What would I want to know about a person?
10 questions to get your answer
A while ago I wrote down these 10 questions. I just came across them again today. They were worth sharing. I should take the lead and answer them. If it encourages you to do the same please let me know.
I have decided to do this spontaneously rather than spend too long trying to perfect it.
- Who are you?
I am known to the world as Gordon. If someone calls me “gordi” they likely knew me at High school. If they call me “g” I perceive that they are being affectionate.
But that is only a name given by parents. I am much more than a name.
I am still discovering who I am by who I am not. But if I were to be identified in the way a body is by distinguishing features it would be by my accent (Northern Irish). It would also be by my height ( leg size short), my body my pullovers are usually medium but occasionally large. I am of white appearance. I have hair but not so much as I did 25 years ago.
I have been many things in the time I have been on this planet. As a young kid, I was shy although that seemed to disappear as I got older.
I have always been aware of my community, at the age of 11 I remember organising a jumble sale for our local kids scheme. I also adopted political views from a young age.
I first remember becoming aware I was a Protestant when I asked why our neighbours went to a different school or was it when I said to a friend, “Maybe the Catholics are right and we are wrong.”
I then became aware that the reason bombs were going off and people were being killed was because there was a war of sorts occurring between those who called themselves Protestants and those who called themselves Catholics. Sometimes they called themselves British and Irish.
So I needed to watch myself because I could be killed by the Catholics. This led to me seeing myself as some sort of defender of my Protestant community. By the age of 11, I was on my first protest. It was like a game and I wanted our side to win for to lose may have meant annihilation. The difficulty was this game was fought with hate as the main motivator. So I loved Protestants and hated Catholics until I stumbled upon one who distracted me from the hate. She taught me the error of stereotyping not by her words but by being herself. I guess she, her family and friends instigated a change in me.
In time I would drop the Protestant with a Political P.
I can be of extremes as I then went into peacemaking. That wasn’t straightforward and probably wouldn't happened without an encounter with God.
I have known God since I can remember but he has changed or perhaps it is I? The longer I live the more I realise his love for all of creation and if I am to be like him then I have to become more loving for it too. The secret is by being in a relationship with him, (I see him as my Father) for in being in a relationship with him he kind of rubs off.
By my early twenties, I felt I had done the specific peace work and wondered what next. I would have stayed on the island of Ireland but opportunities did not come. After a time of contemplation, I felt it was okay to leave Ireland to take my place at an English University.
I have remained in England and in that time I became a husband and a father. In recent years I became single again but thankfully being a father is forever.
My interest in community has remained although as my faith has expanded so also has my vision of community.
That is not to say that I easily like all people I don’t but I do believe in the worth of all people which can help me on my way to liking them.
So strangely if there was a word that stands out for me from all of this it is the word community.
2. What would others say about you?
It would depend on their experience of me so I guess the whole range. Some people have experienced the kind side others the not so kind and others an indifference.
3. What will they say about you 20 years after you are no longer here?
He always liked to be amongst the first to buy the Christmas edition of the Radio Times.
4. What experience to date has most defined your life?
Who wrote these questions? That is big! Becoming a father.
5. What does your best self look like?
Vulnerable.
6. What does your not-so-best side look like?
Hard as nails.
7. What is your advice to your 15 old year self?
It may not make sense now, and it may be painful and hopeless but one day it will make sense.
8. If after death you went to heaven and another asked you, “What was living on earth like?” What would you say?
Probably as much a miracle as being here we just didn't know it.
9. What one change would make life much better?
Right now Virgin Media answering their phones within 5 minutes.
10. Who or what have you loved most?
Spiritually God, physically my daughter. As a kid, I loved my dogs.
“Now your turn”
- Who are you?
2. What would others say about you?
3. What will they say about you 20 years after you are no longer here?
4. What experience to date has most defined your life?
5. What does your best self look like?
6. What does your not-so-best side look like?
7. What is your advice to your 15 year self?
8. If after death you went to heaven and another asked you, “What was living on earth like?” What would you say?
9. What one change would make life much better?
10. Who or what have you loved most?
