Official Report 838KB pdf
Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection, and our time for reflection leader is Senga Ishaq from the Humanist Society Scotland.
I thank the Presiding Officer and the members of the Scottish Parliament for the opportunity to lead time for reflection today.
As a humanist, I live my life with logic and reason, and I treat other people the way that I would like to be treated. Some people think that humanism comes with no rules and that we can do wrong with no consequences, but, in fact, it is the opposite—we are completely accountable for our actions. To say it another way, humanists do the right thing even though they know that no one is watching.
As a celebrant with the charity, the Humanist Society Scotland, for 15 years, I have conducted more than 800 ceremonies for weddings, namings and funerals. The most important skill that I have learned is listening. Through listening, we make sure that clients get exactly what they want in every ceremony. That is what makes our ceremonies unique and an absolute joy to do. Seeing how happy people are at the end of a ceremony is an amazing feeling. Yes—even at the end of a funeral, people feel happy that they have encompassed everything that their loved one meant to them.
Talking to clients before their ceremony can bring out amazing ideas that touch our hearts and can be offered to other people in the future. To illustrate that, I will share a couple of stories.
For her adoption naming ceremony, an eight-year-old girl asked whether she could have a black candle lit at the start and, once I gave her her new surname, whether she could blow that one out and light a white one, to show her old life ending and the new one starting. When she lit that white candle, it was so powerful that there was not a dry eye in the room.
At a same-sex marriage ceremony, one of the grooms told me that they got engaged on 24 July “for obvious reasons”. I had to ask what was obvious about 24 July, and he looked at me, nonplussed, and said, “Because we love each other 24/7.” In all of the ceremonies that I had done, I had never heard that fantastic reason for picking a date.
I am very proud of our country and of our Parliament’s achievements, because we are a leader in the two fields that I have just mentioned. The children’s hearings system, which protects children in Scotland, is, in my opinion, second to none. Of course, a decade ago, we were, again, a leader when we introduced equal marriage, thereby accepting that love is love, regardless of gender.
I wish all of you the strength and courage to continue to listen to people and make sure that we get what we need for the people that you are working for. In that way, we will keep Scotland ahead of the pack. I wish you lots of those important listening skills to help us to get there and I thank you for listening to me.
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