My writing has a strong Indian genesis.

Is 2008 going to be the year of unconditional forgiveness and reconciliation? Not in America if election campaigning is anything to go by.

A jumbo-jet developed serious engine trouble in mid-Atlantic. The pilot broke the news to the passengers and asked their permission to open the hold and dump all their baggage in the ocean. “Yes, yes, yes,” they all cried. It was done.

Everything for the causeThere is something very Irish about my Irish ancestors. It is said that an Irishman once asked, ‘Is this a private fight or may anyone join in?’ Brigadier Ted Bredin, married to my mother’s first cousin, Desiree, wrote a massive book, The History of the Irish Soldier, which would certainly give credence to such a remark. Ted asked for and got the approval of four living Irish field marshals in the British Army for the book which is dedicated to ‘all Irish soldiers who fought the good fight for the justice of their particular cause’. It is the remarkable story of the Irish soldier in all his guises throughout the ages – not only in the defence of his own country but the distinguished part he played in the service of the British Crown as in the armies of France and Spain, while providing field marshals and generals for the Imperial Austrian and Russian armies. In the New World he was seen as a potent force on both sides of the American Civil War.

I was once asked to give the invocation for the Oregon senate. I was introduced and the senators duly bowed their heads. As I spoke astonished heads were slowly raised. It might have been the English accent, or perhaps it was the invocation, unlike others they were used to. I simply told the story of a politician who I thought was a good example for politicians anywhere, anytime.

The turmoil in Myanmar/Burma brings to my mind some great men and women from that country whom I met in 1947 as a young teenager attending a conference at Mountain House, Caux, the newly created centre of reconciliation in Switzerland.

As I was pondering what to write this month, my Sunday paper had a headline, 'Old age isn’t for sissies.' It was a columnist writing about the need to plan ahead even when we seem to believe that old age is never going to happen to us.

The summer is what some people in newspapers here call the ‘silly season’ when there is often a shortage of big news and all sorts of lesser stories fill the gaps. Not that this is so with terrorist attacks and floods. But I am filling this summer gap with a look at a little religion-based humour.

Every now and then, those of us who feel deprived without our regular news infusion, however gloomy, are treated to a pleasant surprise. As, for instance, the way the Amish killings were rapidly followed by stories of Amish forgiveness. In fact, as one who often writes about forgiveness, I am much encouraged by the number of forgiveness stories I come across these days and even stories of conflicts ending.

Ireland and England - 'time to put the hangover of history to bed and embrace the future'.
Ireland and England - 'time to put the hangover of history to bed and embrace the future'.