When Ellie was born her parents, Yvonne and Mark, were told she had Down Syndrome and would likely never walk or talk.
On Saturday model and actress Ellie Goldstein danced on Strictly Come Dancing. Ellie already has an impressive list of achievements… Gucci model, Vogue cover girl, acting in Malory Towers, launching the first Barbie with Down Syndrome.
Bad news: Yvonne and Mark’s baby-experience twenty-three years ago. Good news: a young woman, not held back by her Down Syndrome, who says and lives, ‘I’m very happy in myself.’
I’m reading ‘The Fatal Englishman’. Richard Hillary was a World War II fighter pilot. Shot down, he survived, but was very badly burned. Following plastic surgery he describes returning to London:
‘Some of the pilots were contemptuous of people who recoiled from them: clearly they didn’t understand that a war could not be fought without cost… Others found it harder to reconcile themselves to having become repulsive.’
Good news: survival. Bad news: severe disfigurement.
Sport is often a mixture of good news and bad news. On Saturday I listened to the Norwich (football!) game on the radio. Bad news: we didn’t play well. Good news: we managed a draw.
I watched some of the Ryder Cup (golf!) yesterday. Bad news: Europe lost the singles 8½:3½. Good news: Europe won the match 13:15… And what’s good news for Europe is bad news for the USA.
Yesterday in church we celebrated Harvest, reflecting on food and hunger in the world. Sam from Lowestoft Food Bank told us more about the local situation.
We read from James: ‘Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?’
Good news: I’m clothed and well fed. Bad news: many aren’t. James goes says that, ‘…faith without action is dead…’ If faith is good news it must respond to bad news practically.
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