Football, Fire and Fathers.

On Saturday Norwich played their first league game of the season against West Brom. We had a good first half but failed to score. The second half continued positive but uneventful. In the seventy-fifth minute a West Brom player knocked the ball into the net with his arm. The referee didn’t see the handball; he said it was a goal. Norwich players and fans were angry but the goal stood. We eventually lost 2-1.

These things happen. We still could and should have won the game. When injustice happens, we can get angry, blame the incompetence of others, call for change. Or we can accept it, take responsibility for our actions.

Yesterday I read ‘War Boy’. Michael Foreman describes growing up in Pakefield, in a shop close to where we live, during the Second World War…

‘It was Monday April 21 1941, just before 10p.m. Thousands of incendiaries were dropped on our village, Pakefield and the neighbouring big town, Lowestoft. The Germans were trying to set alight the thatched roof of the church to make a beacon for the following waves of bombers. Within a few minutes more than forty fires were blazing in Pakefield and the southern part of Lowestoft…’

He goes onto describe how ordinary local people respond positively to the daily life-threatening experiences of a war they can’t control.

This morning I read Ezekiel quoting the old Jewish proverb: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’. It’s about children suffering because of the actions of their parents.

It’s a principle we sometimes reflected on when I was teaching… how children are affected by poor adult – particularly male – role models.

Ezekiel says that the key issue is about personal responsibility and individual accountability. The father has eaten sour grapes… the Germans have dropped bombs… the referee has got it wrong… bad things happen. I can’t be held responsible for the actions of others; I am responsible for how I respond.