The weathermen promise us “light rain and a moderate breeze” today. The day began, however, bright and fine, a bit chilly but only moderately so and it is December after all. We’ll see what the rest of the day brings us. We quite often begin with fine weather and then deteriorate.
The Guardian newspaper did one of those exercises where they throw out a question and publish a selection of readers’ replies. The question was: What are the biggest life lessons?
Here’s one reply :
“A big one for me is the ability to let others be wrong. It’s not up to any of us to tutor others in the ways of righteousness. That doesn’t mean never challenging anyone, but rather not getting emotionally invested in changing their mind. This is especially relevant in our political climate, but also it’s important for one’s own peace. That person was thinking exactly the same thing five minutes before you heard their opinion and it wasn’t affecting you then. There will always be people who are baffling to us. That’s fine. If you’re right about something, that doesn’t change no matter who wants to agree with you.”
Which is all very well but doesn’t do much to improve life as a whole. Sometimes you have to stand up and argue, maybe resigning yourself to the fact that you may not change that one person’s opinion, but believing that you might make others think about the rights and wrongs of a situation.
Someone else suggested:
“Nobody changes unless they want to. And your life won’t change unless you make it happen.”
So maybe we need to shout about what we think is right. After all, without some shouting and protesting women would not have the vote, ordinary working folk would not have the vote, workers wouldn’t have rights to holidays and sick pay and slavery would still be legal. Hmm! That last one has ‘t quite disappeared from the world!
But finally, here’s one that amuses me but which is so right:
“Always have the duvet that is one size bigger than the mattress.”
It seems that a couple of things that happen in Saddleworth are going to be put forward for national recognition. The Whit Friday Band Contest and the Rushcart Festival are to be proposed as examples for a national inventory of living heritage.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport hopes it ‘will start a national conversation about the crafts, customs and celebrations that are valued across the UK and raise awareness of them, in order to help protect them for future generations.’
There you go.
Here’s a quotation from Mike Harding … but it may be that he was actually quoting Gustave Flaubert, who did have rather a way with word:
“Language is like a cracked kettle on which we beat out tunes for bears to dance to, while all the time we long to move the stars to pity.” Gustave Flaubert was / is not wrong.
Here’s a little news item:
“Israeli tourists disembarking from a cruise ship in Brindisi, Italy, assaulted several pro-Palestinian demonstrators at a city center café following a protest against the vessel's arrival.
The tourists had come from a Mano Maritime ship, which protesters claim cooperates with the Israeli military.
Witnesses said the attackers targeted individuals wearing Palestinian symbols, shouting threats and spitting on a minor, while a young woman was physically assaulted and taken to hospital.”
What a strange contrast: many Palestinians are still homeless, hungry and cold, while Israelis can go on cruises!
Granddaughter Number Two was growing agitated the other day about the fact that the world should be run by women. She quoted the case of a group of gorillas where the older males for some reason had been eliminated. The group was then run by female gorillas. Violence and fighting disappeared. Even the younger males, brought up entirely by females, were peaceful and not aggressive, she assured us. An interesting idea, reflected in this quotation:
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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