Campbeltown Courier

Thought for the Week

- With Marilyn Shedden

THERE is much passion, many deeply held beliefs and considerab­le concern throughout our country and our world today.

There is also a great deal of sabre rattling, pugilistic rhetoric and just plain rudeness banded about by leaders and politician­s of every country and every party.

We need to learn to find a new way to replace this old worn out way of constant bellicose language.

One politician recently said ‘he hoped his party would take a few scalps’ in the forthcomin­g election. This is not the way forward for a civilised society.

We all have beliefs we hold dear, and know how we would like the result to turn out, but shouting our point of view just doesn’t help.

There is an organisati­on called Place for Hope and they do a lot to support people who are experienci­ng times of conflict or difficulty, mainly in churches. They transform conflict and embrace difference.

When working with groups, they agree ways to ensure that the gathering will be effective.

One of these agreements is that the people will listen to: ‘One voice at a time.’

So when one person is speaking, others listen. People are also asked to: ‘Still the voice in their head.’

Full attention is requested for the speaker, and that also means not rehearsing a response, a reaction, a refute to what is being said.

People are asked to avoid hurtful criticism and provocativ­e language, and not allow the strength of their conviction­s to betray them into making statements or allegation­s that are unfair or untrue.

Whatever our views may be and however passionate­ly we hold them, let us pray that our country and indeed our world, may be a place for hope.

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