Pogue,

I know you don’t watch cricket but that isn’t going to stop me sharing an event from the current Test Series between England and Australia. It happened in the second Test.

Bairstow was batting for England and facing an Australian fast bowler. When faced with a fast bowler the wicket keeper will stand well behind the wickets to give himself a chance to field the ball. The bowler bowls. It bounces and Bairstow avoids the ball which sails over the wickets and is caught well behind the wickets by the wicket keeper. Bairstow ambles down the pitch to talked to his fellow batsman at the other end. The umpire turns and starts to retrieve the bowlers hat he has been looking after.

Let your conscience be your guide

Pinocchio

Next thing there is a loud cry of “Howzat” as the cricket ball hits the wicket. The Australian wicket keeper has thrown the ball and hit the stumps whilst Bairstow has left the crease (the area where he needs to stand whilst the ball is in play). The “Howzat” appeal is asking the umpire to give Bairstow “Out” and hence finish his game.

There’s turmoil. Bairstow has done what all the batsman have done all day, both English and Australian, and walk away from his crease assuming the ball to be dead once in the wicket keepers hands. A review takes place. Umpires come together to discuss. The review continues. Then instructions come to the umpires and Bairstow is “Out”. The crowd is insensed. The English batsmen talk with the Unpires but, Bairstow has to go and makes the long walk to the dressing room. Stewart Broad comes on to replace the dismissed batsman and is heard to comment to the wicket keeper something to the affect of, “That’s all you’re ever going to be remembered for”.

And there it is! My Monday Musing. One moment can define a life even if that moment runs contradictory to the rest of the life. Was Bairstow “out”. Well, yes according to the laws of the game. The wicket keeper had in one motion caught the ball and thrown it. But the law and the spirit can be worlds apart and the actions were well outside the spirit of the game. Whilst we may be judged by the law it is the spirit that affirms the correctness or incorrectness of our actions. It is the spirit that bring us peace when we behave correctly whilst contravening the law. Aptly, conscience has been described as “God’s Umpire” and it is in our conscience that our spirit will often speak removing peace and troubling our minds when we behave wrongly or inappropriately.

There is a higher court than courts of justice and that is the court of conscience. It supersedes all other courts.

Mahatma Gandhi

People come fully equipped and know when they are acting or speaking wrongly. The shame is that equipped with an arbiter for life so many choose to ignore it if doing so will lead to their advantage and gain. But such a trade is so often the trade of peace for gain and it is never a good trade in the long term.

So this week, choose peace. It is worth more than gold and enables us to be content with our lot in life. More than that it enables us to hear the voice of our spirits, a voice so unfamiliar to many.

Yours, trying to always choose peace,

Wic

Th