We were told a few years ago that we lived in ‘Broken Britain’. We lived in a country where no one cared about anyone else, that nothing worked and we are on our way to hell in a handcart. It’s very much part of the Daily Mail agenda, a pernicious, numbing campaign trying to convince us that, well, Britain really is broken. But it really isn’t, you know.
A tragedy that happened close to home would have reminded me, if I had needed reminding, that the world is full of caring people who do feel compassion, who are kind, who want to do good.
We do not know the full details yet, but in Stoke Gifford, where I live, a man collapsed, seemingly of a heart attack and the efforts of those to save him, from the accounts I have read, including police officers and locals were of no avail. Except that they were not of no avail. Ordinary people reacted spontaneously to try and save a stranger’s life. I’ll bet none of them, not even the police officers involved, can have expected that today when they woke up. But it did happen today and I am proud of where I live and the people who live there.
Facebook, much maligned, carried a thread from a local group about the tragedy and dozens of people were genuinely shocked and distressed and even though it is likely that few if any of them knew him, the compassion, especially at this time of the year, was palpable. These were not internet rubber-neckers, trying to sneak a peek, but ordinary people genuinely upset and paying sincere condolences.
My guess is that if there had been a police appeal for people in our area to attend and to help, they’d have been swamped with kindness. This man who died, who we may or may not have known, was a valuable life, as valuable as anyone else’s, and the heartbreak we feel is shared within our community.
I mention the season because for most of us Christmas is a time for families to be together and we all realised, instantly, that several families would be devastated today. Christmas, a permanent reminder of someone they have lost just before Christmas 2014.
We’re not in Broken Britain and there is such a thing as society. We moved to the Gifford in 1992 and there is never a day I regret it.
