Democracy through education, more like thought control

How many have listened to the Pink Floyd song 'Another Brick in the Wall'

We don't need no education , we don't need no thought control'


I am truly mortified that we stand today no further on in our society than Victorian Britain. As we come to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of the second longest reigning monarch of all times have we really learnt anything?

And do we have a democracy in our country?


Democracy is a difficult concept. It is without the most difficult concept because to be a true democrat you must fight for the right of another person to express their thought even if you totally disagree with their mantra, even if you would fight to your very death to oppose what is said. And this is difficult. I hate what they are saying but I must defend their right to say it.

No person on this planet, within the human race has the right to say that they are better than any other and no person can take the moral high ground without doing that.

I am quite simple really. I wake up, I wash and put on clothes, I go to work, I come back, I eat and then return to bed to sleep. In among all of that I find time for family, friends and hobbies. That makes me pretty much like any other person on the planet. I breathe air and I have red and bluey-red blood running through my arteries and veins. I urinate and and defecate and wish to procreate. I am a human being and as such am no different to any human being on this planet.

Yet there are those out there in the ether who would see that differently. Now I like a good conspiracy theory like a lot of people. After all we all, I think, kind of would like to know the truth about JFK or little green men in Roswell. Yet there are forces out there that believe we are not grown up enough to handle the truth. That mass chaos would ensue if we changed the system!

But would it?

Maslow described the idea that there are stages of growth starting with basic needs of food and shelter rising to a concept called 'self-actualisation'. And for those of you who are not psychologists that can be a pretty abstract concept yet ultimately it is what the human race aspires to.

If we all reach the idea of self-actualisation then rather than chaos descending I believe harmony would flow. 


But the system would have you believe otherwise. And that is why schooling was introduced. Whilst I agree in many of the thoughts of Sir Ken Robinson one thing that I haven't actually heard him say yet, although forgive me if I am wrong, is that education is actually about control of the masses for the benefit of the few for political ends. Orwell's 1984 vision is nearer to the truth I suspect than many understand. We dress it up in elections and standards and Human Rights but in reality the few that have risen through the system will ultimately keep the system in place because it put them where they are and they know the game better than others.

So should we crash the system? Well no I do not advocate anarchy in any way whatsoever but I do believe that we have to start thinking in a different way if our grandchildren are to have a life in pastures green. De Bono is fundamentally right when he talks about thinking outside the box. It's something I encourage my students to do and it's something enshrined in my personal life. I do not want to leave this planet having not reached self-actualisation. I want to feel that I have inspired a want for growth. I want my children to understand the power of the love that they have inside of them. I want them to understand that by sharing and collaborating all good things will come to all good people.

So do not become another brick in the wall, passion is the difference between mediocrity and greatness. Use you passion in a thoughtful way, help your neighbour and you shall help yourself.


Peace and Happiness 

Did they really die in vain?

The whole purpose of a democracy is that we all have equal say in how things happen. Millions of our citizens have died to protect that very ideal. I want to know did they die in vain?

Why vain? Well with the latest bill on welfare getting it's way through Parliament we have indeed taken a step back. In fact I have to ask have we gone totally retrograde. The mark of a civilised society is it's want and ability to take care of those who most need it's help and make sure that all are equal under law and society.

In forcing terminally ill patients to work we might as well just roll out the mobile gas vans and not pretend about things. How are terminally ill people supposed to work? What economic value will they have to the companies that are supposed to employ them? What employer would take them on except in servitude? And how high on morphine will they be at work and by implications how many mistakes will they make?

As many of you know I suffered a major injury in a car crash which over time has led, as predicted, to a deterioration in my overall health. Has this stopped me from working? No, but I am self employed, if I don't work I don't eat. I did, with all my qualifications, apply for over 2000 jobs in 1997 but you've guessed it not one interview. You see employers have this bit in their minds that says "How reliable is a man with a broken neck?"

And I have to agree. When my pain becomes excessive I have two choices. I can take the opiates and be spaced for a day or I can bite on some leather like they did in Nelson's Navy. Inevitably I chose the latter because I have a child to support who relies upon me, I have older children who need my support but what if I didn't? Pretty quickly I would run out of money. Then I would lose my home. My child would probably end up in care and I would be forced to work  mopping toilet floors. Or maybe worse someone may decide that I am no longer of value to society and decide I need terminating. A son would lose a father and what message would that send to him?

Sounds a bit Orwellian? Of course it does, however that is what I foresee from the latest welfare laws. I will not give in because I am a fighter. There will though be people who will just give in. No say, no voice, no hope.
Suicides may become common place, who knows? One thing is for certain people will suffer.

Is this why people died fighting for democracy. Wasn't Hitler a man who sought to create the perfect race, to destroy any sort of deformity? We need to stop, and rethink. NOW!


I AM SPARTACUS

Fools Gold

I wonder sometimes the price of friendship. And is it fools gold we pay for it with?

I have believed all of my life that a true friend is someone who will stand by you through whatever turmoil life brings and that you will stand by them in the same way. However there is in this society a loss of that vision. Friendship seems to be about what people can get out of you today not what they can do for you. It has become a dog eat anything world and we look upon our neighbours with suspicion .

This cannot be right but sadly it is all to common,

Let us as we go about our daily lives please remember that there are people out there who desperately need a friend and you can do something about that,

Peace and Happiness to you all

Senior's thoughts on Love

So much has been written on the subject of love that I felt it was only fair that I put my few thoughts down too. Not that in anyway can I compare myself to Shakespeare, Shelley, Byron or Browning.

Does love make the world go round?  Will you be there always waiting for me? Will you always love me? and are you crazy for me? Or were we just kicking leaves in Belsize Park?

This mysterious thing that we call love is the purest of emotions, the rawness of the teenage love, the depth of the devoted couple caring for each other when on their Zimmer frames as they try to navigate those final few moments together and the unadulterated simplicity and bewilderment of childbirth when that oh so precious bundle pops their head into this world for the first time.

We write about it, we sing about it, we eulogise about it we feel it's highs and lows, the joy and the pain and like an opiate more powerful than heroin we need it's claws to be deep within our soul. 

In this world in which we live there is much hate and sorrow brought about by power struggles for money or for territory but in reality the most powerful force in the universe will always be love. We are slave to it's mastery and we pay homage on days like today. 

So wherever you are today and whoever you are with, or want to be with, remember that you have the capacity to give to someone the greatest gift that you can...........

your unrestricted unblemished and totally amazing love.

Use it wisely, peace and happiness to you all 

For You

My heart is there for all eternity
Your smile is all I wait for
My soul reaches out in certainty
More in hope rather than expectation

I know you will always remember
That first tender kiss
I know that I will always surrender
My love inside my soul

If I could hold you in my arms again
That would be so amazing
My passion is like an express train
Speeding on towards it's goal

So my one and only
True love inside of me
Please do not leave me lonely
For this world cannot see

For without you I am nothing
A knarled piece of bark
For when cupid loosed his arrow
Please let it hit the mark

If I am fear to vanquish
Then let me start right now
For I cannot live without thee
Alone upon my windswept bough

A Dickens of a Day

This morning at some unearthly hour on the train I was tweeting about Charles Dickens being that it is the 200th Anniversary of his birth today. Little would I realise when doing that how bad today actually would turn out to be in terms of a Dickinseque scenario.

Dickens was a great reformer. He hated what he saw around him in Victorian Britain. Poverty, disease and destitution could not be right in his mind. He wrote books that highlighted all of those things and yet as I look around me in Elizabethan Britain I see in many ways things have not changed and I for one am worried for my children.

Sure we now have sanitation, electricity, clean streets, education, health care and social care but we have an attitude just as small minded as many of those in the Victorian world. I consider myself lucky for those who I interact with through social networking are generally people who I would enjoy having a cup of afternoon tea with or a pint down the pub and these are people who I know in a virtual world. Those I know in the real world especially my so called peer group would stab me in the back and smile into my face as I would look on going et tu Brutus.

Many years ago I was a young man aggressively seeking promotion in a dog eat dog world of the 1980's. Then as many of you will know I suffered a Saul on the Road to Damascus moment when I nearly died in not one but two car crashes a short time apart. Since then, and I don't speak about it often, my body has gradually started to capitulate to the ravages of time hastened by the damage sustained in the crashes. However the enlightenment, as you might put it, allowed me to take a step back and look at the important things in life.

My wife at the time was horrified that I was no longer bringing in the money that kept her in the manner to which she believed she deserved and fairly soon my marriage was on the rocks, something that I take my share of responsibility for. It was a loveless marriage however I had wonderful children who I doted upon. And I wanted them to be able to look up to me in years to come and say hey dad you did good you know. So I changed my outlook on life.

Unfortunately though I look around today in workplace and I still see that dog eat dog attitude. It is still all about me rather than together we can be better. Have we learned anything I ask myself? Politicians are corrupt, sports leaders are embroiled in so many scandals, business leaders seek to make the pot bigger for themselves and smaller for others and religious leaders are contemptible. And the great reformists? Well they seem to have disappeared all together. So what would Dickens have thought of it all? I dread to think.

So when the night draws in and you climb into your bed ask yourself this before you go to sleep. Have I helped someone else today. Have I brought about some kind of positive change in my theatre of influence. Have I made a difference to someone today?


If the answer is yes then may you sleep in peace and enjoy the rest that you deserve. If the answer is no then make sure you do something about it before it is too late, don't procrastinate, don't say manjana. Do it, and do it now.


All it takes for evil to succeed is for one good man not to stand up.


 

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.