Thought for the Day

As delivered this morning at Radio Bristol:




I was sitting here waiting for my moment to speak the other day when Joe came in to do the travel news. Except you, Steve, introduced the item as 'Now here's Joe with the weather.'




Joe did the thinking on your feet thing, made a joke, and we moved on.




Recently I was stoning some plums. Looking down I noticed that half way through I had begun putting the stones in the fruit bowl and the fruit in the waste.




And most of us will have experienced a what-did-I-come-into-this-room-for moment.




The writer Francis Spufford called all this, 'The human capacity to muck things up.' He put it more strongly. And of course it applies to serious situations such as damaged Gromits, imprisonment and treatment for illness. We muck up.




The Bible says, 'All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.' Whether or not you believe in God we all fall short of that standard, real or imaginary.




This has serious implications. Road rage occurs because we don't allow others permission to make mistakes. We know we will err, but expect everyone else to drive perfectly. If someone pushes past you, rudely, today why not allow the thought that they were distracted by a relative's serious illness, rather than that they were simply out to get you.




We should try and do to others what we'd like them to do to us. And if I'm accidentally rude because I'm having a bad day I'd like to think you might forgive me.




What a basic thought. To be a city of happiness, let's be nicer to each other. And now back to you Steve, for the travel? The weather?