Faith, Hope, and Misplaced Ambition

I'm reading a book at the moment written by George Orwell in the 1940's.  Its bizarre title belies its content, which I find relevant to today, my own situation, and that faced by the millions of other people in the United Kingdom today.

Misplaced ambition.

For nearly 15 years now, we have been telling our young people that they can do anything and be anything.  "Go to University, get a degree, do any job you want, and get fabulously rich". Wrong!  It doesn't work like that.  Whether you think its right or not, it just doesn't work.  There are nearly 1 million people qualifying with degrees each year, but nowhere near the same amount of graduate jobs.  Those are numbered in the few hundreds of thousands.

So you see we have a disjointed approach to our young people, and their futures.  We are telling them that they can be what they always wanted to be, but not providing that opportunity.  Now especially during the recession and the cut backs, those opportunities are fewer and farther between.

Downton Abbey, the ITV show about an aristocratic family in the early 20th century, has been so popular worldwide that articles have been written as to why.  They all conclude that the different classes of people all knew their place, knew what they had to do, and knew that they could not rise above their station in life.  Things were simple then.  Everyone had a place, a role, and a destiny; be it low or high.  There was no misplaced ambition.

I wonder if a return to those values and those times would make a difference?  An Upper Class, Middle Class, and Lower Class.  Only a few universities in the country, taking a few hundred thousand students in total, with all the rest doing the low paid, skilled jobs that are currently being farmed out to foreigners because we (and our young people) see themselves as above all that.

That is the problem that educating a whole population to HE level brings.  We think we are incompatible with the toilet cleaning jobs, the telesales jobs, and the other less glamorous jobs that have got to be done, just because we are highly educated and expect to get a high-flying, well paid job.

We all need ambition, something to look forward to.  We all need dreams and aspirations.  We should all be highly educated too, as it brings better health, and prosperity.  I grant you all that.  My point is that we misplace that ambition, those dreams, and we don't distinguish enough as to who needs which type of education.  One size does not fit all.

We have all been brought up to want the picture perfect job, and life to go with it.  In reality it isn't as simple.  We need to be more realistic about our chances, and the opportunities that will be presented to us.

I am myself thinking that my ambition is misplaced.  I've been to University more times than I care to remember, and am now probably over-qualified for many things.  I have failed to get a job again and again, probably due to lack of experience.  Perhaps I should just take the cleaning jobs, or the telesales jobs?  Perhaps my desires and dreams of becoming a manager are misplaced?

Having worked in HE recruitment I can see that some young people are not suited for University.  The same is true in life and work.  Some people are not suited for the high-flying jobs and lifestyles.  Perhaps if we weren't all middle class, I would know my place better, and find a job suited to me, instead of being lost in the mist of equality?

Despite all this, and my lack of a life / job / money, I maintain a faith that one day things will be better, and a hope that my life will be on the track that I wish it to be within the timeline I have in my head.  But it is difficult.  For those of you who do stay in touch on a regular basis, you know how tormented I am about my situation at present.  Yet I cling to the wreckage, waiting, and watching for something to happen.

Someone once said "You can survive in life on three things: Faith, Hope, and Money.  Only a Saint can survive without the third".

The End of Something

The passing of a generation marks a moment in our lives when memory and values pass out of existence.  A moment when newer, younger ideas and concepts take over, or are the only ones left to rely on.  No death is ever expected, even if it has been building for a time.  It makes you think about all that is good about life.

Death also makes you think about your own reality and mortality.  One day it will come to us all.

It has been 8 years since I lost my maternal Grandfather.  A man to whom I looked up to respected a great deal.  My mother misses him the most.  They were very close, and by extension so was I.  He had a sense of humour that was unique, but which I only realised after he had gone.  He was very intelligent, and had a world of experience, all of which he was willing to share.  It was 6 days until my 20^th birthday when he died, and I feel his loss even to this day.

My Grandmother has lived on (she was 90 earlier this year), and outliving her sister.  Her mind has been in a dark place for longer than I care to remember (Dementia is a horrible thing), but she has provided comfort and continuity to our family during the years that my Grandfather has been gone.  Families revolve around a Matriarch and despite her fragile body and “moment-specific” mind, my Grandmother has provided that sense of unity: a reason to stay in touch.

Her increasing fragility and rapidly declining health have been an issue of discussion between my mother, my Uncle, and me for some time.  The decisions we have made, as I have pointed out, have been purely for our benefit, not hers.  She wouldn’t know any different.  She doesn’t know where she is, who she is, who we are, etc.  She lives in the moment.  Anything before or after is non-existent and inconsequential to her.  It makes me wonder about how humans in general live their lives.  Surely her way is better in a sense?

As my Grandmother now begins to slip away, I am observing my mother’s pain and grief at losing her connection to her past; losing the last remaining parent.  Something that one day I will be faced with.  We have done everything for my Grandmother that we can to make her as happy and as comfortable in the winter of her life.

As they unfold, I realise that these events in my life are slowly turning me from the “next” generation, into “the” generation.  The one that makes the difference, the one that takes control, the one that my parents are now moving on from.  They will become the grandparents / elderly parents, and it will soon be my responsibility to take the decisions regarding their lives.

The most difficult part of all this for my Mum, is to decide whether or not to agree to DNR.  A harsh medical term: Do Not Resuscitate.  I do not envy her that task.  In the last few days and hours, I have tried to do what I can for my Mum at the time she needs me most.

Death is never easy, but how we deal with it is at least as important as how we deal with life.  We have given my Grandmother the best that we can.  We have ensured that her last days have been filled with love, joy and happiness.  Nelson Mandela once said that we are only human, because of other people’s humanity.

I only hope that as her life draws to its close, my Grandmother knows how much we will miss her.


(Remarkably, my Grandmother has proved to be more resilient than anyone had predicted.  Two weeks on from the original posting of this blog and she has made a remarkable recovery.  Her discharge date from Hospital will hopefully be this week)

Position Paper: Palestine

In 1947, the UN changed the face of the world.  It chose to arbitrarily partition Palestine, a state already in existence under the rule of the British Empire, and affect the lives of thousands of people against their will for nearly two generations.

That decision however is 64 years old.  It is done.  It is in the past.  Get over it.  What is needed now is movement, and preferably in a forward direction.

‘Talking’ has not worked for the several decades that it has been trumpeted as the answer to Middle East peace.  It seems that a new solution must be found.  The Palestinian people, and their leader, have found that solution, and that is what is now at stake.

To formalise Palestine as a nation once again; to give people a permanent place to exist, will seal a border, and prevent the abhorrent land grab pursued by Israel against the chorus of objection from international powers.

This solution and course of action is not only the beginning of a new age for Palestine, but provides a kick up the arse to those nations unwilling to budge on the issue because of too many Jewish votes being at stake in the next election.  That is politically weak.

I am not anti-Semitic, the majority of the world is not anti-Semitic.  The tragic atrocities of the Second World War are recognised as a key part of the history of the 20^th century.  They must never be allowed to happen again.

We should respect the right of Israel to exist, but it is wrong to pander to that nations whim, and allow them to continue to build on lands that are not their own, and to subjugate the Palestinian people into insignificance.

We should respect the right of Palestine to exist, but it is wrong for Hamas and Fattah to bomb and terrorise Israeli citizens in their homeland.  That is what feeds the constant vicious circle that prevents peace from being established.

What I am against is the Zionist view that expansion, and eradication of Palestine and its people, through military force and land grabs is right.  It is not.  Israel should reflect on Iran’s view that the Jewish homeland should be eradicated, and compare it’s own actions and attitude to those promoted by the Amadinejad regime.  Those views are false and intolerable, but the principle is what is at stake here.

It is not for those at the UN, elected or not, to chart the course of another nation’s future.  Neither is it fair for one nation to decide the fate of another, or of a people.  The attempted extermination of a people is what brought this situation about in the aftermath of the Second World War.  We must move on from those genocidal views.

It is hypocritical for nations to dictate terms to another.  The will of the people of each nation should demand the course of their democratically elected governments’ actions. That is what democracy is about.  Demos = people. 

The Palestinian people have chosen statehood, and that surely is a will that must be respected.  As much as the will to free Eygpt, Libya, Tunisia and other Arabic states from their dictators should be respected and supported.

To deny Palestine its right to exist as a recognised state is two-faced, and invites arguments about other, more powerful nations, being told what to do with their borders, government structure or military hardware.  It is not right, and it must stop.

No nation should act as a global policeman.  That is the role of the UN, and the Security Council.  Yes, we should recognise the right of every nation to protect itself, and ensure its safety and security, but it is not right to sanction the interference in another nations internal affairs, or its existence.  Those are mistakes of the past, and that is where they must be left.

My own opinions set out here, only go as far as my back door.  Each nation has its own choice to make about this issue, and it would be hypocritical of me to say that any decision against the Motion for Statehood is wrong for that nation to have made.  Let us think for a moment what this is about.  This is about politics, yes, but it is also about people.

The UN has already chosen the fate of a nation and its people in its first acts 64 years ago.  That has lead to decades of war, death and destruction.   Let us not make such a mistake again.

If I could I would urge all nations to vote in favour of the accession of Palestine to be the 194^th Full Member of the United Nations, and for all governments to recognise this new state.  Any attempt to veto or abstain will place nations, governments, and leaders at the mercy of the judgement of future generations.  And we know all too well what happens to those on the wrong side of history.

What a To Do, or What to do!?

I have tried blogging before.  First on MySpace (I'm sorry, My Who?!) several years ago when it was THE big thing in social networking. I didn't last long.  My second attempt was only last year, at around this time of year. I hope that this time, I will continue, and that I have a larger audience than the 1 person who subscribed last year!

So, what to write about.  I've put a lot of thought into this... and come to no decision what so ever. :(

Should I write about myself and my life?  I'm not good with discussing personal and private stuff in public.  Perhaps that isn't such a good idea.

Should I write about the world, the events going on in it, and my opinion on them?  This might be a good idea, but isn't that what most people do?  Also, I don't want it to turn into a "this is what I think should happen" set of posts.  I'm not trying to form a government!!

Should I write about my travels?  Well, most of my travelling has been and gone.  The USA, Paris, etc.  I have some yet to come (well a lot more to come I hope), but other people do this (including one of my readers) and I don't want to copy that idea.

What about a combination of all three?  Just post as and when I get an idea or an opinion that I feel strongly about.  Maybe!  (Your comments, suggestions and opinions would be welcomed)  For now, as I am STILL unemployed and struggling to fill my days, it will give me something to do!

So next issue is why am I doing the blog?  I'm an old fashioned old bugger, and have decided that I will probably be leaving Facebook in the early part of next year.  I just feel its not for me anymore.  Facebook is great when you are 18 and have 2 million friends at University.  Some people still do, and still need to keep up with them all in the way that Facebook allows you to do.  For me, in the real world, I have a close group of good friends, a wider set of acquaintances, and I don't really care what the rest of the world is doing!

My issue with Facebook is that you know EVERYTHING that your friends are doing 24/7.  There are pictures posted of each and every event to top it all.  My question is: When you meet people (shock horror, yes you can actually meet people in the real world) for a drink or meal, what do you talk about?  You have been kept up to date with it all via Facebook, and seen the pictures already.  Facebook kills off human conversation.  I don't like that.

So that's my take on it all.  (First Blog done and dusted!)