This year seems to be speeding by – here we are in May already! As I write this, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, spring flowers are open and the buds are breaking open on the trees. All seems pleasant and perfect. Until we turn on our screens and see what’s happening in the world – tariffs, trade wars, air attacks, stabbings, assaults, bullying.
Makes me want to call out ‘Mayday!’
The emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organizations such as firefighters, police forces, and transportation organizations also use the term. It is customary to repeat the word three times consecutively during the initial emergency declaration (“Mayday Mayday Mayday”).
The “mayday” procedure word was created as a distress call in the early 1920s by Frederick Stanley Mockford, officer-in-charge of radio at Croydon Airport. He had been asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency. Since much of the air traffic at the time was between Croydon and Paris, he proposed the term “mayday”, the phonetic equivalent of the French m’aider (a short form of venez m’aider, “come [and] help me”).
So, when troubles get on top of us, be they global, national, local or personal, our first call should be a ‘Mayday, Mayday, Mayday’ to the Three in one God – the all powerful, all knowing, all loving One as the Psalmist says’ Come quickly to help me, O Lord my Saviour.’ (Psalm 38:22)