Comment by Harborough churches: Let's not play the blame game and become more dividied over Covid-19

Every week the Harborough churches write for the Harborough Mail. This week, it is the turn of the Rev. Andy Murphy, Methodist minister in Market Harborough, Kibworth and Naseby, and vice-chair of Churches Together in Harborough)
Rev. Andy Murphy.Rev. Andy Murphy.
Rev. Andy Murphy.

Viewpoint by the Rev. Andy Murphy, Methodist minister in Market Harborough, Kibworth and Naseby, and Vice-chair of Churches Together in Harborough

Our four year-old son has just started school. He joins his older sister in one of Harborough’s brilliant schools. Taking two children to school with all the added precautions necessary has made it an interesting couple of weeks to say the least! But what amazes me is how the new children seem to take it in their stride – not only accepting fully the procedures (which for them are now just ‘normal’ things associated with coming to school) but also learning how to interact socially with one another.

They are learning how to be kind, how to share, how to accept one another’s differences, how to say sorry, and how to forgive. These are basic things, but it’s interesting how quickly we can grow out of them! Does getting older corrupt us? Or money or power? Or does the world just get a little bit too complicated for those basic values to apply?

What I’ve also noticed through conversations with other parents is just how much they are complying with everything that’s being asked of them at the moment. Wherever possible, we are taking our children to school. Wherever possible, we are going back to work (although many are now facing redundancy). We are standing safely in line, following the rules and wearing our masks. And now, whenever we have a cough or any other suspicious symptom, we have to go and get a test and, if necessary, keep ourselves and our family at home again.

It seems to me that the natural effect of going back to school and work, and other things we’ve been encouraged to do, will be a rise in virus cases. And yet, it seems, those same ‘younger people’ are now being blamed. This blame has coincided with certain media stories about young people having wild parties. I don’t know anyone who’s had any wild parties recently! What I do see, however, are people of all ages trying to make the best of a very difficult situation; trying to do the best by their families and trying to protect others as best they can.

I mentioned the positive virtues I see in children taking their first steps in social interaction.

There are also some very negative childish urges which don’t seem to go away. The impulse to blame others – especially to cover over our own faults or mistakes – is one that children can be very good at. They are not the only ones.

Perhaps what I fear most about this pandemic is that, yet again, as a society we will be driven to blame one another; that we will become ever more divided. In the church, we try to hold together as a family of all ages and backgrounds. We’re not always the best example, I know!

But when we do achieve healing or reconciliation, it always involves coming back to those values we were taught as children: kindness, sharing, tolerance, owning up to our own mistakes, and forgiving others.

Andy Murphy's interview with Fr Owen O'Neill who retired as local Catholic priest this week can be seen at youtube.com/watch?v=99k8jjV9aDM