Poison is the wind that blows from the north and south and east?

I was born and raised in England. I’m British. On forms, I’m given the option to tick a box that says ‘British Asian’, which quite pisses me off because my background and cultural heritage do not influence my nationality.

The events in Woolwich were shocking. I don’t think anybody I know wasn’t stopped in their tracks by last week’s horrific happenings. My thoughts and prayers have been with those directly affected since I heard the news. I have a sick feeling in my stomach as I’m becoming aware of what humans can do to one another. What has stunned me, more than anything, are the reactions and comments of those not directly linked to what happened. The aftermath.

Within hours of the chilling news breaking, I had been invited to join several patriotic groups on Facebook. Not religious groups but ‘British’ groups, yet those inviting me were slating Islam. One support page hadn’t even got the charity’s name right (Hero’s – belonging to one hero. Heroes – plural of ‘hero’) They had images of the Union Flag in their profile pictures. They were shouting, in various ways, ‘DEPORT THEM!’. UKIP, the BNP and the EDL exploited the fear and ignorance some displayed. Enoch Powell would have been proud. Are we back in the 1960s?

What made me proud of the country I was born in was its acceptance, tolerance and diversity. What made me like some of the people I know were the same things. My pride in my country and liking of people has suffered increasingly since Wednesday. Seeing the Union Flag fills me with fear. We are not a country united. People I know and am distantly related to are calling for immigrants to be deported. I am the child of immigrants. I am British. My uncle, who came to England from India when he was three years old, has served with the British army and is now part of the Met, is an immigrant. Should he be deported? Also, those who called for Muslims to be deported should perhaps be told that Brits cannot be deported from Britain. The ignorance of some people has baffled, as well as unsettled, me.

People are labelling Islam as an evil religion. When has it ever been okay to stereotype and generalise? My favourite tweet this week asked if we deemed all white men as racists when Stephen Lawrence was murdered. Seems an absurd thing to even consider, doesn’t it? So why are we labelling a whole religion as evil when two men acted in such a barbaric way? It makes no sense. I’m not coming at this from a Muslim’s point of view, I am not Muslim; I’m coming to this from a human point of view. Those shouting that we live in a Christian world, what about the Ten Commandments? I don’t remember there being one stating that we should judge people by others’ acts. I may have misinterpreted what Moses was told on Mount Sinai though. Were all Christians called terrorists when the IRA bombings were a regular occurrence and innocent lives were lost? It is simply bonkers to blame the act of two men on a religion and those who follow it. Religion, race and background are not nasty, people are.

The aftermath of Wednesday has left me feeling like I did in the middle of the London riots, almost two years ago. I’m saddened by the mob mentality people seem to adopt at such time. It’s a different feeling to after the 7/7 bombings. Devastating events brought everybody together, and though completely different circumstances, the next time I felt such unity was at the London Olympics.

One of my idols is Mahatma Gandhi. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Fire does not fight fire.

I have issues with the way the press has dealt with the happenings in Woolwich. But that’s for another time.

We, as a society, seem to have a need to blame tragedy on something or someone. The brutal killing of an innocent man, on Wednesday, was not due to a religion. Blame the right people: two men who are under arrest.

I hope there is a time when unity, tolerance, acceptance and diversity are at the forefront of Britain’s beliefs again. And I hope, as a humanist, it’s very soon.

Sweet Disposition

I told you lot I’d be back. And here I am, starting with a mini rant! As some of you may be aware, there’s an English footballer called David Beckham. Mr Beckham is an icon to many, whether it be for his footballing skills and accolades, his fashion sense and ability to wear anything and look good, or THAT advert.

This morning, I woke up to news that Beckham had signed for Paris Saint Germain for 5 months and would donate all of his salary to a local children’s charity. WOW! This made me do a happy cry. A reported £150,000 per week to a charity. It blows my mind that somebody would something so selfless.

What shocked me was the negativity that some people feel towards his decision. How can there be anything but positivity surrounding this situation? I’m looking at this from a layperson’s perspective so I admit, I may be missing something. Here’s some of what I saw:

·         He’s doing it to avoid the tax.

Erm, no he’s not. He’s only there for 5 months and isn’t eligible for the French tax system.

·         That amount is nothing to him.

So, somebody chooses to donate their salary for 5 months to a charity and it’s nothing? It doesn’t matter about his wealth, he will be working for free for those months. Yes, he gets an income from sponsorship deals, but he will be doing his job for free. For 5 months. How many people would choose to do that? Plus, the amount he’s donating will make a difference to the charity – that’s the important thing, surely?

·         He should donate to a British charity.

Should he? Is there something in our heritage that states that we are only able to give our money to charities based in the country we were born in? A local Parisian charity is benefitting from somebody’s generosity. I’ll take some words out of that sentence. A charity is benefitting. Why do people have a problem with this?

·         Lots of people do the same and remain anonymous.

That is their choice. I’m not taking away from what anybody does. That people to donate to charity is a wonderful thing. David Beckham is a huge name all over the world. Imagine the publicity and coverage that charity will get from this, raising awareness for their cause. They won’t need to spend money on marketing.

I’ve recently had a really lovely experience with a small charity. I got in touch with them, after learning about their cause, in December. The ladies at the charity were grateful for my support and contact but, as it was almost Christmas, asked me to make sure I felt able to donate as much as I wanted to, every month. A charity had taken my needs in to consideration. When does that happen? I’m used to getting calls from larger charities I already donate to, asking me to give more. I contacted these ladies last week and said I was setting up my direct debit. Their gratitude was enough to bring me to tears. (Yes, okay, that seems to be quite easy!) They’ve invited me to go and see them when I visit Liverpool, in March, for a cuppa and a chat. Because they’re so thankful that I am behind their cause. In my experience, a larger charity has never invited me in to their office for a cuppa, even after I’ve agreed to donate more over the telephone, having received one of their calls.

My point is, it doesn’t really matter where the money is going or the reason. A person has decided to donate some money to charity. There is no negativity here. We should be humbled that a great cause benefits from somebody’s generosity. A selfless act. Mr David Beckham, props to you! x