The Sconestone
The final item of business is a members' business debate on motion S3M-4788, in the name of Linda Fabiani, on the Sconestone. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the initiation of the First Keeper of the Sconestone, the Reverend Neil Galbraith, and the historic associations that the Sconestone has with the ancient traditions and symbols of Scotland; congratulates Hunter Primary School in East Kilbride on entering into the spirit of the ethos of the stone by creating a kindness tree to mark the day, 4 September 2009, when the school hosted the Sconestone prior to its travels around the globe to promote kindness to others as a value that Scots seek to uphold, and congratulates sculptor Warren MacLeod on his design, inspired by ancient Scottish orbs first used by the Scots' earliest ancestors, and the concept of using Scottish symbolism and values to stimulate acts of kindness in people around the world.
I thank all members who have signed the motion, and those who are in the chamber.
At the end of August this year, the Rev Neil Galbraith—the parish minister in Cathcart and the founder of the Glasgow the Caring City initiative—called to tell me all about the Sconestone that was to be presented to him by the First Minister, and the honour that he felt at being chosen as the Sconestone's first keeper, prior to its being sent round the world on a never-ending journey of kindness. I was intrigued, and I became even more so when, along with Neil Galbraith as the first keeper, I went to Hunter primary school in East Kilbride. Along with all the pupils, I learned more about the stone and how its sculptor Warren MacLeod, from Nova Scotia, was inspired.
Warren MacLeod lived in the north-east of Scotland for some time, and was fascinated by the neolithic carved stone orbs—more than 380 of them—that have been found there over the years. When Warren was given the bronze cast of the stone that had been found on the Brahn estate, just north of Inverness, he was hooked. He combined the concept of our 17th century Brahn seer with the neolithic orbs, and created the Sconestone, which is, I understand, currently in Austria.
The stone is a six-sided orb with three carved portals, each of which represents a view into the past, the present and the future. It represents wisdom: the wisdom to learn from the past, understand the present and plan for the future.
Today—November 11—is armistice day, when we remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice. It is a day on which we remember the past and those who still serve in the present and, I hope, on which we consider a future that is free of war and conflict.
When Warren MacLeod spoke to Calum MacDonald of Runrig about the possibility of launching the stone at the band's homecoming Scotland 2009 concert in Scone, Calum suggested that it be called the Sconestone, which links it to the stone of destiny upon which the kings of the Picts and of Scotland were crowned. Warren liked that idea—he said:
"my stone is a new stone … with a new destiny … to go on a never-ending journey of kindness from hand to hand, keeper to keeper around the world."
That is simple, straightforward and inspiring, as many of the best ideas are.
The children at Hunter primary school were certainly inspired. They loved the story and the stone. Every one of them who was there that day touched, rubbed or held the stone and pledged to perform an act of kindness. They made a kindness tree to mark the day on which the stone visited their school. They endorsed entirely the ethos of the stone and they were delighted that such a beautiful object—essentially Scottish in form and symbolic values—was heading round the world. The stone is travelling round the world, to Nova Scotia, where the House of Assembly unanimously endorsed resolution No 683 in favour, to the United States, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria. It is only a little over two months since its launch.
The rules of the Sconestone are simple. Whoever is honoured to be the keeper must do at least one act of kindness; they must keep the stone for no more than seven days; they must encourage friends and strangers to touch the stone and pledge an act of kindness; and they must pass the stone to a person who can be trusted to honour its purpose.
I urge members to log on to the Sconestone.com website to track progress and see the marvellous initiatives that have been carried out by the keepers so far. I do not have time to detail them all, but I will mention a couple. In Hungary, the keeper, political correspondent Tamas Szalay, and the clown doctors took the stone to the Pen Heim children's hospital to spread magic and kindness. It went from there to a ceilidh at the Caledonia pub in Budapest, where I am sure that magic and kindness were further spread.
Franciscan brother Bojte Csaba, as keeper in Romania, spread the word about the needs of street children. So far, Brother Csaba's Saint Francis Foundation in Transylvania has adopted and fostered almost 1,500 children. Sadly, that work still has a long way to go.
In New York, Barbara Mahon, the third keeper, took the stone to the 9/11 2009 gathering, where it was warmly received by the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives eight years ago.
As I said, an inspiration to Warren MacLeod was that wisdom is to learn from the past, understand the present and plan for the future; the hope is that, all over the world, the Sconestone and its inherent ethos will further inspire. That is certainly the case here in Scotland, where the Rev Neil Galbraith is already working on a legacy plan. Many here will know the good work that Glasgow the Caring City has done in the provision of humanitarian assistance and care in more than 50 countries around the world—the charity provides care and support wherever there is a need.
The Rev Neil Galbraith's view—shared, I am sure, by all in the Parliament—is that here at home, in Scotland, there should be no such thing as child poverty. After all, Scotland's children deserve better. There is cross-party support for Glasgow the Caring City's cross out child poverty in Scotland initiative. I understand that the statement of intent, compiled by the Rev Neil Galbraith and Tom Harris MP, has been signed by the First Minister. Again, the aspirations are simple and straightforward. They include the statements that
"no society can be truly at ease with itself while significant numbers of children live in poverty"
and that
"the elimination of child poverty must be a priority for us all"
because
"poverty corrodes children's health, their happiness, their safety and their aspirations."
Furthermore,
"only through the elimination of child poverty can we expect the children of Scotland to live their lives to the full, and to be able to enjoy the opportunities that the rest of society take for granted."
Those are only a selection of the statements from the Cathcart declaration. I am sure that members will be further informed about the initiative before too long. I urge everyone to support it.
All too often, initiatives such as the Sconestone and aspirations such as spreading kindness can be considered naive and, some would say, over idealistic. However, if the children of Hunter primary school in East Kilbride can be inspired and understand the concept of spreading good, so can adults from all walks of life. If the life of any one person in this world is cheered by the Sconestone, it is worth while. If the legacy of the first keeper is to help eradicate child poverty in Scotland, we should all embrace the concept of using Scottish symbolism and values to stimulate acts of kindness. I learned earlier today that this week is world kindness week and that Friday is world kindness day.
Again, I thank members who are present for the debate. I hope that they will pledge to perform an act of kindness on Friday, which is world kindness day, and to pass the word to all those who were, unfortunately, unable to be present this evening.
I congratulate Linda Fabiani on securing a debate that is particularly appropriate in world kindness week. One of the main advantages of members' business debates is the wide variety of subjects that they offer for discussion and tonight's debate is certainly no exception.
However, I have a confession to make at the outset: until I read Linda Fabiani's motion, I was not aware of the existence of the Sconestone. However, with a little research, I soon uncovered a couple of interesting facts. Warren MacLeod, the stone's sculptor, was inspired by two things. First, as the motion states, the stone's design and shape were inspired by strangely shaped ancient orbs with intricate carvings that were sculpted by neolithic people in the north-east of Scotland. The second inspiration was Mr MacLeod's desire to do something special for his wife, Kari. In that respect, he decided that the stone should embody her daily acts of kindness for her family.
The orb, which has now become known as the Sconestone from Scone palace and its associated history, was presented to Kari MacLeod. However, it was not meant to be kept; instead, it was to be passed to its first keeper, the Rev Neil Galbraith. The stone was then to continue its never-ending journey around the world with each new keeper pledging to do an act of kindness before passing it on to a new keeper.
The stone's spirit and ethos were enthusiastically embraced by the pupils of Hunter primary school in East Kilbride who, on 4 September 2009, created a kindness tree to commemorate the day that the stone came to their school before it began its epic journey and adventure around the world. If the school's innovative and thoughtful response to the Sconestone is replicated as it continues its journey from keeper to keeper, the orb's worldwide progress will indeed make fascinating reading.
I congratulate Linda Fabiani on securing a debate on a subject that many members could do with thinking about. There is a very great lack of kindness in the world and the idea behind passing the stone from individual to individual is to make it clear that that situation must change. One is almost tempted to suggest that there should be many Sconestones to spread the message more quickly.
The stone itself embodies certain values, but it derives from objects in the past that we do not entirely understand the meaning of. The original stone carvers might have seen their stones as symbols of power, and the same idea might well lie behind the Sconestone. After all, the power to spread the message of kindness is certainly important when all too little time is given to thinking about such matters. For me, the enterprise brings to mind the work of the legendary Johnny Appleseed who, in sowing seed and growing trees, carried out another act of kindness in a world that needed more such deeds. In any case, the story of the stone's journey will be fascinating, because I am sure that people in the many different countries that it will pass through will highlight to us the need for particular acts of kindness that we have not yet thought of.
I very much support the motion. I will certainly be spreading the word in my part of Scotland and hope that the stone will eventually reach us.
I congratulate Linda Fabiani on the motion, which I am glad that I signed. I apologise for not having had time to prepare a speech—I have been working on the Marine (Scotland) Bill—but I am very glad that I stayed for the debate.
The stone is a lovely idea. As Rob Gibson said, we should have many more; we should perhaps have thousands of Sconestones going around Scotland from school to school and institution to institution. We should perhaps even pass one around the Parliament, but we should give it to people for seven minutes, rather than seven days, so that it keeps moving.
Linda Fabiani said that a motion such as this could be seen to be simplistic, but it is not; it is very much from the heart. Consider the words that are written on the mace—"wisdom, justice, compassion, integrity". Wisdom and compassion are certainly part of the stone's intention—it reflects two of the most important things that are written into our guidance, as inscribed on the mace.
All too often, we commit a bit of our random act of kindness for the day, but there is not quite time to do it all. As we are half way down the street or up the stairs—whatever the occasion might have been—we say to ourselves that perhaps we should have done a little bit more. Perhaps part of the wisdom emanating from the stone might suggest to people that whenever they commit their daily random act of kindness, they should pay attention to what more they could do, rather than what immediately presents itself.
I congratulate Linda Fabiani on securing the debate and thank her for raising the issue.
As human beings, we have a tendency, which is quite understandable, to seek to make real and tangible ideas and concepts with which we sometimes struggle. We struggle more than most with the concept of kindness and how individual acts of kindness can change the world.
Warren MacLeod has come upon a perhaps obvious but inspirational thing, which is to make tangible and real the concept of kindness. He is building on an old tradition in Scotland—a tradition of taking small things and using them to remind us of other much larger things.
A good example might be the powers with which a particular type of bean—the Mary's kidney—is empowered in the Western Isles. The bean, which comes on the gulf stream from the Caribbean islands, is much prized. Those who find it on the shores of South Uist or Barra take it, keep it in their pocket and treasure it for the rest of their lives. Werner Kissling, the photographer and film maker who worked on Eriskay in the 1930s, found one on the shore on Eriskay and had it in his pocket for the rest of his life. Indeed, it was among his effects when he died.
Warren MacLeod has taken that old idea of converting concepts into something manageable and has used it to inspire the world with the idea of kindness.
Robin Harper is quite right to say that the only problem with the idea is its modesty. Perhaps we need many more Sconestones around us. It would be intriguing to see a Sconestone doing the rounds in the Parliament on a weekly basis. At least once every two or three years, each member would have to observe the rules by doing an act of kindness to a person, animal or thing for the good of the planet as a whole; by keeping the stone for no more than seven days; by encouraging friends and strangers to touch the stone and pledge to do an act of kindness; by passing the stone on to a person whom they trust, who will honour the purpose of the stone; and by telling the story on the Sconestone website.
If we had our own Sconestone here, perhaps this would be a different place. The idea that a single act of kindness will inspire others to kindness is inspirational and will, in time, change the world.
Linda Fabiani has drawn attention to some of the keepers of the stone. For Scotland, Neil Galbraith could not have been a better first keeper, given that his whole life has been devoted to inspiring and caring for others.
One or two other keepers whom Linda Fabiani mentioned are inspirational figures, too. The present keeper, who has the stone this week, is Zsuzsanna Laszlo, a 17-year-old girl in the Czech Republic. When she was 11, she gave away all her money to help other children whom she regarded as less fortunate than her. Unfortunately, Zsuzsanna is now very ill and is at home under doctor's orders. As we think of her and wish her well, I am sure that we also think of the acts of kindness that she has inspired in other people. Next, the stone will go to Zsófia Boros in Vienna, who is a talented musician and who is thinking of the acts of kindness that she wants to do.
The debate has been unusual. I do not think that we have talked in such terms about kindness and the inspiration of kindness in the chamber before. We have not celebrated the work of individuals and the children at Hunter primary school for their involvement in such a project before. We have not had the time to step back and reflect on what kindness is and how it spreads around the world.
One might suggest that it is especially fitting this year, which is the 250th anniversary of Robert Burns's birth, to think of people who have strong affinity for their fellow men and women—individuals who recognise weaknesses and strengths but who want the world to be a better place. It is not an exaggeration to say that Warren MacLeod is of that nature. By his thought, his actions and his creativity, he is—bit by bit—changing the world. I am sure that the Parliament wishes to salute him and to wish the concept well.
Meeting closed at 17:21.