BBC Radio Leicester Thought for the Day
© John Denney, 6 October 1999
Yesterday
morning, a few hundred people were on their way to work. It
was an ordinary day. Last weekend was gone and forgotten,
and next weekend too far away to think about. And suddenly,
their world was changed forever, as their train collided with
another just outside Paddington Station in London. In just
a few seconds, some had lost their lives, some had been seriously
injured, and others were bruised and battered and shocked.
And that is a
bleak and terrible story. But there were good things too.
The fire brigade was quickly on the scene and acted in the
highest traditions of their service. They saved many lives
as they extricated the injured from the wreckage. The
paramedic services were also in attendance, rendering aid to the
injured. And the hospitals brought their emergency
procedures into action, with teams of surgeons and nurses and
others working hard to save lives and restore broken bodies.
And the
ordinary people of Paddington lent a hand too. Some were
early on the scene and helped dazed survivors to safety. Others
came out of their houses with blankets. And the local
supermarket made its coffee shop a haven for those with minor
injuries, and furnished them and rescue workers with tea and
coffee.
And these
ordinary people, the firemen and ambulancemen and paramedics and
railway officials and passengers and the man and woman in the
street, are in truth remarkable in their selflessness and care
and concern for those afflicted by the disaster.
It is a basic
human instinct to rally round the distressed. Time and time
again we have seen an extraordinary response to the needs of our
fellow men and women. The international teams who swung
into action in the recent earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan, the
people who organised and went with relief supplies for the
devastated people of Kosovo, and the generous response to famine
victims in Ethiopia and elsewhere have all gladdened our hearts
in recent years.
And I dare to
suggest that this compassion is something planted deep within us
by our Creator-God. For in the beginning, when God created
man, He created men and women in His own image. And God is
love; and His love is given to us all to share and use and
demonstrate. And yesterday He used those firemen and medics
and all the others, to show to a cynical world the power of love.