I WALKED across the fairground.
It was siesta time on a sunny afternoon, three hours before opening. I felt a little incongruous in my business suit. I was on my way home from a meeting.
I met one of the stallholders, JJ. We chatted about the fair. One of them had had a lucky escape recently. He had not been with them long and did not have a caravan. He lived in a tent. The other day it burned down and he lost everything. “So, we ‘ad a whip round, didn't we” said JJ. =“Well, we ‘ad more than wot ‘e ’ad didn't we.” “Bet you thought we wuz a load of yobbos, didn't yer?” “Yes,” I admitted.
As I walked back across the grass I thought about what JJ and the others had done for their friend. I thought about my original picture of them, a picture labelled, “Yobbos”. I couldn’t help thinking how much better the world would be if more of us had a similar straightforward approach to life. Perhaps we might even be considered worthy enough to appear in that same picture alongside JJ? The words from scripture came to mind: “Love your neighbour as yourself!”
THE REVEREND CANON E G KNOWLES Non-Stipendiary Vicar, Little Malvern Priory
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