Reconciliation

The media constantly remind us why Christ’s message of love and reconciliation is so badly needed. Not just because of the wars and conflicts that plague the world but in disputes much closer to home.
The other day, I watched the television coverage of the anniversary of the miners’ strike. Years have passed and we might have landscaped the slag heaps but the anger and hurt still remain. One elderly ex-miner bitterly stated that several “scabs” still lived in his village but that he would never speak to them until the day that he died.
Such attitudes are passed from generation to generation. The men who represented both sides of heavy industry right up into the eighties started their careers in the aftermath of the 1926 General Strike and the Depression of the thirties. In turn, disputes of those times had their roots in much earlier battles. A continual cycle of distrust and hatred, in which the side in the ascendancy at any one time exploits the situation to the detriment of the other. This is often made worse because individuals use such circumstances to try and increase their own power base. In the case of the miners, whilst Scargill and Thatcher fought their own egotistical power struggle, thousands of others followed them to disaster.
When Christ spoke of turning the other cheek, he demonstrated his understanding of how hatred is so destructive and negative. The person doing the striking diminishes themselves and if the person struck responds in kind, they reduce themselves to the level of their attacker. God requires us to be positive, to learn tolerance and understanding so that we can share equably the bounty that he has provided.
It is probably true that our old heavy industries did need reviewing in the light of changing market and labour patterns. However, nothing can excuse the brutality and heartlessness of how the mining industry was destroyed, or the other heavy industries once the miners had been broken. It wasn’t just the pits that went but an entire way of life and the communities that it supported. Phrases like “the dignity of labour” are nonsense. There was precious little dignity in crawling along a coal seam on your hands and knees. However, there was courage, loyalty, community and pride in doing an almost impossible job well.
If you want to see the tragic effect on individuals, then watch films like Brassed Off, The Full Monty and Billy Elliott. Many men never worked again and their families suffered accordingly. Just study the numbers receiving incapacity benefit in the old heavy industry areas and remember that some of their wounds are not easily seen. Even for those eventually finding work, it was never the same. It is hard when you have been a coal face worker to take a pride in stacking supermarket shelves or serving in a D.I.Y store.
Also, let’s face it; the finance and service industries that replaced the heavy industries have hardly been a resounding success. They bred a generation of selfish, self-centred Yuppies who have led us into two recessions and a much unhappier society.
There is much that Christians can do. The chain of hatred must be broken. The ghosts of past disputes still need exorcising and open wounds bound up. To avoid such damage in society in the future, we must bring Christ’s love and reconciliation to divisions that occur. Most of all, we must bring Christ’s values to society and constantly remember that human beings and their personal development are what really matter. When all people count and are free to develop, we will be one step nearer to God’s Kingdom on Earth.