‘It is the ordinary people who will determine how much impact is done in the world.’ – Chris Marlow; ‘Doing Good Is Simple;Making A Difference Right Where You Are’
In a week that has seen aggressive and toxic vitriol gush across my social media pages in both the run-up and aftermath of the UK General Election, I found myself despairing of the rationality of the human race. The strident, unrelenting, didactic rants and rhetoric left me disenchanted with the whole sorry process, and worse, with a substantial section of the human race. All of this has been augmented by the continuing political turmoil here in South Africa in which it appears that no one emerges untainted from scandals, corruption and accusations of ‘racism’ – that great joker in the pack; an ‘easy play’ which brooks no comeback from any quarter. The situation in the USA is hardly a political picnic either and continues to play out like some absurdist theatrical circus.
Here, such troubles have been augmented by the Monster Storm last week which hit the Western Cape with both much-needed rain, but also with destructive force felt by all communities, but particularly of course, in the townships where shacks are built with corrugated sheets, discarded materials and precarious construction skills. 5 hours along the coast, the pretty tourist town of Knysna has also been decimated by raging fires which made no differentiation between race or economic demographic. Violent winds fanned the flames into un-stoppable infernos, licking up brick houses with the same ease with which they consumed informal settlements. 10 000 people had to be evacuated – some were stranded on the beach – the hospital had to be evacuated and the emergency services simply could not keep pace with the obliterating infernos and pleas for help.
I woke early yesterday to news of the tragic fire in the 24 storey Grenfell Tower Block in West London. The mesmerisingly surreal pictures evoked both hopeless horror and heart-wrenching disbelief. Personally, I was jolted back to 9/11 and the images of people so desperate to get out of that burning building that they jumped from the windows. Few of us will choose how we leave this word, but roasting in your fiercely fire-filled home in temperatures estimated at 1000° is absolutely abhorrent. One’s home should be the safest place we know; a refuge from the world.
And these are only the stories that have crossed my path. Doubtless around the world, other tragedies are unfolding in their various relentless forms of famine, war, disease, terrorist atrocities and power-mongering quite apart from the wretched daily misery of trafficked women and children, warring divorcing couples, physically, emotionally and sexually abused children, teenage runaways, the homeless, the addicted, tormented and oppressed. One wonders what we have become…
And then, through the smoke, tears and heart-break, comes news of sacrificial heroism on the part of fire-fighters and neighbours; news of overwhelming compassion as one individual extends a hand to help another. Those with nothing left but the clothes on their backs embrace others living the same nightmare. In West London, Muslims returning from early Ramadan prayers come to the rescue of many residents by banging on doors, alerting the sleepers within to the approaching fire. Combined efforts to find water, blankets, food and reassurance will not have been in vain. Here, in the Southern Hemisphere, generous, selfless people have given mountains of supplies, their time and their energy, to getting practical help to the Knysna and Plettenburg communities without fear or favour. While the area has been declared a regional disaster, charities, churches, schools and individuals have petitioned, collected and delivered load after load of physical aid.
And so, amidst the dismal stories, the apparently unending calamities and appalling wreckage which threaten paralysing inertia, I find a tiny spark of hope still burns. I am heartened to read that there is some goodness left in the world after all, and reminded that it only requires the smallest light to penetrate the darkness. Just when it felt as though humanity had completely lost the plot, I find that tenderness is still alive; kindness has a pulse after all; sorrow and empathy wear the clothes of ordinary people. Hope is a powerful thing; an unstoppable force. I plan to hold on to it tightly, with both hands and celebrate the ‘ordinary’ people I rub shoulders with each day.
“There is some good in this world, and it’s worth fighting for.” – Samwise to Frodo in ‘The Two Towers’ – JRR Tolkien
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