The PR Blog

Magic happens everywhere and goodness, wonder and delight can be found alive and well throughout the world. 

All we need do is look to our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, for the joy in the simplicity of delight to be found in such timeless heroes.

Fairies are part of my Manx heritage so it is not be be treated lightly that you have my assurance that the Tooth Fairies are still flying around the world doing a great job. 

They tell me that the Easter Bunny is also ready for a bumper Easter Egg day. But they asked me to remind the children to brush their teeth and not get carried away with too many goodies from the Bunny basket.

Enjoy!

As Easter has come upon us one more year, I have been pondering what to write. What to feature for a day ( Good Friday ) that was hardly good and rather more than a simple end to a bad week. 

In this time of confusion, unrest and violence - where good seems to being constantly overshadowed by evil - I wondered how the story would sound if it was seen through the allegory of a modern musical band. I mean no disrespect and I hope that my story is read with that in mind. 

It was hardly a good Friday. In fact, it was a rather unpleasant day if we are to be honest. 

Sometimes, bad weeks just get worse, don't they?  As far as Jesus was concerned, he had been let down by one of his best mates and, when interviewed by police, another close friend said " I don't know nuffink. " 

The Band, known as Jesus and the Disciples, were a big hit 2000 years ago. They played gigs at local venues, spreading messages of love, hope, and unity through their music. Jesus, the charismatic lead singer, had a voice that could soothe even the most troubled souls, and his lyrics touched the hearts of all who listened.

It was a terrible end to what had been a bad week for the band. 

So how did the band get to this place? 

Less than three hours ago, I was sitting in the Israeli Embassy in Washington, DC, watching 47 minutes of footage from the Hamas massacre on October 7, together with a small group of specially invited evangelical leaders. The images, as expected, were jarring, disturbing, horrific.

Little children in their pajamas, butchered in their own beds, covered in blood. The corpses of young women, shot in their crotches. Victims with their hands tied behind their backs, now charred with fire.

Others burned beyond recognition.

Bloody image after bloody image for 47 minutes.

CCTV footage of a woman cowering on the floor, trying to hide from Hamas bullets. Then bodycam images from those same terrorists as they carry out her lifeless body.

Cell phone video footage of young, female Israeli soldiers, huddling together on the floor as they try to find refuge from the murderers who caught them unaware early in the morning. Are they safe here? Should they try to run somewhere else and hide? The next footage shows their bullet ridden corpses as their murderers celebrate.

Has the dust settled? 

Far from it. It is everywhere. We are choking on it. The storm cloud comes in many forms: inflation, learning losses, ill-health, high crime, non-functioning government services, broken supply chains, shoddy work, displaced workers, substance abuse, mass loneliness, discredited authority, a growing real estate crisis, censored technology, and overweening state power. 

For that matter, consider that Easter, the day to celebrate the Son of God’s triumph of life over death, itself was canceled for public worship just four years ago. That actually happened. Not even at the height of World War II was there a consideration of such a thing, or even canceling baseball. When the idea was suggested in a famous movie script, Spencer Tracy asked “Why would you abolish the thing you are trying to preserve?” (Woman of the Year 1942). 

Good question. What precisely was the point of the hell we went through? Who did it and why? Why did it last so long? Why has there been no official accounting?

This Easter, we are praying for a miracle and a rebirth or resurrection where good triumphs over evil and hope is restored and justice and commonsense prevail.

At least that is how I feel. 

Over the centuries, we have learned so much about the strength of the human spirit. That incredible ability to triumph over adversity, whether it be physical, emotional or mental agony... or all three at once.

As Easter approaches, so too is the concept of war uppermost in our minds... it seems to loom ever more ominously on the horizon...... that conflict that drives us to delve deep and draw upon reserves that we often did not know we had. 

People speak so frequently about Easter being about death and rebirth. About struggles that can wear us down yet somehow, the miracle of the human spirit can come out the other end and rejoice that all is not lost.

Let us hope that 2024 yields this outcome. But what is it that drives us onward?