Today is my birthday and as someone brought up in the 1960’s it is an opportunity to sit down and reflect. Yes, most of those I knew are no longer with me and those who remain are frail.
So, it’s me and the memories of the hopes I had when like many of you I sat down with a large proportion of my life ahead of me.
My thoughts were a heady mixture of idealism, innocence and a dash of hope beyond what human beings ever seem to deliver.
I hoped for all the cliches of the 60’s - world peace, an end to hunger and you can guess the rest.
Reality has not quite matched these expectations but does that stop me from continuing to believe that mankind can resolve problems and build more secure and meaningful futures for those still to come - no!
I suggested an awareness of economic history might be one route to appreciating the complexity of the problems we all face but that has not been very successful.
Let’s try the opposite - why not post a short peice that shows what you would like to see within your country, continent etc when you start to look back at what you hoped for and what has actually been achieved.
By the way don’t look too closely at ‘ per chance to dream’ as it’s from Hamlet and the death scene! I just extracted the opening words.
Yours,
John

Happy birthday John!

I think in my country, South Africa, I would like to see more tolerance and positive energy.

There is so much criticism of government, the State and its organs - most of it entirely justified - but people seem so eager to cut others down, more eager than to help build them up and bring about change.

So much still needs to be done, but instead of focusing on that, people want to spend money they don’t have on things they don’t need....perhaps thinking it will make them feel better about the issues and problems in their own lives.

However, nothing feels as good as helping someone in need, making a positive change in someone’s life and helping them help themselves.