For Jamie

I was trying to explain to our four year old son why I was heading off to Africa for a couple of months to do some humanitarian work, and ended up writing my thoughts down a bit more formally so I could get them straight in my head.

FOR JAMIE

When I was young I watched the stars

And wondered if there’s life on Mars

I thought it really would be ace

To live my life out there in Space

I imagined us - all cast astray

Our tiny rock in the Milky Way

Spinning with an awesome power

At over a million miles per hour.

And I realised just how small we seem

A humble part of the grandest scheme

Inconsequential – or so I thought

With time so long but life so short

When I was young it seemed to me

The simplest way for humanity

To survive in our small patch of Space

Was to unite -    one human race!

I thought:

“Who cares what tiny part of this tiny rock hurtling through the Universe you come from?

We’re all in this together! Together we can make this life such an amazing adventure!”

But as I grew old

I was often told

I should’ve cared

I should be scared

They told me:

“Be scared of those different to you

With different thoughts, of different hue

Be worried – they just want what’s yours

We shouldn’t let them near our shores

“Scroungers”, “migrants”, “refugees”

They’d always use words such as these

As if somehow it’d make them be

Any less a person than you or me

I see you now son, setting out

On your own adventure - there’s no doubt

There will be highs, there will be lows

That’s just the way that this life goes

When you’re riding high and things are great

I hope that you’ll appreciate

How quickly circumstance can shift

And you’ll be the one who needs a lift.

And I hope you’ll feel you always can

Offer help to your fellow man

Not because I told you to

But ‘cause you think it’s the right thing too