Back in the olden times when there was sunshine and the right kind of snow; when decent law-abiding criminals shanked each other rather than innocent people; when individuals believed in what their governments were trying to do and National pride was something inclusive rather than divisive; when wagon wheels were a proper size and Cadbury's Cream Eggs tasted right; when a mud-pie tasted of dirt and wasn't filled with pesticides and steroids; when happiness wasn't judged financially and politeness really did cost nothing. You know, back then, before we got smug and selfish and isolationist and sexist and racist and anti everything that we couldn't fit in a pigeon's hole!
When did we decide it was right to leave a more dangerous, violent, angry, dissipated world for our children to inherit than we arrived into? When did we just let the scum float to the top and do whatever they damned well pleased, championing inequality in a search for financial nirvana for a "select" few (my bastardised, paraphrased precis from Will Hutton, The Observer, article about inequality in Britain).
When do we start to raise our heads and show the powers that be, the fiends, the dangerous minds that honour, respect, friendship, community, passion for society, tolerance, patience, long-term planning and a rich culture that doesn't hold finance as the only goal is an even stronger cause for a healthy society?
Or do we simply sit and watch while the increasingly angry few try desperately to fight against a system that progressively stifles anything worthwhile. I don't agree with violent upheaval, but I understand the anger and passion of those who cannot and will not believe that we are doing the right thing by doing nothing. We don't need the violence and riots, we do need the country, every community regardless of colour, creed or religion to stand together and say "no more".
There's a word we use for keeping people contained. It's "kettling". Weirdly apt, in many respects, because when things get hot in a kettle, they tend to boil. And whether we boil on the streets, caged in, or in the election booths or as a country sickened by the actions of the few for the few, there will be an explosion. I just hope that we get to do it with hurting anyone; that it is an explosion of reason and understanding; a tsunami of care and interest; a storm peace.
Come on, you media savvy script writers, journalists, broadcasters, where are the new words now? Where is the Peace-mageddon? What price a Care-apocalypse? Who'll champion a hurricane of respect and a tornado of understanding? Where is my Cataclysm of reason? Where is my wholesale change? We need to refarm and replant. Get a bit agricultural. Replace the seeds of doubt with seeds of togetherness and strength; of passion and love. So what if it sounds utopian, how high should we aim? Bloody high, actually. All the way to the top. Where the self-called "elite" build their ivory towers on our fear and anger, our apathy and disgust, our children and our forefathers. We don't need to batter them with fists. But they'll crumble when what they built their foundations on, the backs of the unequal, move as one.
Change is coming.
We have fewer than 3 months before we get a chance as a nation to stand up and make a proper difference. I can only hope that we have the courage of our personal convictions and make informed, not historical, choices.
We are better than we have become. Let's prove it. Wholesale change is a scary idea. But apathy and unchallenged acceptance are dangerous, potentially fatal.
Let us make our mark on history by changing the path of the future and resurrecting government for the people, not the banks. For humans, not computers. For society, not economy. Of course, financial stability is important, but not more so than EVERYTHING else.
I don't have the answers, but we all have ideas. Let's use them. Let's plant and plan. We can. We must.
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