"..and she's seen a few, I can tell you.."

Pause For Thought from Rev'd Dr Terry Biddington, co-ordinating chaplain at the Manchester Unis

The idea of light at the end of the tunnel suggests hope to many people. And long may it be so! For we all need the light of hope in our lives. But there are, of course, others amongst us who would suggest that the light at the end of the tunnel is only the train hurtling towards us!

The issue here is clearly one of fear. Today we live in a world that appears precariously balanced between hope and fear. We live on a knife-edge and are constantly wounding ourselves on its blade. Perhaps this has been the case throughout history: but it seems to me that it’s the particularly prevalent disease of our own times.

We all know the back story. Our world is now a wired-up global village and every piece of tragic ill-fortune, natural disaster, and appalling atrocity is fed back into our living rooms within seconds of its happening. The magnifying effect of this instant media streaming is seen in the impression that the planet that is our home has become one very scary place! So we imagine that dangers lurk around every corner, that there are enemies behind every bush, and catastrophes just waiting to happen to us in our own backyards - or when we least expect it.

Here in the West we seem to have become deeply risk averse and dreadfully afraid. And so to compensate we increasingly rely on booze and pills to tranquilise us, retail therapy to sooth us, hypnotizing technologies to stop us thinking too much, and evermore sophisticated weapons systems to defend us against everything ‘out there’ that wants to get us!

It need not be so. And I for one refuse to believe that it’s too late, or beyond the capacity of ordinary people of good will (whether or not they have a religious faith), to recognize that, though we may share many differences, we all ultimately share the desire to flourish, be respected and valued, and have the same opportunities to shape the world that –for better or for worse– is the only home we have to dwell in.

Perhaps then the light at the end of the tunnel is not disaster approaching, but the light of the ever creative human spirit shining ahead of us out into the future.