Political Manifesto(s)

Election campaigns are fought mainly on television these days, & at times it is hard to tell whether a programme is a political speech or an advertisement for a new brand of analgesic – something to take the pain away. The overwhelming emphasis is on ourselves. The major political parties produce manifestos which are, as I am sure they are in most countries, materialist & selfish. How much this party will reduce income tax, & how much more money will appear in the wage packet. Each group seducing us into expecting more than we have a right to, & persuading us that happiness is coin-shaped.

I was wondering about the effects of political manifesto that might begin: “Except a grain of wheat fall into the ground & die….” It would arise many eyebrows, but few votes, yet it is a lesson we all have to learn. We expect too much for ourselves, & from other people.

Flannery O’Connor, an American woman writer, died at the age of 39. After years of chronic illness she wrote: “To expect too much is to have a sentimental view of life, & this is a softness that ends in bitterness”. And to “sentimental”, perhaps if I suggest we add “& greedy”.

It is the superficial, unthinking expectations we have of other people which are so easily disappointed & which can lead us to despair. Expectations we often have no right to hold. We expect our colleagues, senior or junior, to contribute to our plans & assumptions, to our wellbeing. We define the terms, set the standards, & judge the results (all without bias of course!), & when we are disappointed we say, “Oh, he is just impossible to work with….”

But to despair of people is an injustice to God. Perhaps the reason a colleague does not live up to our expectations, apart from whether the assumptions were correct or not, is that we have not given the right help, or never listened to their ideas.

Maybe the emphasis in my personal life, as in political life, needs to change from “What do I expect?” to “What can I give?” I detect an unconscious arrogance at times in people who, because they ‘given themselves in service’ feel they then have a right to make demands on others.

But giving, once begun, has to go on and, although it can be tough, it is I think, the only valid way of like.

Acknowledgment
John 12: 20-26

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"Love is kindled in a flame, and ardency is its life. Flame is the air which true Christian experience breathes. It feeds on fire; it can withstand anything rather than a feeble flame; but when the surrounding atmosphere is frigid or lukewarm, it dies, chilled and starved to its vitals. True prayer MUST be aflame."

- E. M. Bound