There is a sign not far away from where I live, a bit like the one above, which flashes a red angry face in an intimidating manner at motorists who dare to break the speed limit as a clear sign to everybody around that a criminal has scant disregard for the cildren in the school the sign is guarding. I have no problem with this kind of sign, except this particular one sits in a 30mph area with a sign recommending a 20mph limit at school times. My problem is that on a Sunday morning, as I travel to Church, wearing my clerical collar, I drive past the sign at thirty, the speed limit and it flashes agressively at me with the angy face and pointing out to all and sundry that a vicar taks no notice of the rules and dares to drive past at twenty-nine when there isn’t a child in sight.
Before I end up with a string of people objecting, during school times I will drive past at twenty partly because there is a sign telling me to do that, but more importantly, because children are precious and small children in particular do not always understand the dangers motor cars present and as responsible adult, it is up to me to me to protect them. The same sign that registers me as a sinner on a Sunday morning, smiles at me and praises me for my impeccable behaviour.
In the same way, I object to speed humps, my car has a faily decent ground clearance and is wide enough to straddle some of them, I will still drive within the speed limit, but find it frustrating that speed humps will be put on roads with a 30mph limit and people have to slow to a snail’s pace to cross them! Right, that’s my first rant of the New Year over and done with, there may be more to come, but I needed to get that off my chest!
Back in the old testament times Moses was stuggling with the behaviour of the Israelite people as they wandered their way to the promised land, so God set down guidelines for good living in the form of the ten commanments. The jews realised that following laws made good sense and so wrote hundreds of laws, some of which look quite silly today. Jesus, in the Gospel story claims two importand rules, love God and love other people and to emphasise this, he says “as I have loved you, so you must love one another. I have always thought that obeying that solitary rule means that we can’t do harm to others.
When the Pandemic hit in 2020, we were faced with new rules, stay at home apart from necessary trips out, social distancing, a term we’d not used before came into common useage, we learned to queue for shops, hand sanitise, wear masks and learn to use things like Zoom and Whatsapp and a whole host of things we’d never heard of before. The rules have relaxed a bit and as infection rates rise, there are those who want the government to act, to demand that people are vaccinated, wear masks, take lateral flow tests, stay at home if possible and a whole lot more.
I try to apply the same principal I do as I drive past school as children are arriving and departing, I drive cautiously, because I am concerned about them. In much the same way, I wear my mask, try to social distance, hold meeting digitally instead of in person, try not to mix with large groups of people, so that I can keep vulnerable people as safe as possible. Please don’t simply do what you do because of the rule book, but because you care about people.