Who are the everyday heroes in your life? Watching the news last night left me sleepless in my bed. Like most people I think about all sorts of things. A lot of the time I worry about things that are global, seemingly outside of my control. For, like most people, I am shaped by global as well as local events. These larger world events usually make me feel small. Helpless to do anything to change how things are. The way things are going is forcing me into seeing only the negative side of life. We seem to be losing the constant battle to be good to each other; our inhumanity to one another looks like it is winning out. It’s become almost impossible to see the good that is done in our world. So today I have had enough; everybody has their limits, my particular kettle has boiled. So here’s my plan. I want to celebrate the kindness and support of special people in my life. My idea is to provide a focus on their selfless thoughts and actions in helping me and mine. Maybe, if some of the people I mention do the same and share a celebration of their local heroes. Just maybe, we could show how good people can be, see some light at the end of what seems a dark tunnel. So each day for the next twelve days I am going to write a short thank you to some special people in my life. I know that this is not earth shattering stuff, all I want to say are things that I feel, but until now, have left unsaid. Why? It is the latest events in Paris that has tipped me over the precipice of inaction. It made me think how easy it is to take a life. For it to be snuffed out with a casualness that must be devastating to all those dear to them. I thought about them and their families and the many others who have suffered the same fate whether through plane crashes, extreme weather, terrorism, mindless hatred or any other indiscriminate event. I thought about how much in their lives must have been left unsaid. How much in my own life has been left unsaid? The lawless in the world must love the way they can bring their hatred into our homes through instant news on TV. It gives the perpetrators easy armchair access; providing us with a daily diet of meanness of spirit and self-centred actions. It helps them paint the blackest picture of human behaviour making us think that this is all there is; in such a world they can see their actions as justifiable. It’s not true! The good far outweigh the bad in this world. We just assume we all know about it and say little or nothing about the good that is done. So far too early this morning I came to a conclusion. Today, no matter how small, I need to do something about it! They use the internet to spread their words, glorify their ego centric view of life. So to fight this pervasive outlook my idea is to do the same. Use the internet to counteract the darkness and powerlessness they bring by celebrating something positive about good people. I believe that we need to show that the vast majority of people are thoughtful and caring about others. In this way our respect for these attributes will slowly isolate the crazy few extremists from our lives so they can be seen as the outcasts they really are. If not we will think that the world is made up of solely of people who don’t give a thought for anyone who does not fit with their particular outlook on life. That somehow their beliefs are more important than anyone else’s and that this is justification for doing anything they want to do. I have had enough of the latest in crazy human behaviour. Like a lot of people I react emotionally to the kind of sad events that the world seems to face more and more often as everyday happenings. Even more sadly I act passively, as if this is the new and irresistible order of things. So I thought maybe I should do something on a local level. Maybe I can help to change that outlook for a few people? So far my philosophy in life has been to try and manage, as well as I can, the things I can affect. My aim was to focus on keeping my family and those close to me as safe as possible and to provide a helping hand to others if I could. My idea is that if my actions or decisions do not have a local effect on me and mine then it’s not my business to interfere. My experiences has led me to believe that it is if you try and take responsibility for things where the effects of your actions do not directly affect you and yours personally; then you should not get involved. History provides the basis for my attitude. It shows that the more you interfere the more you need to interfere. If actions and decisions don’t have a direct effect on you then they become more and more radical; exacerbating problems rather than resolving them. Local problems need local solutions. Global problems come from not solving local problems. If this makes me a small minded humanitarian then I can live with that. The only faith I have is to do the best I can. But I got frustrated with just watching the world go by. Thought maybe it’s time for me to do something more proactive to connect with the people I know and love. In short I decided to face up to my reality. My first good person is my mum’s dad. Granddad Girling. He died a long time ago. My only memory is of him sat with a cloth cap on, wrapped up in his jacket and muffler keeping warm; even though he is sitting almost on top of a small round pot-bellied stove in my Aunty Doris’s kitchen. He seemed to my very young eyes so terribly cold and alone in his last years. He is my biggest hero. I owe him my existence. When his wife died early on in their marriage he had five very young daughters. My mother Winifred was the oldest. Such a tragedy usually had only one outcome; that meant the children going to the poorhouse. It was my reading of the lives of orphans in this era of the 20’s that makes me so grateful that they did not suffer the desperate fate of many in a similar situation. He chose the hardest road, paid a huge price by keeping his family close, but gave them a better chance in life. He had one thing on his side. My mother. She became a mother to her sisters and a family saver for her father. His accolade is the highest I can give. He was a good man. The kind of man who gave everything he had and deserved better in life than he got. Thanks Granddad. .
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 08:04:29 +0000
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