Two Different Paths

When I see a prompt like this, I wonder why anyone, or at least anyone without a very inflated sense of their own importance would want anything named after them. The idea of a building or a foundation or even a charity being named by you and for you strikes me as, in all but a few cases, incredibly self serving. Whether it is a politician or a celebrity, the naming of anything carries with it the risk of becoming a lightning rod for controversy as a certain orange politician proved. Now, of course, if your only aim in life is to upset your opponents and put yourself front and centre of everything, you won’t care about controversy and you may even welcome it. Actually, if that is your only aim in life you are perfect for the job of a modern politician where helping people is the furthest thing from your mind. So, anyone naming something after themselves is by definition the type of person who I instinctively dislike.

There is, however, a very different example of this that I can support. It’s the naming of a charity after someone who has died or been hugely affected by a medical issue or similar. Sometimes it happens in the face of a personal tragedy. We have seen so many rugby players, from both codes, affected by Motor Neurone Disease. Their foundations have raised huge amounts of money and led to much higher awareness of the condition. In this way, they have taken a dreadful situation and made it a catalyst for amazing goodness. Sometimes it happens after a tragedy. I knew Derek and Jennifer Phillips for a number of years. I rented a room in their house and was treated with kindness and compassion. Jennifer was an excellent cook and baker made our wedding cake which was absolutely amazing. They had a daughter called Demelza who worked in a hospice in Birmingham. She tragically died after a brain tumour and Derek and Jennifer set up a children’s hospice in Kent called Demelza. The incredible work they have done in the past three decades has been genuinely life changing for so many families, and their mission is to, as the charity says, ‘Add life to years when years cannot be added to life’. Demelza would no doubt have been incredibly proud of her legacy and the way that her short life has made such a difference to so many other lives. To be honoured in such a way should always be the decision of the family and friends of the person, but when it happens it is a fitting tribute.

If you have been inspired by the story of Demelza please look at their website and consider supporting them in any way you can.

https://www.demelza.org.uk/