Barry: Just Doing It

In Coventry in England there is a line of orchard trees that are dedicated to British airmen that died during the battle of Britain. The annual display of pink blossoms make these pilots incredible deeds come to life again in memory and it would move the most hardened person. It is nature reminding us. Looking at the plaques beneath each tree, I noticed the average age was between 19 years old and 35. I thought what these men had done was not for country, religion, or a political ideology, but for something even higher. It simply needed to be done.

Psychiatrists can devalue that sacrifice in abstract terms by claiming that there is always an expected reward for those kinds of actions; like a public memorial or to be written about in the annals of history. Surely 19 year olds are thinking more about living than dying, yet they still went up in the air knowing their life was going to be brief. Psychiatrists do really need help at the best of times.

Their sacrifice was recently brought home to me recently when my faith, not in religion but in humanity was restored yet again. It is the doing of things that needs to be done regardless of any other motive than that. His name is Michael Doyle; the fact that he is a priest is purely incidental.

He overseas a small parish in Camden in New Jersey in the USA that angels still fear to thread except they are getting more used to it now. Michael Doyle has never given up on the people here, and that is a belief that has been tested for decades. He dwells among them and all have to live with violence everyday and to just grow up can be a miracle in itself and to grow old a bigger one. The poor come in all circumstances. This little parish and beacon of hope is more than that. He has sown that hope in rocks and watched more than a few flowers grow from them. He shows that even the most cynical among us may just want to do something too. Michael is 78 years old now and could do with that little bit of help yesterday but tomorrow will be nice.

Barry