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Richard Littledale

Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: May 2008

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Like a candle flame…

There was nothing unusual about it, really. Just another roadside memorial - garage flowers, their battered selophane blackened by exhaust fumes, with the remains of an exhausted tea light or two as testament to someone's act of remembrance. I hardly noticed it as I drove past - and that's the whole point. These impromptu memorials were once so unusual that you practically stopped the car to look. Now, they are as much a part of the roadside 'furniture' as a road sign, or a lamppost advert for temporary work. Perhaps it's a silent plea for careful driving, or perhaps we've grown bolder about expressing our feelings in public. I suspect it's the latter.

The candles were out in Amstetten this week - tea-lights, votive candles, lanterns, they were all there. For the most part they were lit and offered in silence, although there was an occasional wave of hymn-singing, as if rising from deep within the collective heart of the crowd, before receding again.

The interesting thing was that this was not a candle-lit vigil as usually understood. It was too dignified to be a protest - and anyway, who could these people have protested against? It was not a memorial act, for the only member of the Fritzl family to have died in that terrible dungeon did so many years ago. Instead, this was a demonstration of support for the victims of Josef Fritzl's cruelty, and something else too. This was a plea by the residents of Amstetten to be seen differently by the world's media. They wanted to be seen, not as uncaring bystanders, nor guilty and complicit neighbours, but as decent, caring, human-beings.

In that, of course, they are not alone. We all feel diminished by Josef Frietzl's horrific cruelty. We all feel tarred with the same brush of twisted humanity. We all want to say "I'm not like that". In essence, we all want to be the best kind of neighbours, even in the worst kind of circumstances.

Many years ago, when Jesus was challenged about the touchstone of religious obedience he answered, as expected, that our first duty was to love God. However, before his interlocutors could draw breath to ask what he meant by such a thing, he was already explaining that our God-love would be seen in our neighbour-love. This was swiftly followed up by the tale of the Good Samaritan, just to make sure that they got the point. Every opportunity to serve our neighbour, and every such opportunity missed through indifference or laziness, reflects our attitude to God.

The worst outcome for the residents of Amstetten would be a kind of paranoia which makes everyone speculate about what is going on in, or under, their neighbour's house. The best would be a commitment to a renewed understanding of neighbourliness.

Are you a good neighbour?

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