BLIND FOLLOWING
I must admit to be still finding The Foreigner heavy going, but this might be due to a number of factors.
Firstly every muscle in my body aches from tangling with a recalcitrant allotment. Secondly reading about the Taiwanese criminal underworld while Number One Son [apologies to Earle Derr Biggers] is phoning me from what sounds like a building site in Hsinchu City, Taiwan is a bit disconcerting.
Thirdly I have been distracted by some redundancies at Number Two Son's village home at Blackerton and there will be more meetings there in the future.
The charity that administers Blackerton village formerly known as CARE [Cottage And Rural Enterprises] has renamed itself SELF UNLIMITED.
See here and scroll down for my previous posts on the thorny subject of Blackerton's relocation or transformation in the new management speak. Thanks to Maxine at Petrona here you can read a comprehensive coverage about Number Two Son [chronologically I hasten to add not in order of importance] and his band The Honeytones here.
There have been several times in my life when I have felt like King Canute trying to hold back the waves or someone at the Wannsee Conference in January 1942 suggesting that the Final Solution was evil. Whether it was trying to prevent the introduction of crap capitation schemes for NHS children's dentistry, trying to prevent the closure of a hospital or trying to save a rural village for people with learning disabilities, my record is one of abject failure in what I think were just causes.
But at least we have beaten that allotment into temporary submission.
"One has to fight an idea with an idea. I cannot stand an authority that expects blind following, blind loyalty. I cannot stand it. I have rejected everything in my life that requires such blindness from me.
Even God.
Even the Confucian teachings - even those."
Atticus in The Foreigner: Francie Lin
posted by Uriah Robinson at 3:30 AM
4 Comments:
What a lovely post, Norman. Even if one knows one is likely to fail, and if one does fail, it is important to go the extra mile for the just causes. Someone has to do it, and it is great that there are people like you in the world prepared to attempt it.
Well done to you and don't get disheartened. If you do the right thing and know you are doing the right thing, that is reward in itself. (That's what you have to believe, I think, to stay sane!)
Thanks Maxine. I try to keep sane and am helped considerably by my younger son Jacob [he has Down's syndrome] who got his Prince's Trust Award two weeks ago and is always telling me to relax.
Good for you!! It seems increasingly these days Governments are ignoring the people. The differences between major parties is so miniscule that they are like Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Either way we're screwed. (rant over I shall put my soapbox back under the bed ready for next time)
Congratulations to your son on winning the Prince's Trust Award. It's wonderful when your kids do well isn't it.
Thanks Sunnie.
We owe it to our young people to get up on our soapboxes from time to time. What annoys me is that "dee and dum" come up with an idea that is plainly nonsense and all the sycophantic hangers on treat the idea as some new revelation.
If someone tells me again at a committee meeting that they are 'networking' nationally and I may actually vomit.
On a more pleasant subject Jacob is an exceptional young man and was an inspiration to others on his course. The only thing he did not do was to abseil off the 120 foot viaduct. He got all the gear on and went to the edge and said "I am not going down there".
I suspect that had less to do with his extra chromosome and more to do with inherited material from his father in the other 46. ;o)
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