Unfortunately, the changes we choose in life usually involve changes to our own lives and offer little to change someone else's situation. If we decide to go on a diet, it hardly prompts us to think about someone who may be starving, or if we think about saving our money, do we consider those who have no income or those who cannot provide for themselves? 

My favourite Christmas carol is Away in a Manger, although I can hardly ever sing it all the way through to the end without feeling upset and sometimes unable to sing some of the words. At Midnight Mass we sing the carol kneeling and I am probably effected most by the lines, 'be near me Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay, close by me for ever, and love me I pray ... When we are are thoughtless, there is someone who loves us just for who we are, whether we are 'mad' or sad, ashamed, selfish, rude or unforgiving, whose only wish is that we should be like Him, and who can only see us as the people He wants us to be.

Occasionally, I hear people saying that the reason why bad things happen is because good people do nothing. Well, I wish it was that simple! I think we have to begin by categorising ‘bad things’ - illness, someone losing their job, a car accident, freak weather, road rage, to name but a few. Listening to the list, I doubt that the intervention of a good person would have changed many of the bad things. So is it true? Can we prevent disaster, or change the outcome of situations, by adding our voice or doing something?

Making people suffer, as a contribution to entertainment is not a new concept by any means. The Victorians, amongst others, were fond of their 'sideshows' at fairs, although the ridicule these poor people suffered was remunerated, and their treatment did stop far short of 'torturing' the subjects with the objects of their fear, which is why, I think, the program in question goes far beyond the boundaries of either decency or entertainment.

I have to admit to being a fan of the ITV television programme 'The 'X Factor'. I wouldn't say that I was a compulsive viewer, although I do watch it most Saturdays.
What I find most staggering, is that I had simply no idea that there were so many thousands of people who are so desperate to succeed, even to the point of being delusional and 'in denial' of what their true talent might be!

November, in the church, is generally known as the month of remembrance. Those whom we remember in the various feasts and commemorations, the Saints who fought for and witnessed our faith, those who gave their lives in conflict and war, and the earliest apostles through whom the truth of God was revealed - all had the X Factor.

It seems to me that participants in 'The X Factor' who fail to achieve their dream, might reflect well upon those whose dream was not in wealth or success, but in service, not in the entertainment of humanity, whom the world will long remember, I am sure.