I do not take sides in politics. I have my reasons, amongst which is working for politically neutral agencies, and also a personal observation that in the few decades I have lived, the same patterns have repeated themselves over and over – men and women make the same mistakes and rarely apologise for them, make the same promises and fail to keep them, and very little changes, in fact, things do seem to get worse. Sometimes…it is hard to understand the priorities of those in authority. For example…if your roof was leaking and water was pouring into your house…what would your priority be?
My view of current governments, is that they provide some stability. We benefit from the services they provide – whether that be security, the transport infrastructure they maintain, the education system, the supply of food, water, electricity and other resources we rely on, the health service, the judicial agencies…there is plenty that enables us to live with an element of stability and relative calm in our lives.
Yet there are clearly huge problems with the way the world is currently. Anxiety and discontent are growing. I am sure I have said this before, but to me it is as if we are living in a house…with rainwater leaking through the roof, dry-rot in all the beams, deep cracks in the walls indicate the structure of the house crumbling, broken windows, creaky floorboards, a boiler that keeps on breaking down, thread-worn carpets, wallpaper and paint peeling off the walls, black mould and damp rising up through the lower floors, a neglected garden overgrown with weeds and brambles…but yet it does provide an element of stability.
Despite the problems, there is some shelter and safety provided by current governments. Every now and then they make the effort to try and tackle one of the problems and sometimes it does not make any sense to see how they go about that. There might be a big campaign about the need to replace the thread-worn carpet to prevent accidents. But others wonder why lay expensive new carpets on the stairwell when there is water leaking in through the roof that is likely to ruin the new carpet?
The way governments try to deal with the systemic and large scale challenges sometimes seems topsy-turvy. Yet we recognize they are allowed to make those decisions, they have the purse strings, they are responsible and accountable for their actions. Nowadays, some Western governments seem weaker than ever in human history as they have to constantly think about what will keep them in favour with the electorate. In many lands, there seem to be obvious divisions politically which can make it appear that some politicians need to walk a tight rope while in office. So sometimes, their efforts don’t seem much more impactful than having a quick dust over the house (yes, the house with all those problems) because they are prevented from making any significant changes.
I am not saying any of the above to target one individual leader, politician, government or agency. I obey the laws and pay taxes in the land I live, I respect their authority and appreciate the stability and services they provide. Yet I am aware that they are not proving adequate to the task of caring for mankind and this planet and it’s creatures.
Something has cropped up in conversation over the weekend…and I wanted to write a post about it…but I felt it needed to be preempted with this post just to explain that my thoughts on this issue are not politically motivated. I do not take sides when it comes to the imperfect men and women who are in positions of authority trying to make decisions they feel will be helpful in a system that is riddled with corruption and problems on a vast scale.
Caramel 