A Creative and Kind Country

 

A Creative and Kind Country.

Recently a friend said how they missed all the creativity and interaction there was in the early weeks of the lockdown.  Opera singing from balconies in Italy, Joe Wicks home gym, movies shown on house walls for the neighbourhood, painted pebbles on the roadside, the countless ways parents of young children kept them engaged, Captain Tom’s walk for the NHS etc etc. Our rather reserved and slightly staid British culture was loosened up somewhat and energies and imagination were released in a life giving and life affirming way.  Naturally it is difficult to keep that up over time but I do believe we got a glimpse there of how our lives can be …perhaps a little more colourful, imaginative, open.  

We were for a few weeks a creative country.

There was also something in the air that made us more aware of others and perhaps a little less guarded even if we had to socially distance. Whether it was walking down the streets and seeing children’s rainbow drawings in countless windows, or clapping for the NHS with our fellow neighbours with a slight sense of embarrassment, or smiling shyly to folk we passed on our walks as we made way for each other there was definitely a gentleness, a softness an awareness of others.

For a few weeks we were also a kind country.

I hope we don’t lose that creativity and kindness.  But how are they related these two ‘soft qualities’ that are hard to quantify, measure, fund, even define?   Both stem from an open heart that is not self-absorbed but wants to live life shared with others.  It is not about having creative skills and abilities, or sacrificial and dramatic acts of kindness.  It is in the small stuff that takes us past our reserve and willing to take a risk.   For example trying something new, even if it may not turn out the way you want it to or look like a great work of art or a successful project.   Or taking the initiative in your dealings with other people, doing more than just meeting them half way, making it less of an exchange and more an offering of attention and thoughtfulness.

Kindness and creativity both express the image of God in us and recognises it in others.   Our best teachers are small children who have not yet learned to be cautious and reserved.  Jesus himself said: Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Maybe it is possible to have  a national re-set, even in a very measured British way.  That something of the echo of creative kindness will still live on.   It may remain as a warm memory that calls us back to the best parts of us.  I think we will need such reminding in the days ahead.