麻豆约拍

From Passionist priest Father Brian D鈥橝rcy

聽鈥淗alloween is when Hell is empty and all the devils are here,鈥� Shakespeare tells us, but I don鈥檛 fully agree. Halloween comes from All Hallows Eve or the eve of All Saints. So it鈥檚 as much about saints as devils. And anyway the good and the bad are both part of everyone鈥檚 story.

I love stories. Stories crack open minds and hearts; stories change lives; stories save lives.

One man with a story is Jim Gavin the most successful sports coach in Ireland. He has led his football team to three National titles in a row. His day job is Assistant Director of the Irish Aviation Authority where he has responsibility for half a million square kilometres of airspace through which a million flights pass every year. In an inspirational talk recently he used aeronautics in a really scary way to make a positive point.

He learns a lot about life from the way aviation stays so safe. An aircraft weighs about 80 tons and travels at 300 miles an hour with five tons of fuel in each wing. The engines, held on by two bolts, rotate at 35,000 revolutions per minute. The way a combustion engine works, he added, means we are, essentially, propelled by two giant hair-dryers. That鈥檚 scary for me.

Yet it is an incredibly safe way to travel, because the industry goes to astonishing lengths to ensure it learns from every possible eventuality.聽 Every unusual occurrence is reported and analysed.聽 He recognised that where there are humans there will be errors; it鈥檚 part of life. Learning from errors helps to ensure they won鈥檛 be repeated.

鈥淒on鈥檛 condemn a player for making a mistake,鈥� he warned. 鈥淐reate a learning environment where both player and coach become stronger.鈥�

And that鈥檚 how sinners become saints. Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn.

This is the time to move on from trick or treat; recognise what is fake and what is real; decide who matters and who never did.

聽As the clock goes back, winter approaches and the pendulum swings between light and darkness tear off the mask because there is nobody more precious than the real you.