celebrating barry's life

Yesterday, as hundreds of people gathered together to mourn, to cry, to laugh, to yearn, to smile and to remember and celebrate Barry's life, we witnessed how deeply and meaningfully Barry had touched the lives of so many people.

How privileged we are to have had Barry, how proud we are of him, how we will miss him.

Barry planned to continue to write his weekly columns while on furlough, but he only managed one which should have been in last week's bulletin. His last words for the column are below.....

Faster, faster.....
A lot has been said about what happened at the World Athletics Championships in Berlin a few weeks ago. Many called the reaction to Caster Semenya's sensational victory in the women's 800m racism. Others felt that due process needed to be followed. All this debating must have caused the person at the centre of the furore much pain and embarrassment. Also, it might have detracted from her outstanding performance - a personal best and the fastest time by any woman this year! In addition, other South African achievements - like Mbulaeni Mulaudzi's victory in the men's 800m - were not given as much attention.

The debate seems to focus on the appropriateness of gender testing. But I haven't heard anyone asking a prior question. What creates the pressure and tension surrounding sport? Clearly there is money and personal and national pride at stake. So a young 18 year old woman is subjected to all this scrutiny because of all that is at stake. Is it not time to ask questions about competitiveness? When does competition serve humanity and our desire to express our potential, speed and strength? And when does competitiveness rob us - participants and viewers - of our shared enjoyment of the race or the game?

Surely the trouble that international sport is experiencing with drugs and performance enhancements has it's roots in the same thing: unbridled competitiveness?

Is going faster, further, higher always a good thing?
One of the values of the spiritual life is rest. To rest with permission to slow down. But it seems that human beings find it difficult to slow down. More - we understand. But less - this does not compute. Perhaps this is why we struggle with rest, with silence and with waiting, all central practices of a spiritual life!

Let's be clear, I'm not against sport, or competition. I'll be rooting for the bokke again this weekend! But I am asking - what is it that has created the platform for us to begin to treat human beings like Caster Semenya more like race horses than people.... (and that's not to suggest that even horses shouldn't be treated well!!!!)

Yours Barry.