Community

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I strongly suspect that I will not be alone in waking this morning more shocked than I was last night at the death of Jo Cox MP. Yesterday there was disbelief, and today a real shock that is numbing.

There is a Brexit post waiting to go on this blog. It won't be appearing today. It would be inappropriate.

But that said Jo Cox's death cannot create a vacuum; it should instead result in action. I sincerely hope her family receive all the help and support they will need. Beyond that though, even today, there is a wider issue to consider and act upon.

Jo Cox was unusual in being a local MP. She died in the community she served, where she had also grown up. It is that word community I want to dwell in.

It does, of course, imply communication. It does suggest sharing. It implies commonality. More than that, it embraces reconciliation within a space.

Jo Cox's death should, I think, make us ask what those things really mean and how we achieve them. I stress, that is not a quest for agreement, similarity or the elimination of identity. Community does none of those things. Instead it lets difference thrive tolerantly within a location that is inhabited in common, whether that be local, regional, national and beyond.

Jo Cox clearly sought to understand all of this from what we have learned of her. Maybe the action required of us is to try a bit harder to do the same.


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