Mikiesboy

If you get the chance to watch The Sixth Commandment, don't miss it. Rachel Cooke from The Guardian said this about it: It’s hard to imagine better television – more dignified, more noticing – than The Sixth Commandment, which began last week on BBC1. Mostly, I loathe true crime. To make entertainment of the horrifying acts of a Dennis Nilsen or a Jeffrey Dahmer isn’t just gratuitously exploitative; it can only bring more pain to those who loved the men they killed. But this drama about Peter Farquhar, a retired schoolteacher who was murdered in 2015 by Benjamin Field, a man about 40 years his junior, is of a different order altogether. More interested in Field’s victims than in his crimes – he also preyed on Farquhar’s elderly neighbour, Ann Moore-Martin – its screenwriter, Sarah Phelps, attends fully to the loneliness of old age, and by doing so, asks difficult questions of us all. But there’s something else. In a series replete with brilliant actors – Anne Reid and Éanna Hardwicke are astonishing as Moore-Martin and Field – Timothy Spall’s turn as Farquhar, a closeted gay man, stands out, not so much a performance as an inhabitation. It is extraordinary: beautiful, and moving. Here, you think, is an actor who can do just about anything, his empathy a kind of skeleton key, there to unlock even the most complicated human being. Will this role, for which he’s surely destined to win awards, drive a decisive nail into the coffin of the fashionable conviction that actors should only be cast as characters whose sexuality matches their own? I hope fervently that it will. Every line Spall speaks stands as a reminder that finding an affinity with another person, however different they may be from yourself, is what both acting, and leading a decent life, are all about. ************** It took me awhile to get over this one.. it was incredibly well done and acted. i don't know how you cannot be moved by it.

It was brilliant, wasn't it.. i had hoped it would win. Lots of great stories and ideas came out of this. i'm glad for everyone.

Thanks for reading it and your wonderful comments. You know you're a treasure around here, i hope. xoxo

A trick to remember in the future!

He's a cool guy. He'll help anyone who needs it if He knows. Thank you. i'm a terrible guesser too. i only knew yours because of things that have been said in the DiC. It really is a wonderfully written piece. i enjoy these little writing things; they are fun and bring out the good in people, i think.

First, thanks for guessing this was me. oh, i am sooooo pleased the end made you laugh! it did me and i hoped others would see the same. Thanks again for your wonderful comments. You made my day.

Thanks for your comments. As a non-believer, ex-Catholic, to me, God can be female, male or just God, a fluid being. However, this story wasn’t about me; it was about Steven. Throughout the story, we are told by Steven and his mother they are not religious and don’t know about religion particularly. So, to answer your question about why Steven would think God is a man or why God is referred to as male in this story, the idea comes from things he likely knew or had heard. Such as, “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name … In the Lord’s Pray, God is referred to as our Father, a male figure usually. Also, many people know or have heard that in the Bible, Genesis 1:27 says: So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Steven would not be aware that the Bible is written from oral stories/history and early writings, nor that it was often changed to meet certain people’s agendas. He would not know about the Jewish texts or the fact that information about what women did/do and who they are in our world was removed along the way during the rewritings of that Book. Hope this answers your concerns.

i don't think God speaks to Steven truly...i think Steven's inner self, his unconscious mind is speaking to him. Is that what God is? Maybe. Thank you for your comments and sharing your thoughts.

Thank you very much for your wonderful comments. You 'see' Steven perfectly. i appreciate your insight and for sharing your journey here. Thank you again for your thoughts and feelings.

Thank you very much, Parker. Thank you very much for your comments and for reading. xo

Thank you, Dan. Who did you think wrote this? I still think it was @Wayne Gray, but he says it was me..LOL I'm glad you enjoyed this little story. I appreciate your comment and insight. Thanks, again.

Thank you for your in-depth and insightful comments. i'm glad Steven is a successful character. Christan values and religion are so not the same thing, as you allude to in your comments. Thank you for reading this and sharing your thoughts with us here.

You are right. Thanks for your comments and congrats on a truly wonderful story!! Michael said it was amazing. He was right. Thank you again for your comments and for reading. xo

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. i was raised in the Church, my life caused me to doubt and leave all that behind me. Yet, it's not easy to leave it and it's hard not to believe. So, i find myself writing about God and beliefs and theories I've read about God and who Jesus was. i try to do so with love and respect and if i'm honest, hope. Thank you again, drsawzall.

Thank you, raven1. i think you need to listen to that small voice, it seems to have guided you well through your life. i'm grateful to you for reading and sharing your thoughts. i'm glad you enjoyed it.

Hi TeamStilinski. You know what, i love all comments, but this is interesting. i love how people see things and then share. i sit down and write what i feel, it was not at all a conscious choice to write it as you describe. Thanks for leaving your thoughts. I'm grateful and glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks, Jkeeletupelo! I appreciate your reading and your kind comments. Glad it made you feel good.

Thank you very much, chris! No, the churches were a place of solitude and peace. Thanks for reading and your comments.

Thank you Bill W. People can come through abuse and be happy. Write what you know! Thanks again!!

Thank you, JohnnyC! i appreciate you reading and commenting on this.

i was sure @Wayne Gray wrote that.. lol

Supposed to be a stinker for the next few days.

okay i will .. not a real chore that one Awwwww Pony is okay! That's good news. I've always been fascinated by horses. I've been watching this guy on You Tube. He's really amazing with them. He learned a lot of his stuff while in the USA from various horsemen.

thanks... i am looking forward to that ... no celebration plans.. not yet anyway

omg..lol.. idiots. i'm sure if we got together we could write a book! Michael sometime reads idiotic things customer's ask from some online site He likes. Example: From a waiter: Customer: I want a virgin screwdriver Waiter: Sure I'll bring you an orange juice Customer: I dont want an orange juice. I want a virgin screwdriver!! Waiter: i put the order in and they charged her $7.95 for a glass of orange juice. Or.. What cheese is in the mozzarella sticks? Or.. what kind of meat do you put in your chicken wings .. hahahaa