Just as I was about to compose this message, musing on the significance of this time to people of the northern hemisphere, of celebrating the turning of the season, of rebirth, news came through of a criminal incident which took away the life of a young woman on Christmas Eve. The crime scene was the Lighthouse, which I remember as a cosy little pub in my teenage years, lived barely a stone's-throw away. Perhaps I even went to school with the girl's grandparents, an even more sobering thought.
It is hard to be objective, but one person's death in a comfortable town, which has seen no destruction from the air since the Nazi bombing raids on Merseyside of the early 1940s, pales into insignificance compared with the suffering of the people of Ukraine. Our thoughts must be with them this Christmas as well as hopes for the end of a campaign of destruction, which if not ended soon, will be a disaster for two nations, both Ukraine and Russia.
This is still a time of hope. I intend to celebrate Christmas with members of my family, either in person or at the end of a telephone line. We will look forward to better prospects for our younger members in the year to come. I have lived long enough to know that things do get better. Let us hope that it happens soon for the sake of suffering humanity everywhere.
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