The BBC reports that the body of a man, believed to be missing TV presenter Mark Speight, has been found in a remote area of London's Paddington station. A formal identification is yet to take place but will be confirmed on Monday. This is a tragedy indeed. He has been a familiar feature in our house with his programmes about painting, drawing and design. My children thought he was very clever.
Humanity has a terrible propensity for self-damage. In this case, Mark has been racked with guilt about the circumstances leading up to the death of his girlfiend. Because of these circumstances, he had been arrested arrested on suspicion of murder and supplying Class A drugs, subsequently being released without charge. Enough in themselves to cause a person to feel that they had no further place in society. He was not to blame, except that he blamed himself for introducing her to drugs.
That he needed drugs or felt unable to face his family and friends says something, I think, about how we are as a society. John Donne famously wrote the lines "No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." What was true 400 years ago, is true today.
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1 comments:
From your post on the use of the death penalty in Louisiana, I infer that you have at least some knowledge of and respect for the teachings of Jesus Christ.
If reports circulating in the tabloid press have any veracity, it would appear that in the world of TV presenters snorting a line of coke "is as common [and accepted] as drinking tea". Moreover, it would appear that Mr Speight was the one who introduced his girlfriend to the delights of substance abuse.
Jesus had some pretty stern words for those who lead others into sin. If I recall correctly, He said (Matthew 18:7) "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes!"
Tragically for this man, and for the woman whom he led into sin, the wages of that sin were indeed death.
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