..…a link in the chain…

The disgrace heaped on most of the participants who contributed to the unnecessary deaths of seventy two people in the Grenfell Tower fire in UK in 2017 will rightly get extensive and enduring coverage. We gasp at the slaughter in Gaza, Israel, Sudan, Ukraine and so many other places that we are in danger of becoming inured to wanton death and maiming. Even so, the idea that (in the words of the second and final report on the matter) 'incompetence,? greed and dishonesty’ played such a part in the Grenfell tragedy must shock us deeply.

For me, there is one aspect of the event that needs considering as much as any of the other disgraceful acts of wickedness and negligence that have been brought to light. The report talks about the chain of responsibilities and reveals many of the points in that chain that failed. A chain has become colloquially understood to mean a series of linked responsibilities, each with dependence on the previous link and each with responsibility for the subsequent link. The analogy with a physical chain is relevant. Break one link and the chain fails.

Each one of us in a crowded and busy world is a link in a chain many times a day.

We are vividly conscious of the links before the chain reaches us. What we get from them significantly determines how well we perform our role. We think less about the part of the chain that follows after us. Often, as far as we are concerned, when we have completed our task, our duty is ‘done and dusted’. A small example. Two priests who said a Requiem Mass for someone very close to me who had died walked off the altar at the end of it and disappeared. As a pastoral gesture ‘done and dusted’ seems inadequate, don’t you think?

We don’t always realise the importance of our particular link. In 1953 a kind factory hand took his lunch time to teach me the relevance of quality when I was intending to buy something. My upbringing had made me concentrate on price. I was about to buy a gadget that was in very bad shape, because it was cheap and I was poor. He taught me to weigh price with quality. It is a lesson I practice daily - even seventy one years after he taught me.

Then again, we have tremendous pressures on us, pressures that incline us to trivialise some tough decisions and some brain demanding activities. We use the excuse of ‘too busy’ if an issue looks difficult. Often we don’t realise the implications of neglect or scant attention. The Grenfell Fire should make us think more clearly about what could follow our laziness. ?

‘For want of a nail…’ is a true example of being a link.

No mistake, error or disaster should happen without lessons being learnt. We may compensate the people who suffered. I hope we do. Our main compensation for those who lost their lives, who lost their families and friends and who lost their homes and possessions is to pay more attention to our part of the chain, of every chain we are involved in. A minute’s further thought before we sign off, hesitation to agree to something we don’t feel comfortable with.

These are the compensations we owe to those who suffer, not only because of this disaster but because of all the disasters happening in the world.?

We are not? “only a link” in a chain. We are THE link in a chain.

Can we prove our worthiness by holding the chain together?

Good morning

John Bittleston

If you want to see and hear a brilliantly delivered report, watch Sir Martin Moore-Bick at the press conference launching the second Grenfell report. The report itself, its language, the Chairman’s reading and demeanour, are lessons for anyone who wants to improve their stature.