聽
She was so outspoken in Pakistan that she was targeted and shot in the face by the Taliban when she was 15. She recovered in a Birmingham hospital, resumed her campaign and became the youngest Nobel Laureate ever. She recently graduated from Oxford. Her motto is inspirational: 鈥淥ne child, one teacher, one pen can change the world.鈥�