07.07.2004 · The Government

Prime Minister's welcome speech, as Anastasis came to the Faroes

The Prime Minister held a welcome speech, when Anastasis, one of the three ships of Mercy Ships came to the Faroes.


Dear captain and crew!

As Prime Minister it is a great pleasure to welcome this ship and its crew to the Faroes.
 
We all know that we live in a troubled age, in an era troubled by war and the horrific consequences for its victims. As a father I often ask myself: “What are children, who are growing up in areas where killing, torture and destruction are part of everyday life, to make of things, what are they to believe?”
 
It is also a fact of life, that unjust distribution of the world’s resources, is the reason why millions of children do not know what it is like to go to bed on a full stomach, what it means to drink clean water, and how it feels to put on clean clothes - let alone what it means to receive medical attention to injuries and physical and mental difficulties, and to combat diseases that, in our part of the world, are taken for granted.
 
And like me, many may wonder: “How are they to develop hopes and dreams for a bright future, where love of one’s neighbour, peace and social justice is not an exceptional event, but the main rule of life?
 
No. It is not always easy to be a child – particularly where the agenda is set by cynical and fanatical people and rulers, because there is no limit to the misery they can cause.
                 
We all need hopes and dreams. If we rob human beings, adults as well as children of all hope for the future, then the basis of their existence will be torn apart, as well as the very foundation required for building a healthy society. Anyone, who has seen hope and excitement distinguished from the eyes of a child, because they are overwhelmed by disappointments, will never forget it.  To be truly humans with dignity we must have hope, trust and faith in the future. Hope and faith are the very basis for building a future for oneself and for our neighbour in need, wherever they are.
                 
Therefore it is a great encouragement to receive a visit from a ship and its crew, which puts love of one’s neighbour on the top of the agenda, to such a degree that you are willing to sail the seven seas in order to give people in desperate conditions a concrete help, so that they can recover and spread hopes and dreams to other people.
                 
“Anastasis” is a Greek word and means resurrection or recovery. It is a word that is repeated again and again in the New Testament. More than anything else resurrection symbolises hopes and dreams - the hope for a better life, the hope for a better future. In my own language, Faroese, we also say about an individual, who has been marginalized by society, or fallen on hard times, that he/she has risen again. They have been resurrected.
                 
Dear captain and crew. You do not sit idle and rest, while our fellow man around the world lives in hardship. You seek people in need, give them medical care and medicine, you teach them the basic skills of agriculture, and guide them how to produce clean water. You get through to the children, you touch the children hearts, you give them confidence and you care for them. Through your efforts, you help them regain their self-respect. In other words: “ You show the world, that action speak louder than words. You take Jesus on his word, when he said: ”Love your neighbour as you love yourself.”
                 
I am convinced that the world would be a poorer place without these words of our Lord, and the emphasis He put on them. Despite our differences of opinions, this is at least something all normal human beings must agree upon. We must believe that these words are stronger than all the hatred that fills the world with poverty, war and horror. If we lose this faith, we give up all hope of a better and more just world. And the loss of hope is directly in conflict with the very spirit of Christianity.
                 
Let me conclude with the voice of Martin Luther King, who said: ”I have a dream.” We must all have a dream, because that is how we become closer to our fellow man, and this is how we build the future.  Finally may I say to you, the captain and crew of Anastasis: Thank you very much for carrying this dream with you around the world’s seven seas, so that your dreams can become a real hope for the countless victims, who now live without any glimmer of hope.           
 
Thank you and have a safe voyage!