Friday 24 June 2016

Referendum Review

Scotland votes in, Wales votes out, Northern Ireland in, England out (apart from London and a few other places). In, out, in, out, we shake it all about. The PM says he’ll stand down and that probably means a new government. The £s go up and down like a yo-yo that the Bank of England are desperately trying to prevent running out of bounce. Meanwhile everyone else is trying to get their heads around the slightly surprising result and what it all means. The only clear thing I can see is that with a 52/48 percent split our country is not quite as united as we like to say, in fact it’s completely divided, but I think we knew that already.

What is interesting as one MP said at some point in the early hours of the morning was that while people usually go with the status quo if they’re a bit unsure, it seems that this time they didn’t. I wonder how many people voted out just to stick one to the establishment, and how many didn’t vote in because they thought it was a foregone conclusion. Hopefully not too many for either, because those are not good reasons. Still this is the result and we must go with it. There are potentially exciting times ahead and probably some challenging ones too, but at this time it’s impossible to say what will happen at all.

It’s probably too early to start looking back, but I wonder if people will say in the future that this result had been coming and we were wrong not to expect it more; that the trend over the past 10 or 15 years was towards independence. Equally looking forward is difficult, but I hope this doesn’t point to greater divisions in our country, continent and world. Only time will tell.
 

Saturday 11 June 2016

Ten thousand is a big number!

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.” As said Jack Kerouac.

"Until then I'll just keep putting down whatever comes into my head." Says I.

Thanks everyone for reading my thoughts, my ideas and my little stories. Maybe one day they'll be bigger!

10,000 views is more than I ever could have imagined when I started blogging four and a half years ago!

 
I took my mouth and silence made
But on the page the words don't fade.
 
 

Thursday 9 June 2016

Living with Wonder

Boredom is the curse of life and wonder is the cure.

Why do I like working with young people? Largely it's their capacity for wonder. Their ability to see possibilities where adults see barriers, and their belief in magic and miracles that don't need to be explained or understood (at least in some scientific way) but are just enjoyed and marvelled at.

Adults, through the extra responsibilities and through the pressures of work, largely lose the wonder they had as a child. Things are explained to them, or if they cannot be explained, then ignored by them. Opportunities for wonder are cut or not taken (there are opportunities all the time and in all places, not just at the weekend, but adults often forget this, especially radio presenters who spend all week counting down to the next weekend on everyone else's behalf). Adults who try to continue exploring the world or have adventures, rather than try to explain and organise and prioritise are often told to 'settle down' and 'get a proper job'. Yet this is often what kills wonder and introduces boredom.

From a place of boredom people try to recapture the fun and exciting parts of life, but generally in the wrong places. We do things in an effort to feel something again, but can end up hurting ourselves more.

To be allowed to wonder and to take time to do so, is really the only cure. Keeping busy can lead to exhaustion, but exploring mysteries can fill the void we often feel.

Here are some things that have filled me with wonder this year:
   A terrified child pushing himself off the zip wire
   The generosity of a friend
   The effects of spring:

   This view:
 
   The stories of soldiers on D-Day (especially the story of Pegasus Bridge, which I read recently).
   The faith of millions of people throughout history (as I also read about recently) often leading to persecution and sometimes death.
   And that I get to live and work here (not for everyone, I know, but perfect for me):
 
 
Don't let boredom bring you down. Keep on being amazed, wondering and enjoying life. (I'm still working on that!)