Passion

Two days left in Britain before I go to Yemen so an interesting day with much buying of stuff, paying huge amounts for more flights, and talking to people who have been there or lived there to get a sense of the place so that I can take the right stuff when I go.
I chatted to a friend who used to live there until the fallout from 9/11madeit impossible to make a living.
Two things came out of the conversation that are haunting me a little but not troubling me.
The first is when we started to talk about photos. “Take photos of your family, people always take pictures of their houses which are, of course big.” The person I was talking to also said that if you really wanted to impress you ought to take a picture of a motorway or even better Sainsbury’s. The choice of stuff on display would just blow them away… why do we need so much choice of stuff?
The second thing that haunted me a was when this person who had lived in Yemen welled up as she spoke of it. Clearly she loved it, and longed for it in the way of a lost love.
In regeneration we often talk about being fans of place. Yorkshire Forward even set up a “club” for fans of place. But this wasn’t a fan it was a lover… It challenged me to think about my own community, would I be tearful for it when I am in Yemen and look back to home?
How can we create communities where people are not only friends of place but lovers of place? Love and not friendship is surely what drives sacrifice, people giving up time, giving money or just giving up blocking stuff. Sacrifice grows communities in a way that nothing else can.
It is true what Iranaeus (I think) said: “The blood of the martyrs is seed.”
As I prepare to go on my travels again that is plenty to think about for now.