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Radio 4,2 mins

Rt Rev Dr David Walker - 25/11/2019

Thought for the Day

Available for over a year

Good morning. 鈥淧lay nicely鈥, my mother used to say. Two words she could utter with varying levels of frustration and grumpiness, depending on how seriously my younger brother and I were falling out. Mostly we did play nicely - but we needed reminding, and reminding in words whose very brevity helped them stick in our minds; they had to impact on our behaviour, even when mum wasn鈥檛 in the room. As we鈥檝e been hearing on the news this morning, web founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee鈥檚 World Wide Web Foundation is launching a new Contract for the Web today. Produced in consultation with a wide range of contributors, it has set a clear ambition to 鈥渟afeguard the web as a force for good鈥. It will be backed up with concrete actions that governments, organisations and individuals can follow, in order, as Sir Tim says, 鈥渢o ensure a web that is safe, empowering and for everyone鈥. Since at least the days of Moses, contracts, codes, covenants and commandments have been ways of taking my mother鈥檚 two word phrase and translating it into the specifics human beings need, if we鈥檙e to recognise and respect the boundaries of good behaviour. Indeed, earlier this year, my own Church of England produced its ten commandments for how to do social media in an ethical and respectful manner. Clear statements, whether written or spoken, have an important part to play in helping us fashion good behaviours. But I suspect alongside them we need something even more powerful - real human examples of what good looks like. As a Christian, I believe that God recognised that words alone were not enough, not even all the words in the bible. The birth of Jesus, already being heralded in Christmas lights across our towns and villages, was God providing the perfect living example of how humanity is called to be. I also look to other people, living and dead, to show me how I should strive to live. I draw strength and inspiration from scientists and saints, from well-known figures and from personal friends. Many of us learn more from copying the behaviours of people we admire than we get from reading codes of practice. Christian Faith teaches me that we all fall short of living as we should, but it also urges me to try to be, at least in some aspects of my life, an example that can help and encourage others. Well, a new working week is beginning. Whether we鈥檙e spending time on line, on business, or on Christmas shopping trips, I hope we might find in both simple rules and actual human examples, help and support to do what my late mother once urged on her two squabbling sons.

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