This is the script of this morning’s Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2’s Zoe Ball Show:
I don’t often get the chance, but I went to the cinema the other day to see Judy, the new film about Judy Garland. I found it really hard going. Why? Well, mainly because I wanted to weep … almost from the first scene. It reminded me of two other films about two other brilliant women: the story of Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose and the documentary about Amy Winehouse. Each story ended in tragedy; each woman experienced exploitation and cruelty to an extraordinary degree, but each woman showed remarkable courage in the face of what looks now like inevitable doom.
I inhabit a Christian tradition that sees every person as infinitely valuable – made in the image of God and loved infinitely. Human dignity lies at the heart of this. And it is the fundamental reason why nobody should ever be seen as an object or an instrument of someone else’s self-satisfaction. When I read the gospels I constantly see rejected and sometimes abused people – usually women – meeting the wandering rabbi from Nazareth and finding healing, renewed dignity, unconditional love, mercy. And for treating people this way, Jesus got it in the neck from the religious authorities. Eventually, of course, they nailed him.
I find the Judy film powerful because there seemed to be few people looking after her as a human being, as opposed to a product on stage and screen. Her search for love is heartbreaking. But, it also leads me to think about how, especially in the current febrile political atmosphere, we see individuals being vilified, humiliated, threatened and attacked just for doing their job. Behind every MP, every journalist, every radio presenter, every judge, there is a human being who has their own life, family, relationships and insecurities. When we dehumanise them, we dehumanise ourselves.
‘Somewhere over the rainbow’ bluebirds may well fly. And ‘somewhere over the rainbow’ there might even be a land of lullabies. But, romance aside, the longing of the child star, disappointed by life, drugs and five marriages, at least expressed some hope of a future – a future that other people dimmed. But, it is this hope that I have a responsibility to awaken and keep alive in the people I meet today.
