Murray - Minted?*

* with apologies for the pun. (Are Murray Mints still around?)

So - Andy Murray did it last Sunday. I arrived home just in time for the last game, having listened to bits of it on the car radio while I did some parish visits. I confess I felt quite emotional as he won that final point, and the crowd erupted. I don't think it had anything to do with the '77-year wait for a British Wimbledon champion'. It was just that I love to see a person do well, especially if I have some kind of attachment to them - and here I must admit it is because he's British (well, Scottish I guess he would want to say). Les and I watched a documentary about Andy Murray a couple of weeks ago, and he came across as a really genuine person, who has known tears as well as joys in life. His parents, of course, are divorced and he came within an ace of the massacre at Dunblane Primary School: his class was the next one due in the gym where that terrible event occurred. He is clearly still scarred by the memory, as he wept talking about it on the film. It says much for him that, although Sue Barker (interviewing him) said, 'It's ok, we can cut this' as he struggled to control his emotions, he must have agreed to let that piece stay in the programme.

What now for Murray? A millionaire already at 26, fame, success and a celebrity. I hope he can handle it well. The signs are good, as I gather he has donated his Wimbledon winnings to the Royal Marsden Cancer charity. (He has a close friend who is seriously ill with cancer). It was also good to hear he phoned his grandparents straight after the game!

David Cameron wants to give him a knighthood. I cried out, 'Noooo....!' Too soon. Maybe at the end of his career. Maybe an MBE now. Such a reaction from the PM suggests to me much that is wrong in our current social attitudes. We are a meritocratic society, where rewards come too readily to people for their smallest achievements. I know winning Wimbledon is a big thing for a Brit, but I believe the bigger rewards (such as a knighthood) should be for lifetime achievements, or for outstanding contributions to the common good.

Speaking of the common good: have you signed up for Together for the Common Good this September? Go to www.togetherforthecommongood.co.uk. It concerns the legacy of David Sheppard and Derek Worlock, connecting faith and the good society.

On a related issue, here is something I've just read, about the dangers of allowing wealth (as in the Gross National Product) to determine our national priorities. It's by former US politician Robert Kennedy:

(it) does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education,or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate, or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning...it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.

While we rejoice at Murray's success, the magnitude of his rewards and the adulation heaped upon him say much about what we really value in our corporate life.