A few years ago I had the privilege of visiting the city of
Bremem to study the local authority’s work on sustainable transport. Their work
on cycling and integrated ticking, combining the transport pass with a pass to
tourism attractions was both innovative and excellent.
My friend and colleague on the morning we meet rather than
take me to the bus station or to see a cycle parking scheme or the way cycle
routes had priority at a roundabout asked if I had visited the church.
I
don't think was due to faith reasons as faith or God was never mentioned but rather to see the list
of names on the war memorial. There were
literally 100s, if not 1000s, and these were just people from Bremen that had
been killed in the bombing of the city during the Second World War. In fact most of the city centre was a 1960 concrete rebuild
with only a few buildings of the historic centre remaining.
It wasn't that he wanted to be critical of the RAF as he
also knew, what had occurred in cities such as Coventry and London but rather
as we both knew that it was a complete and utter tragedy that our countries had
been at war. We both agreed that this must never happen again.
The war was never mentioned again by either of us yet we
both knew that part of the reason we should be cooperating on helping each
other’s cities and regions improve their sustainable transport infrastructure
was to build mutual understanding and respect across European countries so that
we all might prosper. This is part of what it means to live in community to
forgive the past and to cooperate for benefit of the common good of each and every
one who lives in that community.
Therefore consider the lives that have been lost in our
country and those in cities across Europe and please like me commit yourself to
the common good of us all both in this country and in the rest of Europe. Now
is the time to remain not run.
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