Ask not what your country can do for you...

This is a tricky topic to write about - not because I can't think of any, but whittling it down to one is a challenge. I have plenty of soap box topics. Disibility rights, Equalities in general, the importance of libraries, living in a socially and ecologically responsible manner. In our discussion at the last meet up, we started out thinking about whether there was something we felt Hebden lacked - something which would improve it. We talked about the Hairy Bikers Meals on Wheels programme, and care for the elderly in general. I think my cause to champion is relevant both locally and also from a wider perspective. What shall I call it, what snappy brand - Considerate Communities? Something like that.
I'd like us all to look at ourselves, and our place in our communities. Do we do enough? Do we take more than we give? Do we enjoy the benefits and feel no obligation to make any input - just assuming the things we like will carry on being there indefinitely, arranged or protected by someone else. Once upon a time communities were smaller and more interlinked through family. Not to say no one ever went without, but if things were as they should be, people shared responsibility for caring for children, the elderly or infirm. They got together to celebrate and commiserate, and commemorate. How many times do we see some such bridge, building or statue - with a plaque telling us that they were erected through public subscription. These days all we ever hear is people moaning about whatever use our councils or governments see fit to put our tax money to. If we look around and see what our community needs to remain, or become, the community we want it to be, then I would like us each to do what we can to help. If we want beautiful countryside, full of wildlife, then amend our behaviours and buying habits to protect it. Go out and volunteer to pick up litter, or improve habitats. If we want a vibrant town full of local independent shops - do as much of your shopping and present buying in those shops as you can - even open one up yourself. If we want people to be looked after and part of the community - reach out to those who might be lonely or insecure, and see if you can do anything to help. And then step it up - Regionally, Nationally, Internationally. What do you want to see, and what can you do to help?
I want everyone to have equal and good qualtiy access to information, education, and healthcare. Therefore I support libraries, state schools and the NHS. What can I do to make that support clear? Be a member of the library, get books out, use the internet, hire DVDs or CDs, use their online information resources. Go to events and evangelise for them, so that other people can know what they can do if they are not already aware. Write in protest at any plans to change services in a way that I believe would reduce the quality of the service, contribute to consultations on how it may be improved. Join in in any action which seeks to challenge the loss of these vital community resources.
Libraries, Education and the NHS are all examples of things that this country's community got together and thought - people need this, lets get together and provide it. Ditto once long ago to the armed forces, roads, postal services. When thinking about how these things should be provided, I always ask, can we afford to lose it. Because to put things in private hands, you have to be prepared for the company running it to say - this isn't profitable, I'm not going to bother any more. Or else change it so that it is no longer the service you want it to be. Philanthropic benefactors are wonderful - but we shouldn't have to rely on the goodness of some wealthy person's heart for essential services. The people who got together to build a bridge in Hebden knew that. They needed a bridge, they got together and built one. They knew not everyone who would use the bridge could afford to contribute. They didn't make it a private bridge.
Internationally - the possible causes are endless, and in many cases it feels like there's little any one person can do to change things. But we each have a voice, and a brain - we can go and learn as much about why things are the way they are, and try and think how they might be better. And then talk about it. I agree with Robert on this one - don't just bemoan how bad things are, think positive, and try and think about how they can be better.
Imagine if we all put 10% of our free time, and 10% of our expendable income into trying to make the world a better place. I wonder if it would work.

TIbetan Martyrs: a cause to champion.

Whilst we're all reflecting on the overthrow of another middle eastern tyrant and the imminent meltdown of the Greek euro into the drachma, on the roof of the world events of equal significance are passing by largely unreported. Tibet has been occupied by China since 1950 and whilst complaints have been made in diplomatic circles from time to time little has been done. There was some unrest during the build up to the Olympics that curtailed the BBC's documentary series but little solid reporting. Now this is changing, Tibetan monks and others are self immolating as the only form of protest left open to them. I can't imagine the sheer sense of frustration and presence of mind it would take to commit this ultimate act of non-violent direct action, but Tibetans are finding it to be their only course of action. The Chinese response according to reports from the independent UNPO (United Nations Peoples Organisation) has been to place more troops in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in what can be interpreted as an attempt to prevent others from imitating their peers by intimidation. Meanwhile on twitter related postings increase. So is this a cause to Champion?

A cause to champion

I just missed the first man on the moon. I was born in a demographic lull between the baby boom and its echo when the baby boomers themselves had children. 1971 is slap bang in the middle of ‘generation x.’ There was an oil crisis and electricity blackouts. I was educated in the midst of teachers strikes and suffered the first year of GCSEs. I started university at the freeze of the student grant and the creation of the student loans company. I graduated in the midst of the early 90s recession. I closed my own business in the wake of the dot com bust of 2000. And I’m turning forty in a world with global financial crisis.
I was born into a modern age of decimal coinage and metrication. I grew up in a time that saw technology do away with much drudgery. I got more sophisticated toys, the computer and video age came into the home as I grew up. Comprehensive education and change in industry meant I had a choice from manual or dangerous livings. I got a place at university during the explosion in university admissions. I got a job, I changed my mind, I studied for a PhD, I changed my mind, I started my own business, I had mobility. I could live anywhere and so I moved to somewhere nice in 2000. I’m turning forty and there’s as much ahead of me as behind.
Both paragraphs above are accurate and cover similar ground, the second is however more useful to me. The challenge this month for blog club is ‘a cause to champion.’ It is what the second paragraph represents is my choice of cause.
I’m not advocating a Pollyanna glad game finding something to be glad about in every situation. No, I offer this: you can think about a situation in different ways and its the way you *think* about something that affects how you *feel*.
The problem with Pollyanna’s glad game is it supposes you should find happiness all the time, apart from being nauseating it’s also impossible. Sometimes you have to be sad.
The best way to predict the future is to play a part in shaping that future: on a personal scale and maybe at a much larger scale. There is much economic doom and gloom around at the moment, blame and worry abound. The (ahem) experts tell us that thought of dire economic circumstance actually can cause those circumstances to come to fruition. Again I don’t advocate we all think glad thoughts to get ourselves out of a euro banking crisis; I champion the power that what we collectively think changes the course of history.
I blame, or do I give credit? Today people can communicate directly to billions of others. Elites are losing their power; cover-ups are harder to cover up; middle men are losing their purpose and industries are disappearing. I refer to the seismic changes following the widespread adoption of the Internet. It took 200 years for the world to settle after Johannes Gutenberg’s invention of the printing press. I suspect we’re in for a fair old rattling after the opening of our communications Pandora’s box.
But remember my cause to champion, what we think affects how we feel. If you think all this turmoil is a price worth paying we’ll feel better about it. If we feel good we might get involved and actually make a difference to the outcome. I think we’re going to be sad about some changes but knowing that we could on balance choose the thoughts that help the future turn out well might ease those times we have to be sad.