Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Official Report
747KB pdf
Time for Reflection
Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Clifford Hughes, former teacher, singer and Church of Scotland minister.
In 1929, Cole Porter posed a provocative question in the hit song, “What is this thing called love?”
The great Christian apologist C S Lewis provides the answer in four Greek words. Storge is natural affection: picture a mother cuddling the baby in her arms, or me with Lula, my daughter’s Bichon Frise. Then there is eros, which is the attraction of desire, or sexual love—what John Knox’s mentor Calvin referred to as the delicacies with which our God delights us. Then there is agape, or love that gives itself away, which we see supremely on the cross at Calvary:
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life”.
But it is the fourth C S Lewis definition that I want to think about. Philia is what the King James Bible of 1611 in pre-politically correct days called “love of the brethren”. It is the friendship and camaraderie of kindred spirits, the team at work and at play. The party? The Parliament? It is about doing things together. Claire Squires collapsed and died a mile short of the end of the London marathon. Everyone wanted to join Claire’s team and contribute to the cause for which she was running.
I found philia with family, friends and speech therapists who helped me to find a new voice and a new life at Chinwags, a support group of laryngectomees who meet at the Maggie’s centre in Kirkcaldy. I discovered philia again a few years ago when I joined communication forum Scotland and more recently inclusive communication in Scotland—ICIS—where I met some truly inspirational people living day by day with a hidden disability: a progressive neurological condition such as Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis, dementia, stroke, brain injuries, autism, a learning disability, a mental health condition, a stammer or dyslexia. We face common barriers when society does not recognise or understand the profound impact of communication disability. I sometimes wonder whether folk out there see us in three D: can’t speak, must be deaf; can’t speak, must be daft; can’t speak, must be drunk. It happens, I promise you.
Philia: the love of the brethren. The French philosopher and war hero Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said:
“Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward, together, in the same direction.”
I am grateful for this opportunity to thank the Scottish Parliament for its support over the past few years. Let us continue to raise awareness of this hidden disability and make Scotland truly the inclusive communication nation.