It was only a Winter's Tale

Blogging carries with it a certain responsibility. It is unlike writing any other form of article or book because there is no editor there to put upon the article their own particular spin. Yet by using the world wide web you are in fact reaching a greater audience than most daily newspapers ever will. So people read you and quote you. Agree with you or castigate you for being a heretic of sorts. And they will take on board what you have said. You will in some way reach out into their daily lives.

It is in many ways being like a parent.

Strange comment? Well think about it. No one teaches you how to be a parent. We learn from what happened to us as children and by watching how our parents and the parents of our friends nurture their children. There are no formal classes that sit you down and explain this is how you do it. Well no classes that you are compelled by law to take that is. We are free to bring up our children however we so desire. We can seek help  from professionals who have their own ideas on the nurturing of children but in reality we turn to our own parents thinking that by some way they have the answers to all our problems.

And blogging is the same. Many of us enjoy the interaction that it allows us to have outside of our hectic lifestyle. Some of us do it for campaigning reasons, some for fun and some because we like the sound of our own thoughts. No one teaches you how to blog, well beyond the functionality of it that is. There are no real rules, guidelines or even censorship which is why many like this medium however just like parenting with that freedom comes ultimately responsibility.

So when I was listening to the news this morning about the specific problems regarding Bristol's Booze Bombshell http://alcoholdebate.blogspot.com/ I started thinking about the nature versus nurture argument all over again.

And here's my conclusion.

Whilst children continue to be brought into this world parents will ultimately have much control over their offspring's development. As parents they have learned from the imperfect world of their own parents who often have limited education or life skills. We as a society need to break this cycle of lack of life skill training and educate our young in the ways of the world. Inspire them to want to learn, inspire the parents to want to learn and give all access to the education that life has to offer. Allow people the freedom to make up their own minds but make sure that they have enough information to support their decisions. As a society we must grow together or face ultimate destruction all because we thought I'm alright Jack!


This may be only a Winter's Tale but do not allow our society to reach it's Twelfth Night and become another   Hamlet in the mystery of time.