When I was a boy the nuns taught us about Limbo-that was the
place babies went too who were not baptised or good people who were not Catholics
after they died. It was a place the same as heaven but with a crucial omission
God was not there. It was like: you had
hit a six but the ball never landed, you hit a home run but you could never
find home base, like you hooked a trophy fish but could not wind in the line…
Frustration was their lot, they had everything to comfort
them but the one thing that that would truly satisfy them, God or that God
space was not there and hearts were sad and empty. They cried amongst the
clouds and silver lining for ever and ever. That was my picture of it any way
it made me sad and I prayed a lot for them babies in Limbo a lot, even when I
was a young man my mind picture of them was strong. I have silently baptised
some babies myself in the hope that they would not go to this beautiful but
awful place.
I have moved on since then but I have been thinking of Limbo
again lately because I find myself along with five others in a kind of limbo.
Being locked out from work is a minor inconvenience as compared to dying without
the grace of God (according to the nuns anyway) but that is exactly how I feel.
Kind of not in work, not at work, still employed, not payed, still on the
books, not cared for by management, a pawn in the industrial game, a player in
the industrial game, poorer materially, richer by experience, befriended by
some, forgotten by others, used by some, trying to be useful to others, out of
routine, in a new routine, and on and on.
Surrounded by my family and specifically supported by Maureen
I feel loved and cared for. But, there is that hole there that yearning for completeness
that has been taken from me by a brutal and uncaring entity who goes under the disguise
of my employer. Even more galling is the fact that many of the people that I
thought would support me (US) have not. In fact many have not done anything and
some have actively have worked against me. I suppose they have the following Superior
Orders Defence but again it places me (and the locked out) in a limbo of uncertainty and a landscape
where trust is questioned and friendship qualified.
If I had my time over would I change anything? Absolutely not! I can only be responsible
for my own actions how others respond is for them to decide. I can only try and
persuade them by my words and actions if that is not enough then so be it. But
I am heartened by those who have responded who have taken up the yoke of moral
courage. By those who have not hidden behind the Superior Orders Defence. By
those who have risen to the challenge of adversity and conflict with that
peculiar courage that defines the exceptional person from the ordinary. It is
for these that I am happy to endure the hell of Limbo, for these that I would give my all, for these that I would
go through the flames of hell to succour.
But life cannot be so harsh we must also endure for the weak,
the apathetic, the frightened and the compromised. We fight for them as well
even though they will not turn the cheek for us. But this is what it is all
about why Limbo can be endured, why
it must be endured, we do it for all not for just us. This is the true measure
of a man (woman) that he will endure the blows not only for those he treasures
but for those who are wielding the club, standing idly by or pretending they do
not see. Whatever the outcome and even though we are in Limbo we are closer to God than we will ever know.
John is a Union delegate in a large private radiology
department in a large public hospital in Melbourne.
One other delegate and four employees have been locked out
for over two weeks by their employer.
John and his colleagues have been negotiating an EBA with
their employer for over eighteen months.
Protected industrial action is continuing at various site
around Melbourne.
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