One of the first things I tell people about myself, really as a warning, is that I cry a lot. At good news, bad news, RSPA appeals. Even a particularly nostalgic Hovis advert will do it.
Since Orlando, I’ve cried on public transport. In the office. In a car park. At home. In response to eye witness accounts, doctor’s stories, and politician’s reactions. I suppose like many I’ve been grieving. But what with it this time is a physical reaction. A need to reach out my arms and hug the relatives, the police, the victims. To run and be there, as if that would somehow help. A need to shout out that I’m a human too, that I get it, that though I’m from the other side of the planet we feel it just the same.
Of course that’s probably no use at all, I don’t know. But on a practical level, what can we do? There are crowd funder pages to help the victims families, we could attend vigils, continue to live our lives.
Though for me, when I’m sitting on a train trying desperately not to hug the stranger sitting next to me, I need to do more.
My mind wandered to the mindset of the shooter, and all those committing these atrocities. And I thought, have they ever been in love? Sometimes when my mind wanders I think about what would happen if the person I love fell under a bus. Though not likely but they are incredibly clumsy. And that single thought will make me cry every time. I’m so lucky to feel this, but many people don’t know what that’s like.
When I thought about the loss thousands of people across America are going through – and yet to go through – I made a decision. I’m going to make a change. I’m going to smile at people more, help old ladies across the street, call my relatives and my friends more often. Always, always be kind.
Is that too simplistic? Probably. But I’m not making a political argument. I’m not trying to figure out how or why. I just don’t want to give up on people. Along with millions of others I want to make the world a better place. And it starts with us.
* Jenny Marr is a Liberal Democrat member living in Edinburgh and former co-President of Liberal Youth Scotland
Follow @LibDemVoice on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Subscribe to our feed
Sign-up for our daily email digest
Lord Bonkers' Diary: Conservative members are now attacking their real enemy... each other
Starmer making a mistake over Single Market - Davey
Reviewing the general election
Weekly Road Report - West End Ward #dundeewestend
A quiet conference
From Creeting St Peter to the (Liberal Democrat) world...
On the 20th anniversary of the Orange Book
Chris Moore
Peter Martin
David Le Grice
Roland
4 Comments
London can be a kind place. My six year-old son and I were getting off a bus on Waterloo Bridge and the doors closed too early leaving me on the bus and my son on his own on the bridge. The wheels on the bus went round and round and the people on the bus shouted: “Stop, stop, stop” and my son was quickly rescued. But I shall never forget all those kind faces and their solidarity and quick thinking.
Gun control in the USA varies from state to state, both in the local legislation and in the effectiveness of enforcement. Clinton’s attitudes are better than Trump’s.
It is unprecedented and disgraceful that Obama’s nomination for the Supreme Court is not being accepted or rejected by Congress, but is not even being considered. Shame. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Jenny
A very lovely and particularly important posting that shows that politics is personal and that personal Liberalism is , one of the most vital components of a philosophy that is not libertarian devil may care , but Liberals care very much !
Well done , Liberal Democrat friend !
These are important questions no -one involved in politics should dismiss on the grounds that they’re not “political”. As Jenny shows, a state of mind leads to political acts. So what tends to create – or avoid – that state of mind? There are dangers here of slipping into “social engineering”, but there is nothing illiberal about trying to create a society in which people feel free to be free and to value the freedom and difference of a neighbour or an alien. Our three basic values are liberty, equality and community; and in the constant debates about how to reconcile liberty with equality and about what we mean by these terms, we often forget community. Community cannot be based on hatred or suspicion of others around us; and community that IS based on a common fear and hatred of outsiders leads to war and murder.
How to create a community of the free and equal? That is a fundamental question for Liberals.