Love Bravely in 2016

The Guardian newspaper has published its own New Year’s honours list, a positive and encouraging riposte to the official one. The Guardian’s list, as a prototype for what an honours list ought to comprise, is long overdue.  Official lists, and officialdom in general, largely miss the point when it comes to who should be honoured and what honour actually signifies.

To honour someone is to mark the example of courageous love which they have set. To honour someone for giving money in order to press home personal advantage, be it of class, status, or political favours, is vacuous praise for empty and sometimes duplicitous actions. The honour itself will consequently fade with time and the person receiving it, if he or she has won acclaim for what are essentially selfish or self interested actions, will also fade. Selfish people invariably end up alone. Hopefully, they will realise this while they still have time to re-order their priorities and change their ways.

Honouring people for the right reason is important because it invites the rest of us to examine our priorities. What would we like to be remembered for? Have we had the love it takes to work sacrificially, and often anonymously, for the sake of others, and sometimes be prepared to die for what we love? 

Those honoured on the Guardian’s list have done this in a variety of ways. Christina Figureres, UN climate chief, persevered in her belief that human beings were capable of making a collective decision (irrespective of political differences) to work for the saving of the planet before it is too late,  Azis Ansari, the twitter heckler, took on Rupert Murdoch and his dangerously pernicious slur on Muslims. Khaled al-Asaad died, brutally murdered, faithful to his life-long commitment to preserving his nation’s history for future generations. Lassana Bathily, a grocery store owner, risked his life hiding two of his customers in the shop basement during a Jihadist attack. And there were others, better known but seldom publicly honoured for their courage and integrity. Barak Obama and Angela Merkel were among them.

All of these people have manifested through the actions they have taken, or the words they have tweeted, that goodness and truth will, if allowed, prevail against all odds. Goodness and truth may sound like abstract notions, but they belong  very much to the ordinary in our day to day lives. Goodness and truth pertain to the person who is faithful in circumstances which may be boring, unpleasant or dangerous, because they know that others need them. They know the truth of the situation and they love bravely. In the boring and the ordinary, as well as in the difficult and dangerous, goodness and truth are the best of what we are. We may not realise this until long after the moment, or the many years, have passed. But sooner or later we will know how capable we are of living and loving courageously.

It may not come as a surprise, then, that the God of Abraham, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, tells us that in his sight we are already honoured and loved. (Isaiah 43:4) The love is, of course, unconditional. It is also the meaning of honour. God’s love is not a reward for achievement. It is simply a quality of our mutual existence – God’s existence in relation to us and our capacity to receive his love. Receiving love can be difficult, especially for those who think of themselves as unlovable for most of the time, so to be willing to receive God’s love is itself a courageous act. The courage required has to do with coming to terms with the fact that there is nothing which qualifies us for God’s love, and nothing which disqualifies us either. Honour is entirely God’s prerogative. He honours us by knowing us as unquestionably worthy of his friendship, whatever we may think of ourselves, and however others perceive us. What greater honour could anyone wish for?

A Happy New Year to all my readers.