Saving the day
I wonder if you have heard the term “saviour complex”. It describes a person who feels a constant compulsion to rescue others. They are like an old fashioned knight riding around looking for a damsel in distress. Any situation they come across it becomes their duty to solve it. Sadly these people are often trying to solve an emotional gap in their own lives and because of that they end up burning out and damaging themselves. I have been thinking about this saviour complex as I watch the ongoing developments in the Labour government these past few weeks. Barring any unforeseen developments Andy Burnham will be our new prime minister on July 17th. He has promised to take the country in a new direction. That new direction will I presume deliver the country from its current difficulties, I don’t know if Andy has a saviour complex, but when I consider his in-tray I wonder how easy this deliverance will be. Saviour complexes can not only be assumed by a person, but it can be placed on him or her as well. It seems to me that the Labour Party has done this with Andy.
You see saviours get placed on a pedestal. Expectations are huge and if the saviour falls off, the impacts on the faithful are devastating. Cynicism, bitterness and despair set in. Yet I would suggest that failure is inevitable when expectations are that high. The only person who ever successfully wore a saviour complex was Jesus. In the gospels he healed every person who came to him. He also kept his promises. He told his followers that he would be betrayed, arrested, flogged, crucified and then rise again after three days. The gospels testify that all these events happened and because of that millions of Christians have followed him since.
I wish Andy all the best. I hope he lives up to expectations, but I also say pity help him if he doesn’t. Humans inevitably let us down. That’s why I trust Jesus. He never has!.