Is the "Milk of Human Kindness" a Human trait?
I was watching the animals that we have here at home, mostly either rescued or rehomed. They are not always very nice to each other - even from the same species. But one thing they are - always, is honest. They don't lie. They don't try and deceive you. They tell the truth in their own way. And it never ceases to amaze me how powerful trust is and the barriers it can break down. When trust is given, excepted and earned - trust is a universal language understood by all and is stronger than anything unless broken.
I have seen first hand and watched over many animals both in their natural environment and in captivity. Beyond instinct, I have never known an animal to be dishonest. To be deceitful, to purposely cause pain to another creature just for the hell of it, to humiliate or fight for more than it needs.
But then you come to Humans. As animals, we break every rule in the book.
All my writings here are by way of self-help - cathartic - and the reader - if there are any - you, you are the analyst who either condemns or questions, disagrees or possibly even agrees, but hopefully questions. It is only by asking questions of ourselves that we can learn, that we can find alternative answers, that our logic can kick-in and the brave amongst us, in seeking and trying to fathom and rationalise what is the truth and listening to others, can change our opinions. That is surely how mankind moved forward and became the dominant species. We learned from others - what works - what doesn't - and what works better.
I like to believe it is our capacity for compassion that moved our species forward but most I suspect would put it down to our insatiable curiosity and our ability to conquer fear and perhaps also our greed.
I firmly believe in the empowerment of Trust. Love is given, Respect is earned and hard work and trust are the foundation that you build your life on. Not just trust in others but trust in yourself.
It seems to me that there are in today's world, quite a lot of people who need to learn how to be kinder, want less and trust more in themselves.
Thoughts on fairness
Why is enough never enough for some? Why is it with some, when they have got what they want, they then yearn for even more?
More in itself is not necessarily a bad thing. By example, a scientist searching for a cure always wants more - more understanding, more cures. The ethical question is does he want to find the cure for the benefit of mankind or the kudos and rewards that a cure could personally bring?
Most of us are just grateful that there are scientists who are clever, imaginative and doggedly determined and as a result, we all benefit. All boats are raised on the tide of discovery and the motive becomes secondary, and the fact is, many if not most of these individuals deserve their rewards, be it public recognition or financial or both.
But the unbelievable scale of the greed of some, to the detriment of others, must surely tip the balance of what is acceptable. Personally, I am a keen advocate of democracy and capitalism but it is plain that rules are needed to ensure it works for everyone. To ensure that the system does not get out of kilter, that balance is maintained. If a person has been able to accumulate billions of Pounds, Dollars or Euro's, as is common today - good luck to them, But!
The "But" is this; If you were going to spend a pound every second of every day, ie £60 per minute, £3,600 every hour £86,400 every day - it would take thirty-two years to spend a billion pounds.
Sure, you can go and buy a yacht or another yacht and argue that it is supplying paid labour to many different skill-sets, true, but how many yachts does one man need? Soaking in luxury, which of course becomes the norm after a while is a pretty fruitless way of life.
Besides, the fact is that no one can make that kind of money entirely off their own back - it takes the sweat and labour of multitudes and of course all the things that affect and enable business growth; infrastructure - roads - railways - a healthy working and educated population, all of these things that have a huge cost that we all pay into. So expecting the very wealthy to pay a share - their fair share is not unreasonable.
Surely something is broken when massive and powerful foreign-based companies can ply their trade in an economy and yet pay less tax than a small domiciled company, just as very wealthy non-domicile individuals can pay less tax than the less well off hard working citizen.
Scornful waste and still so many in denial
Three years ago, the UK was booming, confidence was high, we were wiping out so much of our debt generated by the previous labour governments and generally speaking - the path ahead looked bright.
Then we had the EU Poll, brought on entirely by the schism in the Conservative Party which, due to the lies and misinformation of the leave campaign, the lacklustre performance of the remain campaign, the arrogant intransigence of the EU and the hyped-up media reporting of the non-existent Immigration problem, was narrowly lost by a small margin to those who wanted to leave the EU.
There is a case in point, against democracy, where perhaps uninformed or prejudiced people should not be allowed to vote? That doesn't sound very democratic I know, but how can anyone arrive at a good decision if they are uninformed or informed of the incorrect information? Not a business leader, a jury or a whole population could or should tolerate it.
Sitting here witnessing the waning economy, optimism and cohesiveness of our beloved country, the United Kingdom of Great Britain - the country that has been a leader in our world in so many ways and watching it totter on the edge of catastrophe, leaves me feeling so ashamed.
We in the UK had so much - and so much more to give and so much more we should and could have given - and looking at the last three years which we have simply squandered in an indolent, navel-gazing and self-harming way; it is a real tragedy.
Now we, I say we - what I really mean is 132 thousand of our 60 million odd population, are choosing a new leader - and in all likely-hood, we will get Boris Johnston. A man who has already demonstrated as our Foreign Secretary, is wholly unfit for high-office, let alone the highest in the land.
But perhaps it is darkest before the dawn? Let me explain. What could be the outcome here is; Boris will fail to get any other deal out of the EU - the only chance is if he can re-package the same deal as Teresa May negotiated to look like it is a new deal and assuage his erstwhile colleagues in the ERG far right wing of the conservatives to swallow it and that is unlikely.
More likely is that he will fail and at some point, there will be a vote of no-confidence in him and his government - the sooner the better frankly and he will lose whereupon a General Election which will be called and result in a coalition Government which in turn will either call another referendum and depending on that result, we will either be staying in the EU or make a deal, perhaps Norway or Canada plus.
In the meantime, the Conservative Party will split into two separate party's, the ERG far right and the more pragmatic and sympathetic centrist all-nation conservatives. All this could take a while and frustratingly, it will not be until this process has finished that the UK as a nation will start recovering again. So quite a deal of pain yet to come.
Worryingly, that is if you like to worry, all sorts of world events could throw this off-course. We still have to contend with Trump, the free world's unreliable leader, who's eye will be even further distracted as he will be fighting for his political life in the presidential election - which leaves still more of a free hand to Mr Putin, Teran, China, Venezuela, North Korea and many more besides. There are in truth a myriad of world events that could come out of left field. And we haven't even mentioed climate change and the slow but shaw destruction of our planet - our home.
To leave you on a slightly more cheery note - somebody said to me a long time ago "at least 95% of all the things you worry about - you never have to".
Have a great week.
Rick - Suffolk - UK - 23rd June - 2019
rick@notesfromengland
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