Blessed are the meek…
M
Tony Wardle takes a look at ‘us’ and ‘them’ to see what divides us – and what unites us ost mornings when I wake up, I reach for my phone and check the latest news stories. It’s the journalist in me but I have no idea why I persist as usually it makes me want to roll over and go straight back to sleep again. Is the world really in such a terrible state that it seems to slough away hope like dead skin and splash cold water on residual optimism? Yes, I know there have always been threats and turmoil and having once been a military copper on an atom bomber base in 1960’s Germany, I know the meaning of threat. Every time an alert sounded and the base leapt into action, aircraft roaring angrily into the sky, I expected to be frizzled and fried in a gigantic nuclear skillet. But crises seem to be like reality TV shows – the ending of one is immediately followed by the start of another. How and why do they happen
(crises, not reality shows)? At the heart of most crises is the failure of someone’s grand plan for a ‘better’ world – which usually means ‘better’ for them. Religion or politics are the usual sources of these grand designs although messianic individuals are also included in the mix. Whoever it is, once the plan is implemented it becomes immutable and anyone who challenges it is likely to be excommunicated – often head from body. Like most people, I have enough to do confronting the simple decisions that need to be taken just to navigate through life. It has certainly never crossed my mind that I am so gifted, so far-sighted that I can set out a plan to guide a nation – even the entire world – to the sunlit uplands. And thank heavens for that as grand plans rarely end well.
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