July 26 - Day 102 - “We must never be afraid to be a sign of contradiction for the world.” Mother Teresa

Malcolm, my neighbour knows lots of things, especially about the wildlife of Derbyshire, so he is often a great source of information - and he and his wife Gail have also been very good neighbours over many years.

A few days ago, on my way home, I saw in the distance what I thought was a white deer but I couldn’t stop before it had disappeared. Once home, I asked Malcolm whether there were such things as albino deer but it was a bit hard to explain what it had looked like without having a photograph to show him.

On Friday, I was cycling home quite late when I spotted it again and managed to stop and get get some photographs. This morning, I downloaded them and sent them to Malcolm, hoping he was going to tell me it was some rare variety of deer. I was soon informed that it was a ‘very light coloured red hind’ - so I can’t claim to have discovered a new species during Sponsor a Spin… yet?

What it did make me think is that when an animal stands out from, or is different to, the crowd or is unusual, we often see it as very special and flock to it. When humans have done so, they have often been ostracised or criticised, especially those, who as Mother Theresa describes in the title quotation, have stood up as a contradiction against what we might normally expect. Celebrating difference isn’t something that has come easy in the history of British society and we often struggle, as explained in the previous blog about Joe Cox, to find that which unites people, rather than divides.

I did, however, feel particularly grateful to the BBC today, for making me feel united with others when they said, ‘More than 40% of adults in England have gained weight during the pandemic, a survey suggests, with the average gain being half a stone.’ I’m always glad to help out with an average.