EDITORIAL COMMENT

FRAGILE HOPE

Standing at my door I see a helpless victim; although unrecognizable, he seems to know me. His right eye is abnormal, inflamed and enlarged; the swollen face exhibiting disfigurement, defacing the quality of his appearance."Am I dreaming? Has this really happened?" The ear ripped opened, has now been stitched. His twisted mouth blistered and sore, mumbles a few words. Beneath the scars inflicted, I see a youthful face that I know. He is the victim of gang warfare unable to pay the money he owes the drug pusher.

After eleven years of working with people who live on the streets, I feel that too often we can give charity in a condescending way. We can feed those who are hungry; we can clothe those who are naked and provide shelter for the homeless. Yet in the midst of all of this we can alienate the very people we are trying to help. By keeping a distance we can fail to hear their voices. It takes courage to step into the inner depths of another human life. There is risk. The gamble being the uncertainty of what you may find. Our magazine wants to take that gamble and share that discovery with the Church. This discovery has to be mutual. Those on the edges of society can bandage the wounds of those on the inside. Nevertheless sometimes those on the inside can find this reality difficult to comprehend. We don't want the vulnerable to educate and liberate us from our misconceptions. Therefore we keep a distance. Such a distance is incompatible with the celebration of Christmas.

If the Wise Men had kept their distance they would never have discovered the treasure found in the insecurity of the stable. They went in search of discovery and carried that desire to explore the star from the east. The destitution of homelessness did not put them off. God used the feeble, weak and powerless Child to educate and liberate these men from the misinterpretations imposed on them by Herod. In the same way we also need the mentality of the Wise Men to look beyond the outer environment of poverty and discover the treasure deep within the hidden depths of every human life.

In every edition of Edges we explore a diversity of marginalisation. We remind people that homelessness is not just being deprived of a home and living out on the streets. There are many who carry in their lives an inner dereliction which leaves them isolated and powerless. In this edition we focus of bullying. We are reminded it is not only the child in the playground who can fall victim to the bully's fist, the work place can exhibit a subtle form of intimidation, leaving the individual scared with inferiority. The adulthood world can be cruel. The Herod mentality to kill can take root in our lives. Kill does not only mean physical death. There is a form a kill which can terminate peoples' will for facing each day. Here we see the destruction of a person's enthusiasm for life. Every human being has the fundamental right to articulate their originality by this activity they can cooperate and participate in the development of the society in which they live. Yet masses of people are denied this right by the circumstances of their existence. As editor of Edges Magazine, when I meet people on the margins of society I see a distasteful reminder of human captivity.

We as an organisation try to encourage people to hope for a better future. Christmas is a time when we contemplate hope, the stable at Bethlehem provides an optimistic prospect for reconciliation. That need to break down barriers is urgent, especially for many young people who are trapped within a system.

EDITOR Rev James Patrick McCartney