Well, you have to remember that my teacgers belonged to the generation that went to Uni and got their degrees right after the war. they saw the first labour Government use the money from death duties levied from the aristocracy used to fund the NHS, and all the rest of the Welfare State. They went into teaching because they wanted to be a positive influence on kids like me, growing up in the 50s and 60s, they preached very rudimentaly Socialism with strong Christian overtones (or was it rudimentary christianity with strongly Socialist overtones- hard to tell sometimes) to children under the age of 10.
All about how our parents won the war and now it was up to us, when we grew up, to carry on and make the world a better place, where poverty didn't exist and hardship was a distant memory... And what became of their dream - the dream they handed on to us with such high hopes of us going out and making it become reality?
The truth is that material prosperity got in people's eyes. they were dazzled by the glint of gold and began to forget how hard these things were won. Skilled trade unionist were more concerned with keeping their differentials that the struggle to help the less fortunate.
And yet, although she came to power on the back of the Winter of Discontent, Thatcher did not really bury Socialism, she merely locked it in a cupboard. yet Socialism still exists today. As far as I am concerned, the dream to make England a green and pleasant land in which ordinary working people can live a good life; not just enjoy having a colour tv and holidays abroad, but enjoy having a rich cultural heritage that they know and love, having an intellectual and emotional appreciation of things like Shakespeare plays and Van Gogh paintings - these are things that we can and should still aspire to today.
The 40s and the 50s, to me, seem today like the high water mark of English Socialism. I was born right at the time it started to slip back. But the next wave that comes crashing up the beach will be your generation. People like me fought a rearguard action against crass materialism. In your time, the world will see peak oil, and the end of the consumer society. you will bring in a more prudent regard for the Earth's resources and it's indigenous people. You will do the things that we only dreamed of. You will be the ones who will learn from our mistakes and take the struggle forwards to new heights, who usher in an age of international co-operation and social justice, you will be the next hight water mark, where we were just the backwash. Of that I have no doubt!
Thanks for the rallying cry. I may print this out to aid me when the time comes.
Myself and my friend were talking yesterday. He's adamant there's going to be an uprising, but as he's in his late 50s he thinks he'll never see it, or perhaps be too frail to do anything. He's incredibly pissed off about the state of things. We often talk for hours about how completely fucked everything is, and trying to come up with ways of changing things. It always boils down to a change in government, or indeed, no government. He says he lived through the 70s, 80s and early 90s so he can smell when social unrest is building. (And also says he feels sorry for us 'poor young buggers'....Heh.)
By all means print it off. The point is that people told me when I was 6 or 7 that is was us that were going to do great things in the future.
Yes, I have seen the world change. Yet I still see so much that needs changing still. Ok, today there is the mobile phone and the internet. Things acan happen so much quicker now.
But getting people off of their arses is still the big problem. Yes, unrest is building - but what will happen when the masses decide to do something is another story. me, i have opted to join the Greens. It is where I see the future.One things is though , that accountability and transparency have got to be built into the system or it won't survive. maybe that sort of change is to big to make and it won't survive . the next 30 yrs will be 'interesting times' - do you read Terry Pratchett much?
Terry Pratchett is one of my favourite authors ever ever ever. And, strangely enough I'm re-reading Interesting Times at the moment. I just got to the bit where Rincewind finds the Red Army (after asking the worker in the field what he'd like the most in the world, and receiving the reply, 'A longer piece of string.') I understand what you mean. Most people just want an easy life...Or maybe they're so blinded by trying to survive that they don't see any alternative from their present situation?
Terry Pratchett is one of my favourite authors ever ever ever Ditto. he worked for many yrs as a journalist - and learned not just how the media actually works, but he learned a lot about human nature, about the police, about business and politics, about Life, really.
Interesting times also says a lot about the power of rumour, how rumours are spread and hints at why they get to be passed on. He really is a fascinating bloke.
As to why the peasant wants a longer bit of string , the answr is 'both'. people do want an easy life. Some more easier than others. But , basically, the hunter or fisherman just wants a meal. yet to catch fish of food on the hoof, one has to know enough about the quarry to catch it. And , for some people , the fascination with some aspect of nature goes well beyond what is needed to catch ones dinner. wildlife photography, or shakespearean sonnets, or something else gets studied with passion and commitment, and one becomes an authority on it. Jimmy Saville made a living out of being a DJ when being a DJ was little known and understood as an art form or a business. but he stuck to doing something he enjoyed and developed it into a carreer.
I hope you get the chance to do something you really enjoy, rather than having to do something you really hate , just to make a living.
But i know that isn't easy - I had to sell double glazing and all sorts of stuff before I joined London Transport. i wish you well on the job hunt.
Yes! I read about his days as a journalist. I think it must have further developed his sense of humour as well as giving him an insight into the weird quirks of humanity.
After 23 years, I'm still not 100% sure what I want to do. I keep coming up with whacky money making schemes - it all makes so much sense when you're lying there trying to sleep at 4am. But I'm also aware that most people don't really know what they want to do. I'm now just looking for a job which keeps food on the table, a roof over my head and clothes on my back. It's a bonus if I enjoy it.
All about how our parents won the war and now it was up to us, when we grew up, to carry on and make the world a better place, where poverty didn't exist and hardship was a distant memory... And what became of their dream - the dream they handed on to us with such high hopes of us going out and making it become reality?
The truth is that material prosperity got in people's eyes. they were dazzled by the glint of gold and began to forget how hard these things were won. Skilled trade unionist were more concerned with keeping their differentials that the struggle to help the less fortunate.
And yet, although she came to power on the back of the Winter of Discontent, Thatcher did not really bury Socialism, she merely locked it in a cupboard. yet Socialism still exists today.
As far as I am concerned, the dream to make England a green and pleasant land in which ordinary working people can live a good life; not just enjoy having a colour tv and holidays abroad, but enjoy having a rich cultural heritage that they know and love, having an intellectual and emotional appreciation of things like Shakespeare plays and Van Gogh paintings - these are things that we can and should still aspire to today.
The 40s and the 50s, to me, seem today like the high water mark of English Socialism. I was born right at the time it started to slip back. But the next wave that comes crashing up the beach will be your generation. People like me fought a rearguard action against crass materialism. In your time, the world will see peak oil, and the end of the consumer society. you will bring in a more prudent regard for the Earth's resources and it's indigenous people. You will do the things that we only dreamed of. You will be the ones who will learn from our mistakes and take the struggle forwards to new heights, who usher in an age of international co-operation and social justice, you will be the next hight water mark, where we were just the backwash. Of that I have no doubt!
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Myself and my friend were talking yesterday. He's adamant there's going to be an uprising, but as he's in his late 50s he thinks he'll never see it, or perhaps be too frail to do anything. He's incredibly pissed off about the state of things. We often talk for hours about how completely fucked everything is, and trying to come up with ways of changing things. It always boils down to a change in government, or indeed, no government. He says he lived through the 70s, 80s and early 90s so he can smell when social unrest is building. (And also says he feels sorry for us 'poor young buggers'....Heh.)
Argh. So much responsibility.
Reply
The point is that people told me when I was 6 or 7 that is was us that were going to do great things in the future.
Yes, I have seen the world change. Yet I still see so much that needs changing still.
Ok, today there is the mobile phone and the internet. Things acan happen so much quicker now.
But getting people off of their arses is still the big problem.
Yes, unrest is building - but what will happen when the masses decide to do something is another story. me, i have opted to join the Greens. It is where I see the future.One things is though , that accountability and transparency have got to be built into the system or it won't survive. maybe that sort of change is to big to make and it won't survive . the next 30 yrs will be 'interesting times' - do you read Terry Pratchett much?
Reply
I understand what you mean. Most people just want an easy life...Or maybe they're so blinded by trying to survive that they don't see any alternative from their present situation?
Reply
Ditto.
he worked for many yrs as a journalist - and learned not just how the media actually works, but he learned a lot about human nature, about the police, about business and politics, about Life, really.
Interesting times also says a lot about the power of rumour, how rumours are spread and hints at why they get to be passed on. He really is a fascinating bloke.
As to why the peasant wants a longer bit of string , the answr is 'both'. people do want an easy life. Some more easier than others.
But , basically, the hunter or fisherman just wants a meal. yet to catch fish of food on the hoof, one has to know enough about the quarry to catch it. And , for some people , the fascination with some aspect of nature goes well beyond what is needed to catch ones dinner. wildlife photography, or shakespearean sonnets, or something else gets studied with passion and commitment, and one becomes an authority on it. Jimmy Saville made a living out of being a DJ when being a DJ was little known and understood as an art form or a business. but he stuck to doing something he enjoyed and developed it into a carreer.
I hope you get the chance to do something you really enjoy, rather than having to do something you really hate , just to make a living.
But i know that isn't easy - I had to sell double glazing and all sorts of stuff before I joined London Transport. i wish you well on the job hunt.
Reply
After 23 years, I'm still not 100% sure what I want to do. I keep coming up with whacky money making schemes - it all makes so much sense when you're lying there trying to sleep at 4am. But I'm also aware that most people don't really know what they want to do. I'm now just looking for a job which keeps food on the table, a roof over my head and clothes on my back. It's a bonus if I enjoy it.
Thanks, again, for your support and kind words :)
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