I’ve just, as you probably noticed, spent a happily active five days in Mallorca, which wasn’t a load of Balearics, but the perfect tonic for me as I’ve not been abroad since Barcelona last Easter on my birthday.
Cycling, sea-swimming, walking, kayaking were all crammed into the five day itinerary but what was most striking, perhaps, was the human connection with a mutual friend who was staying in the house. Let’s call him Gary – as that’s his name.
I’d only met Gary briefly six years ago at the same mutual friend’s retirement party at the Marble Arch, Rochdale Road, Manchester, when I’d left Norfolk on business and was invited, last minute, to Mark’s bash.
This time, though, it wasn’t 5 minutes, but 4 days and I liked what I discovered. Gary, you see, is a man of faith, a Christian, and once I’d got my head round finding a believer, I liked what he said and how he acted.
Now, I’m not for one minute, about to head to church this weekend and find God. No. But what that time together did was affect me deeply. It made me think, seriously, about faith: Christianity and having habits to frame your life.
Over the past month too, I’ve been out socially with Imran Younus, something of a celebrity on LinkedIn. Imran is of Pakistani Muslim descent, UK born in Birmingham, now firmly ensconced in the salubrious suburb of Didsbury.
Like Gary, he has faith in Islam and I’ve been out to three restaurants in Longsight and Levenshulme to break the fast of Ramadan with him. Now don’t get me wrong – I’ve not fasted from dawn to dusk, but simply observed other Manchester men and women, Muslims, at close quarters in three Pakistani restaurants and partaken in fine food and the ritual of eating Persian dates at dusk.
As with Gary, Imran is a man of faith and a man of integrity.
I enjoyed the rituals of Ramadan, the company of Pakistanis hugely. I don’t drink. I have my own atomic daily habits, a new faith and though I’m highly unlikely to become a Christian or Muslim, I admired the qualities I’ve seen in April and May greatly.
Faith, you’ve got to have it, sang George Michael.
And he wasn’t wrong.
