News at Christmas

After a few days in India I had no idea what had been happening on Strictly, and the whole billboard of soap-opera stars and celebrity chefs had quickly disappeared from the usual gossip of journalism.

At home in Lincoln, I’ll occasionally watch Jon Snow deliver Ch4 News, but for years now I’ve gleaned most of my updates from Facebook postings by The Guardian, Huffington Post, The Independent, Al-Jazeera and Russia Today. 

How else could I ever learn the other side of the story?

The skate-boarding dog

Apart from skateboarding dogs and musical chimpanzees, the US media channels are dominated by their Presidential candidates, exposing the full horror of the US electoral system. I really cannot bring myself to write about that, but there is a different topic, a little closer to home, that shows heart-warming humanity and empathy.

Just occasionally, something truly shocking slips onto the screen of my laptop, like yesterday, when I read that so far this year, 1 million refugees and migrants have crossed from Asia and Africa to Europe via the Mediterranean or the Aegean; - at least a thousand more dying in the course of the sea journey alone.

As I started following the links at the foot of the article, I picked up inspirational stories like a group calling themselves Dirty Girls. I don’t know how many girls they are, but they operate a free laundry service on the island of Lesvos, which is the first European destination for thousands of travellers. Refugees and migrants bag up their dirty laundry and leave it at a drop-off point, then collect it, clean and dry, a day or two later. 

Volunteers, giving something that’s needed.

Then there’s the team of IT nerds from the UK who have installed free Wi-Fi in the Jungle in Calais. In the first hour after switch-on, the system handled over 1,000 emails. Anyone whose children have gone travelling will know the importance of that first “arrived safely” email or Skype call. The tekkies now plan to take what they have learned in Calais and produce a similar installation on Lesvos. 

Volunteers, giving something that’s needed.

Back home in Lincoln, “Compassionate Lincoln” are collecting socks, sweaters and back-packs for the cold and ill-prepared travellers; I had a big clear-out before I left, so someone now has my scarlet fleece gilet, and someone else is now sporting my knitted woollen bobble-cap from the 60s.

Just giving something that I no longer need.

I have talked about the refugee/migrant crisis with colleagues here, in the monastery-ashram, and I am horrified at the attitudes of “well, we haven’t got room for them.” This is a mentality that I might expect in the Daily Mail, but not here. I am shocked that people who come to meditate in a monastery for Christmas could hold such opinions. In times of crisis, there is always room if the attitude is right. It’s that “budge up; make room!” mentality that is prepared to sacrifice a little of our own comfort to make room for those less fortunate.

I am reminded of the story about a guest-house proprietor, years ago, shrugging his shoulders when confronted with an unmarried pregnant teenager and her fiancé. He claimed all his rooms were booked, and let them bed down in an outbuilding, where, so the story goes, they used an animal feeding trough as a cot for their new-born son.

I wish all my friends, family and followers a warm, comfortable and Happy Christmas with all who are close to you.