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Friday Diary: I Refuse to Join the Apple Cult!

Shelagh Fogarty on forgiveness, direct action and why she didn't want to join the cult of Apple.

By Shelagh Fogarty

4 Nov 2011, 16:38

* They say miracles are ordinary things we sometimes miss because we expect them to come labelled 'Beyond Belief'.  If they are ordinary I've definitely experienced at least two this week, both connected to IT, computers, WiFi,  network servers, and all kinds of wizardry I'm essentially frightened of.  If self assembly furniture makes me cry, DIY home computing turns my largely peaceful disposition into that of a banshee.  Dragged kicking and screaming to the Apple Store I nearly ran away as the staff in their blue T shirts clapped the customers in - yes clapped! I'm not joining this ****** cult, I declared to my 'Iago' who's spent months whispering in my ear about the shortcomings of my blissful relationship with 20th Century technology.  Miracle number one came in the form of Kiza,  a student working weekends who is without doubt the best sales assistant and businesswoman I've ever met. She steered me away from a more expensive product because she rightly thought it didn't suit the needs I'd outlined to her. She even pointed me to another store, a competitor, to check price comparisons on one particular thing. Then came the help setting it up initially and an explanation of the things I would have to do myself once I got home with it.  Miracle number two is that I managed to do it. I'm now writing this on a device linked up to another device and both are linked up to another device. I'm devicetastic!!!  Miracles do happen .

* I'm not sure I'd be a very good direct action protester. Events at St Paul's Cathedral have led to obvious personal pain for some of its leading clerics who've tried to show tolerance to the very people camping on their doorstep. I understand their desire to avoid any use of force against their unexpected guests and accept what one protester told BBC News - that while those resignations were never the intention, they have without doubt kept the issues they want to highlight at the top of the agenda. Greece has helped too I suppose. Even so,  If I saw good people leaving beloved jobs because I was refusing to shift, it would prey on my mind. It would feel to me as though I was hurting the wrong people, hitting the wrong target. I'd leave. Maybe the protesters think a few sacrificial lambs here and there are worth it for the perceived greater good. I just can't help thinking its plain bad manners to dig your heels in so hard on someone else's turf that they, not you, sink into the ground.

* I spoke this week to the parents of Jimmy Mizen, the teenager murdered in a cafe in London in 2008.  We were talking about forgiveness and why some people can find it in themselves after great cruelty, while others can't.  The parents of Joanna Yates wanted to death penalty for their daughter's killer and in its absence hoped instead that he experiences the worst suffering and degradation his new situation can bring.  Margaret Mizen's first thought was for the mother of her son's killer, how that woman would live knowing her child was guilty of such a catastrophic and irreversible wrongdoing.  When I spoke to her today she said she can't explain why those words came out and set the tone for the whole family. They just did.  Gordon Wilson whose daughter Marie was killed in Enniskillen by the IRA forgave them. I remember watching with my own father the news bulletin in which Mr Wilson said  Christ told us to love our enemies and as a Christian he had no choice but to do so. I don't think forgiveness is a choice we make. I think it's a gift which comes when we're ready to accept it.