Many of my posts are concerned with those who are in prison. Prisoners and their families have been part of my life across four decades. Much of that time was taken up with Irish political prisoners serving sentences in the UK. It was a very challenging period of, what is now considered, ‘history’. To put it mildly, I was not a welcome figure in the eyes of the British authorities. In those dark days my work was dangerous and costly. I learned much about caring for others and the depth of both pain and commitment in the lives of the oppressed.
Ironically, I also learned much about caring for myself and ensuring my own spirit would never be broken. Crucial in that process of self care is maintaining connection with others who share the same vision and commitment to achieving change.
Throughout my life I have indeed had those people present in my life, I would not be here if I had not, of that I am certain. This is no different today. Such work, work that takes place on the margins, places us again and again into the heart of vulnerability, both that of those we connect with and of course our own. In the face of that there can be no compromise of care for others or care for our own self.
I have a massive archive of my work from across the years. Today I was sorting through hundreds of prisoners letters and came across a quote from Thomas Merton that Sr Sarah Clarke and Gareth Pierce sent to me over 30 years ago and at the point when every prison in the country closed their gates against me and appeals for re-trial had been rejected. These words helped me then and reminded me that activists of all sorts also need support and encouragement. I share them now that you too will be encouraged …..
“Do not depend on the hope of results. What you are doing, the sort of work you have taken on, essentially a work totally for others, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all. If not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. As you get used to this idea you start more and more to concentrate on, not the results but on the value, the truth of the work itself. There too a great deal has to be gone through, as gradually you struggle less and less for an idea and much more for a specific people. The range tends to narrow down, but it get more much more real. In the end it is the reality of personal relationships that saves everything…… the big results are not in our hands, but they suddenly happen, and we can share in them. But there is no point in building our lives on this personal satisfaction, which in life may be denied us … it’s not that important. if we can free our self from the domination of causes and focus on the truth we know, we can achieve more and more and not be crushed by the inevitable disappointments, frustrations and confusions.”.
Br. Stephen Morris fcc
