Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Official Report 690KB pdf

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Time for Reflection

Good afternoon, everyone. A happy new year to you all. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Ian Miller, retired minister of Bonhill parish church, Alexandria. The Rev Miller is also a freeman of West Dunbartonshire.

A good new year to you all, Presiding Officer and members of the Scottish Parliament.

When Charles Kettering of General Motors wanted a problem solved, he would call a meeting and say, “Leave your slide rules outside.” If he did not, during the meeting, someone would surely say, “Boss, you can’t do that.” Is that not true no matter what we try to do in life? There is always someone saying, “You can’t do that.” I suspect that, as politicians, you know that more than most.

Robert Fulghum tells the story of a primary school that decided to stage the story of Cinderella. All the girls wanted to be Cinderella. Finally, all the pupils got a part except one wee lad. His name was Norman. The teacher asked, “Norman, what are you going to be?” Norman said, “I think I will be the pig.” The teacher said, “Norman, there is no pig in the story of Cinderella.” Norman said, “Well, there is now.”

The teacher could tell that it would be daft to argue with Norman, so she left it to him to decide what part the pig would play. As it turned out, the pig went everywhere that Cinderella went and did everything that Cinderella did. Norman had nothing to say, but his face reflected what was going on. When things were serious, he was serious. When things were happy, he was happy. When things looked difficult, he looked worried. He began to fill the stage with his presence.

At the end of it all, when the princess was carried off by her prince to live happily ever after, Norman stood up on his hind legs and barked. In rehearsals, that had been a problem because the teacher said, “Look, Norman, even if there is a pig in the story of Cinderella, pigs do not bark,” and Norman said, “Well, this one does.”

You can imagine what happened on the night of the first performance: at the end there was a standing ovation for the pig.

Word got round. People called up the school and asked, “What is so special about this play?” The teacher said, “Well, there is a pig in it—actually, a barking pig.” The person at the other end of the telephone would say, “But there is no barking pig in Cinderella,” and the teacher would say, “Well, there is now.”

Norman was a wee fellow who would not let other people set boundaries. He was going to be what he was going to be. Without risk takers, the world would not move forward. No new relationships would be formed. No new businesses would be started. No new homes would be built. There would be no new initiatives and, almost certainly, nobody would ever want to be a politician. Helen Keller surely got it right when she said:

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.”

God bless you in whatever risks you may have to take—in government or in opposition—for the good of our country in 2013.