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From Leslie Griffiths, Methodist Minister:ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

Like Paul Kerensa last week, I also have been thinking about my old headmaster. He never raised his voice. He commanded a hall full of adolescent schoolboys by his simple presence. At the beginning of every school year, he’d get up in assembly, smile away the noise we were making, welcome us back and then read a passage from the Bible, always the same passage, a few words written by Saint Paul. Here’s my version of what he read:

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Don’t go the way of the crowd. Be your own person. Don’t strut around the place as if you’re the most important guy on the block. Respect those who are different from you. If God’s given you an ounce of common sense, you’ll realise that everyone’s important here, whatever their skills, however they’re made. It’s up to all of us to make a go of things.’

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It was a Punch and Judy show I was watching on the telly that had me wandering down memory lane like this. There they were, three characters in search of an insult, all looking to see how they could shout their way to a victory over the others. It was men behaving badly, school bullies roaming round the playground looking for kids wearing glasses. I couldn’t believe that these characters were seeking to become the next President of the United States of America. It was truly grotesque. I was actually watching this piece of reality TV stateside, in a room full of would be voters.

They were all groaning and holding their heads in their hands. The following day they were going to vote in their primary. And they didn’t have a clue what to do.

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Without saying so, they were longing for someone like my old headmaster who could hold an audience by the power of his personality and spell out a few home truths without raising his voice. Do they make them like that any more? I really hope they do.