I was not a great fan of Margaret Thatcher. I never voted for her. I thought some of the things she did were just too divisive. But I can see two sides to most arguments - a great weakness, I know. And I wonder - without Thatch, would today's Britain be much different? We would still have shed our old manufacturing industries - the world would still have globalised. Coal would still have been inefficient to extract - and the Left would today be arguing it causes global warming. She was no more unpleasant than others on the stage of the 80s - than Ken Livingstone, or Arthur Scargill. And she exuded competence - in a way that her main opponents across the Commons, Foot and Kinnock, never did.
But some hated her, and I can understand that. Personally I hope that, now she's gone, we may get some more news on the Hillsborough disaster - maybe stuff that's been kept quiet until she's no longer around.
Now, a lot of the Social Media, and at least one newspaper, have been gloating in her death. And I think that's wrong. A death - whoever's death - is a solemn moment, a transition from this tangible world to an uncertain future. To gloat at anyone's death is a terrible thing. To be relieved at a death is maybe another, where the one dying is currently responsible for a bad state of affairs, which may now become better if we're really lucky. But to me that's relief, not gladness. Nobody gains if an old woman dies.
And if Christians gloat in a death, we're really losing it. Death is a terribly serious business for Christians. It is, after all, the thing Jesus died dealing with. Death is the gateway to two possible final destinations. If the departed one is heading - as it were - down, then that might be God's righteous judgement, but we would be wrong to cheer that. If they are heading upwards, then if we make that journey ourselves later we're gonna look right idiots if the one we laughed about is in the arrivals lounge, as part of our own reception party. Especially if she then forgives us for our gloating.
As my old mum would say, if you can't say something nice, don't say anything,
Death is tragic. Margaret Thatcher's death is a tragedy. The circumstances that brought her to power were tragic and the way she used her power brought tragedy to many lives and communities. We've been making a mess of the world forever, but that doesn't mean we can't be critical of each other.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Jesus would have been entirely in agreement with your old mum.
Criticism is absolutely right. I'm not commenting on criticism here. Criticism implies judgement and a certain detachment. Critical facilities are essential in history. That's not the same as a bunch of people who will one day themselves be dead, shouting "ha ha you're dead!"
DeleteI have seen no newspaper that you could remotely describe as "gloating" - fawning and brown-nosing certainly, but not gloating. Or are you a closet subscriber to the Morning Star?
ReplyDeleteMust confess, I was thinking of the Socialist worker's website. But also the Bell cartoon.
DeleteThe problem is the legacy which looks like lasting a good deal longer than the Olympic one! After an initial gloat, I've decided the only thing I can really do is offer sympathy to her grandchildren and get on with trying to make life a tiny bit better for people today.
ReplyDeleteFair enough.
DeleteAt least Peter you have the grace to offer sympathy to her grandchildren. Are the sins of the fathers forever to be held over the heads of the children? I hope that those who have gloated with such venom and hate do not find their own children at the recieving end of something similar upon their own death. You do not have to be a politician to be hated.
ReplyDeleteThank you for what you said, AE. Scapegoating saddens and frightens me; I'm horrified, though not shocked, at the gleeful and venomous "rejoicing". I suppose much depends on your theology of praying, or not, for the departed. For some of us it's described as an act of mercy and charity - something all of us will need in our flawedness (is that a word?). So I'm praying, and hope someone will pray for me when my time comes - even if others might be dancing in the streets!
ReplyDelete