May you receive the blessing of a reminder that we are all connected…and this can come in unexpected ways…serendipities, coincidences or synchronicities…however you understand it…

May I share a recent one that might ring a bell for you…

I try, when I can to buy books second hand…or ‘pre-loved’ if that sits better with you…

Over the past few years I have been trying to get my head around the concept of how people can do malicious or cruel acts to others, so jumped at an online training entitled; ‘Malice in Clinical Practice’ taught by  a well respected clinician and trainer.

Her first and main reference was for a book written in 1989 called ‘the Tyranny of Malice’. In the tea break I went online and was pleased to see one for a few pounds and bought it. It arrived virtually the next day. In good condition and I started to read it.

I noticed the stamp in the inside cover of its previous owner: the Library of Sir Ben Helfgott MBE.

I didn’t think any more of this…until yesterday when, having a few moments to spare I put this gentleman’s name into Google…

Reading about his life and recent death, aged in his nineties gave me a shudder and then insight as to why this book had been in his library…

He was a survivor of one of humanity’s worst crimes against their fellow man.

Initially sent to Buchenwald, aged nine, Helfgott survived the Holocaust but was very weak, and was liberated in 1945. He was among 732 orphan refugees under the age of 16 brought to England after the war by CBF World Jewish Relief after being liberated from Theresienstadt; he formed a part of the initial 300 arrivals and thus of the group known as The Windermere Children who were sent to Troutbeck Bridge on arrival. He and one of his sisters (Mala Tribich) were the only members of his family to survive the war; his mother and youngest sister were rounded up and shot by the Nazis.

He campaigned that the holocaust must not be forgotten…and also seems to have wanted to make sense of and explore the dark side of character and culture…the focus of the book that has connected me with this amazing man…

I feel extremely honoured and humbled to have his book and wonder where this connection will lead me now…

 May blessings of connection open up for you this Advent and may you be open to the gift they bring you.