A man came to my house last weekend, canvassing for the local elections. Big mistake. By and large I do not want to talk on the doorstep. But when it’s politics, a visit from my local councillor is a red rag to a bull and I’ll talk. I mean I’ll really talk.
To his vast credit, despite knowing he wasn’t going to get my vote, he listened patiently and talked sensibly about our shared concerns – Europe, parking, Dulwich Hamlet Football Club.
I liked my councillor. And as I closed the door, I wondered what made him do it. After all, as a minority member, there’s no power, no money and even less glory in local politics. He seemed, well, good.
Now, I do lots of things I think are good. I reckon most of us do. I give money away. I try to be helpful to my colleagues. I clear up the kitchen.
But the truth is most of those things are really for me. I give because I worry that I have too much. I help my colleagues so they’ll help me. And frankly, I’m obsessive about tidiness, so I clear the kitchen because it makes me happy.
The thing people say about Jesus, whether or not they believe he was God, is that he was a good man. A really good man: a man who fed people just because they were hungry, who healed people just because they were suffering, and who was kind just because he was kind.
It’s the rarest kind of good, that, the good that seeks no return, never trying to accumulate goodwill with a view to spending it later. We’re not used to seeing it.
Especially not in politics. We’re cynical about politicians, often rightly. But I was reminded the other day that for some people community involvement is a genuine good, even without power or reward.
And in a cynical age, I reckon it’s good to recognise good when we see it. So thank you to my councillor, who made me remember that in spite of everything, there’s good to be done and there are good people out there doing it. Even at the weekend.
The sun is out, the sky is blue. I’m almost in a jolly enough mood to join them.
The councillor was a Lib-Dem and I’m afraid I didn’t vote for him. But this one is for him and for all those who put their hands up and get stuck in for no reason other than that someone has to.