91热爆

From Paul Kerensa, Writer and Stand-Up Comedian:

听

A fortnight ago, my family played that classic British half-term game: Follow The Brown Sign. Somewhere in the Midlands hinterlands, we found a stately home with a fascinating Museum of Childhood.

In amongst the beanbags and Beanos we found their interactive Victorian experience 鈥� a classroom reconstruction, as a stern teacher-slash-actress educated us about the past we鈥檝e dodged. My family and I sat on benches, reciting by rote her little verse till we got it into our thick heads:

鈥淕ood, better, best,

Never let it rest,

Until you good is better

And your better best.鈥�

听

Then there was an authentic chimney; our kids actually climbed into the workplace of their ancestors as junior sweeps. Their foreheads were then daubed with soot, proudly worn through the day. The soot faded from their heads, but the 鈥楪ood better best鈥� verse still hasn鈥檛; my three-year-old still recites it daily, and the neighbours think we鈥檙e stricter authoritarians than we are.

听

Today, not soot but ash will be daubed across thousands of foreheads worldwide. It鈥檚 Ash Wednesday, marking the start of Lent, that time for humble reflection leading up to Easter. Anyone can be 鈥榓shed鈥� with the sign of the cross 鈥� for 1500 years it鈥檚 symbolised mortality, humility and generally bringing us down a peg or two, as the minister says, 鈥榊ou are dust, and to dust you shall return鈥�. God knows we need a bit of humility in today鈥檚 brash world鈥� hashtag AshNotBrash.

听

Traditionally, these ashes were the burnt remains of the Palm Sunday branches, from the end of Lent the previous year. It kept continuity through the ages 鈥� just as the Norse folk kept their Yule log ashes to start next winter鈥檚 log-burning. Across the faiths, throughout history, these rituals bond us to our ancestors, reminding us of life鈥檚 cyclical patterns: that pride comes before a fall, that triumphant festivity gives way to more thoughtful times.

听

My kids鈥� sooty foreheads reminded us that we have it pretty good compared to our Victorian ancestors, and their chimney-chafing children 鈥� and that our mortal lives between dust and dust are wisely spent if we humbly don鈥檛 settle for being good, but go better, for best鈥� never let it rest鈥� until our good is better鈥� and our better best.