Like many I could weep at the ‘cesspit of allegations’ being heaped on the late Sir Jimmy Saville OBE here in the UK . I am of the generation that watched his iconic show ‘Jim’ll Fix It’ back in the seventies – a show that was about making dreams come true for innocent children. Little did we know that what lay beneath this ‘Father Christmas’ veneer was a nightmare of child abuse and manipulation.
Yet what shocks more than one twisted individual is the chain of collusion and denial involving hundreds of people that stretched over forty years covering up the truth in his wake. Jimmy Saville used his wealth, honours, good deeds and celebrity bling to create an ‘untouchable’ alter ego – equal and opposite in its goodwill to the ill-will of its shadow identity.
Similar to the aftermath of Hillsborough, catholic priests, Lance Armstrong, LIBOR bankers and MP expense claims, we are left stunned that lips were sealed for so long – so many mute witnesses seemingly entranced by power, celebrity and authority into denying the evidence of their own senses and so sweeping under the carpet our most precious morals.
To salvage a silver lining from these dark clouds is a challenge yet maybe it can be done. After our ‘Challenging Coaching’ workshop at the ICF global coaching conference last week a lady came up to me commenting on our mantra of ‘speak your truth, face the FACTS’. She said she used to find that when she attempted to speak up in the presence of powerful clients the words just ‘got stuck here in my throat’. In saying this she touched her throat lightly and then added ‘Now I find that with the work I have done on myself my throat chakra just opens and I can get the words out’.
This testimony made me wonder if collectively we have all had words stuck in our throat for a long time yet gradually we are learning how to speak up and to restore the truth – like chipping away at the surface of an ancient mural carefully revealing its original detail, colour and authenticity.
The measure of this possibility is if today we find the courage to chip away some more at our own lost masterpieces, correcting falsehoods and putting right what has been blatantly wrong. Whilst we cannot now bring to justice a man like Jimmy Saville from beyond the grave we can use the shock of these revelations to confront the secrets that still lie hidden in our own and in other people’s lives.
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