麻豆约拍

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GOOD MORNING

A premiership football manager was asked about the pressure on him after a run of bad results.

鈥淧ressure?鈥� he answered, 鈥渇ootball鈥檚 not pressure.听 Pressure is millions of parents around the world with no money to feed their children.鈥�

His words have come back to me thinking about the poor souls adrift or drowned in the Mediterranean in these last weeks 鈥� provoking a response of shock that the Pope has called, 鈥渄ays of tears.鈥�

Perhaps because I live beside the sea, I have found the images haunting: human desperation and human suffering touching in a way that is almost unbearable.

One 麻豆约拍 correspondent illuminated the reality of those who drowned by giving them names and telling their stories.

In almost every case, they are the pride of their African villages; despatched with their communities鈥� blessings and prayers; their passage paid for by collections of scarce money scraped together.

They represent the village鈥檚 sacrifice so that a few can carry the aspirations of all to a better life and dignity through hard work.听听

They are people seeking hope.

Among them, I鈥檓 sure: fathers and mothers looking for ways to feed their children; in their number, certainly: off-spring encouraged by their parents to pursue something better.

They stir up echoes of my emigrant Irish ancestors setting out for England or America - walking to harbours by foot to embark on a new life:

Father, often the pressures of life tempt one to pull the duvet over one鈥檚 head and wish it would all go away.听 May the struggles of others help keep our own in perspective.听 May empathy with those afflicted by such tragic events be a summons to social justice and care.

AMEN