It is easy to create divisions and very difficult to heal them. I was privileged to go to Damascus in 2008 and witness a society where Christian Crosses and Islamic Symbols seemed to coexist side by side. It seemed that there was real harmony between faiths and a society at peace with itself.

Looking back 9 years, it appears this was delusion but I wonder if this is so. Divisions can appear out of nowhere. It takes a long time to create harmony and only a second to shatter a society into a thousand fragments. We have been reminded of this by programmes reliving the chaos which was engendered by the Partition of India in 1947. Islam, Sikhism and Christianity had co-existed in relative harmony for many centuries and partition on the basis of religion was by no means inevitable; but once it occurred and the boundaries were settled, a blood bath occurred on both sides. Somehow people took leave of their senses and many atrocities completely unworthy of any faith occurred. The atrocities were equally barbaric on both sides and the scars of this terrible time haunt the Indian subcontinent to this day.

However, there were some prepared to stand apart from the carnage. I was particularly moved by an account of a Hindu whose grandfather was an engineer in charge of building a bridge. He found himself on the wrong side of the proposed boundary in Punjab. The mob heard there was a Hindu in the house and came, intent on murder. However the young Muslim, servant of the Hindu who answered the door, said his master was not in. He then lent the Hindu some Muslim clothes so that his master could make his way to the railway station to escape to India. To this day, no one knew what had motivated this young lad to take such a risk and save someone who he hardly knew and who he ought in reality to have despised.

Such divisions are not unknown in our own Country. Northern Ireland suffered from religious and civil tensions in my own lifetime, communities at war with one another and in some cases held apart by big walls. Go back a few centuries and we had our own Civil War where terrible crimes were committed in the name of religion. Sometimes it seems that our peaceful way of life is paper thin. The vote for Brexit was seen as a licence for some groups to go after people who are not like them. Likewise the election in the US of Donald Trump has been seen the revival of White Supremacists and we saw the result in Charlottesville. The ‘them’ and ‘us’ instinct is there in all of us and who knows what we might be capable of if the chips are down.  Would I act like the Muslim Servant and stand against violence, whatever the cost?

We are so fortunate to live in a Country where the Rule of Law prevails. People do commit terrible crimes in our society but the authorities gather evidence to arrest them and have them tried in a Court of Law to be judged by their peers under our Jury system. Justice is not only done but seen to be done. Nothing is perfect but on the whole, we can go about our daily lives without fear. How different this is from many parts of our war torn world.

I hope that before we add to the ‘them’ and ‘us’ mentality by classifying others into some ‘them’ group we do not like, we will think again and remember that we can all very easily add to the chaos or help to bring about a society where we can by and large live in harmony.