It's that time of year when you used to take your life in your hands when you passed anywhere near a mature horse chestnut tree - young (and not-so-young) boys and girls hurling sticks into the branches of these magnificent creations in the hope of knocking down a few of their prized fruits. Nowadays they do not have the popularity or value that they had when I was much younger. There are so many just lying on the pavement a few hundred yards from the manse.

But what colour are conkers?

Brown, would you say?
If you could look at one now you would see that it is quite extraordinary - yes it's brown, but within the brown there are so many other colours, purples and reds and yellows and ochre shades - amazing colours blended together - yet another wonder of creation.

People are as varied and beautiful like the conkers covering the earth; an amazing piece of creation. Each person you get to know really well turns out to be rather extraordinary. Everyone is pretty wonderful when you get down to them - I mean "wonderful" in the sense of "I wonder about him or her". If they look humdrum or ordinary, it's probably because they are keeping their extraordinariness quiet, hiding away something precious about themselves.

There is something special in each and every person; too often it is hidden and remains unshared, but when you get to know someone well that wonder comes out. Real life is so much richer than anything you could read in a book: more comic, more sad, more everything. You don't see it, very often - it's things like weddings and funerals which bring it out.

So conkers!
What can you do with them?

Well you could keep them just for fun; use them to keep moths away from your clothes (apparently), to help in the making of the explosive cordite, or even thread them on a string and play the traditional game of conkers, making them break each other to pieces, to the opponent's dismay. Think about it - such a beautiful piece of creation used to destroy itself and its own kind.

Much of the human race spends its time destroying people and peoples; knocking them down; making them feel small; making them feel inadequate; making them feel unwanted and useless. And yet people are as varied and beautiful like the conkers covering the earth, an amazing piece of creation. They should be recognised for their beauty and valued for their individuality.

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