Politicians face a barrage of nastiness

Politicians are rarely seen as people like us, human.
Rev Blackman says politicians are only human and 
make mistakes, just like Diane Abbott, rightRev Blackman says politicians are only human and 
make mistakes, just like Diane Abbott, right
Rev Blackman says politicians are only human and make mistakes, just like Diane Abbott, right

A little boy is walking through a graveyard with his dad when he sees a gravestone with the words, ‘Here lies Philip Smith, an honest man and a politician’.

The little boy looks up and, with a puzzled face, asks, ‘How come they buried two men in the same grave?’

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Part of the problem with politicians is the names they are called, such as ‘complete mug’, ‘muttering idiot’.

Then there is the ‘Dunce of Downing Street’, ‘Dodgy Dave’ and even ‘mugwump’.

We want our politicians to be human, but when they make mistakes, get their figures wrong, swear, or forget the protocol at a meeting,we are all over them.

So if I tell you not to do a Diane Abbott, you probably know exactly what I am talking about!

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We began to see politicians as more human following the death of Jo Cox, a Labour politician who happened to be a great wife and mum, and a well-respected individual, both within her constituency and across parties in parliament.

She was struck down in the prime of life by a deranged knifeman who failed to see her humanity and value her as a person in her own right.

Yet during the run-up to the election, despite the danger to themselves, politicians will be working all the hours under the sun.

Whether they are elected or not, they will have to take a barrage of criticism and nastiness and unkindness through Facebook,Twitter, radio and television that most of us could not even imagine.

Yet the ironic thing is that politicians are just like us.

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They are flesh and blood. When they are pricked with a pin, they do bleed.

They have families and friends, they face problems and challenges, they know how to laugh and they certainly know how to cry.

And now and again, there are politicians who happen to be good people as well.

In fact, there may be more of them than we realise.

Because politicians are human too.