If the total population of the world gave each other ten minutes of their time each year to find out about each other and to really undestand someone. The cumulative effect would be amazing.
Some no doubt would see it as a waste of their “precious” time. And I would say that this is silly.Ten minutes of your time a year.
I estimate that with a world population of 8 billion people and the premise that any form of effective communication counts ,be it talking ,holding hands, or looking someone in the eye . It would take 1.3billion hours of everyone’s time in a year to achieve.Given that in a Year, we have 70,080 billion hours of time available. I think it would be time well spent.
Crazy I know,but we’d still have 70,078 billion hours each year to do what we do currently do now ,but with a better insight . Now, that would be a great gift.
Like any other writer,my life experiences are my building block to who I am.
Details like where I was born and brought up,where and how I was educated, and why I feel the need to publish my thoughts on a Public Platform such as this.
Writers can not help themselves ,they sweat facts about themselves onto the paper, internet,or whatever media they are using.
I thought about inventing a fantasy Potteresque college of the weird and wonderful,of Hermoines and Hagreds,of wild parties and derring doos of Masters and Students alike. It would have been fun.
Instead I’ve opted to write about protecting information.
Recently,our Right Honourable Prime Minister Rishi Sunak invited me to “like” his Facebook page.That he personally wanted to know what I thought.
I admit,I was flattered ,and then I looked at his tag name and photograph.It said; “this account had been set up by Conservative Party HQ.” I realised I was just a piece of data that they wanted in their database. Modern-day Politicians have learned how to use this information now.I smiled, ignored it, and moved on quickly.
The request from Rishi was made as they wanted access to my details, and with these details to influence me.I suppose I should be grateful to Facebook that they made them state the real origin of the request and enabled me decline and not join my mate Rishi’s account.
My suspicions were also raised by the soon to be ex CEO of a famous UK retailer having a clandestine coffee shop meeting with the used to be Honourable (maybe still is)Nick Clegg who is I think a VP at Facebook now,but indeed is famous in the UK for introducing student loans and fees for Colleges in the UK.In other words Privatising Tertiary Education.
This meeting will all be about acquiring information, as the CEO will be looking for a new job in the New Year. Will she join Facebook?Will we ever know?
Ah , I digress what colleges have I attended, none that you have heard of but nevertheless have taught me things of value.
I am a magpie.I gather shiny details. I listen and learn a lot from people of all backgrounds, and I realise that listening to everyone’s story is valuable. Yes, I gather information,but for good reasons.Would I use it maliciously?I hope not. Would I trust others not to use my information maliciously? No, of course not.
So thank you for reading, and thank you, The College of Life.
Do you play in your daily life? What says “playtime” to you?
Yes,I am a player in my daily life.Playtime to me means getting messy in the kitchen.
Not the heat of the oven or the firey hob for me. They are quite scary and need to be watched over. A necessary evil
I get my kicks from mixing ingredients without technology. My favourite implements are whisks and my Pyrex Bowls. Nothing I like better than lining my bowls up on the kitchen surface and then using my ancient weighing scales to allocate the necessary ingredients to each bowl.
When I first try a recipe,I will measure accurately,and hopefully will have all the ingredients.(That I’m afraid is not always guaranteed,however,it can be fun trying to find a substitution in my cupboards).
I love using the basics ,such as flour,eggs,milk,butter, sugar, and salt.What beautiful foods,such textures ,colours,and flavours.
I love “creaming ” butter and sugar together to make all sorts of cookies and doughs.
As I say ,when I first try a recipe, I will follow the instructions exactly and have great success.Subsequently, I might tweak the recipe out of necessity(usually ran out of something) and the results might not work as well. It is fun to experiment.
Recently,I’ve been infusing to make a non-alcoholic gin. Largely based on cucumber(love cutting and slicing the cucumber). Then I add loose chamomile flowers,cloves,peppercorns,juniper berries, cinnamon, and anything that might give me that “gin”character. Infuse in the fridge for five hours, and then it’s ready. Sieve the liquid and then add your favourite tonic and a slice of lemon. Infinitely experimental.
Would I want to run an International Food Company making popular products.No.The individual loses their ingenuity and creativity.Do I mind clearing up and washing dishes?No ,not at all ,now I’ve got discipline and a system.
Is it playtime in the kitchen for me every day.Yes!
As long as I am in this World,I am Happy in it. I feel I have a purpose to make things better in any way I can.
My biggest challenge every day is to combat mediocrity. Mediocrity is fired at us from all angles, People we meet don’t care, Organisations don’t care ,populations and animals are disposable.The World about us makes us feel worthless.Why?Because someone can’t be bothered.
Bothering costs time and money and therefore can be treated as an expense.Those of us who can be bothered see that investment as important,but increasingly standards in all areas of our lives drop eg.Public Utilities, Social Media,Entertainment ,Private Business and Government. When we accept Mediocrity served up by unmotivated mediocre people ,situations deteriorate.
The challenge is to readdress the Balance Sheet of Life and counteract the Mediocre each day,one small step at a time. It is a constant.
Nothing,but nothing makes me Nostalgic.Wistfully looking at a period in the past and imagining it was so much better than now is entirely futile if not misleading.
Perhaps recently,you have had the same experience as us here in the UK.
We have had Politicians playing on our emotions,harkening back to Empire and wanting “to give us back control”. Pure Nostalgia and for what? A Period of Time when the majority of people were ill fed, abused,and dragged into World Wars that did so much damage that we are still trying to recover today.
Hey,Ho, Nostalgia I laugh in your fat bloated face.Give me historical facts and data any day.Give me people who can talk to each other in many languages and understand common goals and the need to work together.
In other words, and also in other worlds, I can be nostalgic about a future that will be better,not a past that wasn’t.
I will try to get to the essence of what works well with human interaction.
Firstly , all we all need relationships with others. Being placed in solitary confinement all your life is no good for anyone.
A newborn baby learns ;we hope;good things from those who interact with them from an early age. I have to say “I hope” as some children do come into the World who despised and ill treated from the day they are born. Humanity cries in shame and frustration. It is a chain of events that will lead to further abuse and dysfunction.We all sense it and know it.
This leads me to the second element that creates a positive relationship. One must have each others best interests at heart. Thus,a relationship can be with a person or an organisation that wishes you to become the best that you can be within the confines of a “safe place.”
None of us are Perfect ,some of us hate being told what to do.Even when a Relationship establishes that “best interests” of all parties are the aim.There will be disagreements about what is “best”.
Thus, the third element of a successful positive relationship is empathy and understanding.
Using these tools, conflicts can be analysed and resolved. It is a healthy situation when one can accept that mistakes are not irrevocable and that despite disastrous interactions or consequences, maintaining channels of communication as a way to move on is important.
The challenges to achieve a positive result in a relationship are immense but very much a work in progress.
I have been immensely lucky in my life,I have known key people who have had my best interests at heart. I have a relationship with them which I will never forget,it is an invaluable part of my psyche. Hopefully,I can pass that positivity on in my relationships.
If you started a sports team, what would the colours and mascot be?
I wouldn’t be able to help myself.My favourite colours for “my” team would be just like what Jockey’s representing their horse’s owners wear at very up market Horse Racing Meets.
No matter what the team sport,be it football,hockey,hand ball volleyball or any other team sport you can think of it would have to be a little primary red cap, primary yellow and red polka dot silk long sleeve shirt and white calf length pantaloons. No sponsorship labels on any of the clothing.
It would have to look pristine everything they wore it,so I would need a team of launderers and seamstresses too to ensure my team looked fantastic no matter where or what they were playing.
I can see them now!. Following the Mascot,which would be an 8ft tall toy brown bear dressed up in the “colours” who would cheer on my Team from the sidelines.
I’ve often thought that freedom of thought is associated with being young and carefree.
Without the burden of the cares of the World on your shoulder,your thoughts can be expansive ,your sympathies and empathies can follow many paths and understanding show no limits.There is right and wrong and in-between ,all worth consideration and all worth your time.
And then the Real World comes crashing down ,the need to earn a living in a competitive Workplace ,to find a place to Live,to play a role in the Community you are a part of.All these are demands on Time and Energy.
Freedom of thought suddenly becomes a luxury. Discussions about Politics are irritating and in some cases inappropriate.The need to fit in and be accepted is paramount.Why argue?You need a system to work within,who wants constant controversy?
Stability,A Rulebook of Effort and Reward; that is what is needed. There are people more wise and talented people than you who can put that in place. They have the time,you don’t.
Over a period of time, thoughts and discussions about Politics become superfulous, and those who participate in them become clowns and the butt end of jokes and accusations of corruption. Who indeed would consider going into ” politics” as a serious career? Public Service ? My foot!
And there we are before we know it?A cynic,nothing will change.
Politicians are egotistical and selfish and known for feathering their own nests with our hard earned cash.
We are Powerless , Fearful, we have little or no control.Protest is pointless or dangerous.Democracy is purely an expression of opinion through voting ,not an effective mode of change or reform.
Yes,your chosen Political Party can lose an election,but the winner won’t be much different from the loser. You have voted for a status quo of Authority.Now die quietly.No-one cares.
Trying to understand why Politicians seem shallow and shady(well at least in the United Kingdom)
What attracted me about this book is it covers a period that saw the rise of some very odd characters in our National Politics. Boris Johnson (Prime Minister, Foreign Secretary and Mayor of London) ,Liz Truss (Prime Minister), Kwazi Kwarteng (Chancellor of the Exchequer).
Liz Truss meeting the Late Queen Elizabeth II and being asked to form a government in a hastily arranged meeting was I believe a very sad ending to a productive reign by a well respected Monarch. It was ridiculously sad,the Queen performed her duty even though she was very ill , and Liz curtsied.
Little did we know that Liz thought she had carte blanche to subject us all to her lunatic economic theories. Not just were we to lose our beloved Queen,but we were also going to have to cope with Liz and Kwazi’s ill thought out free market economics which almost crashed our economy and sent our finances into a dangerous free fall , indeed it made “austerity” look a ride in the park.
So ,yes, I would like to know how these dreadful people got the top critical jobs in Politics.What process allowed them to rise to the top.
I’m only on Chapter 4, so it would be unfair of me to review Rory’s book.I do trust his point of view ,though, and I’m getting a feel for The Party System. I think he has a high-powered Civil Servant’s brain aswell as the capacity to educate (Harvard Professor). A powerful combination.
With the recent news that the now “Lord Cameron” is going to be Foreign Secretary ,Rory was honest enough to say on the Podcast that he works on with Alistair Campbell (The Rest is Politics) that he would have liked the job as Foreign Secretary.
I think Rory would do a good job as with anything he took responsibility for. He obviously takes the role as Public Servant very seriously. Unlike it seems some of his contemporaries who seem more interested in their next promotion
Early Days though and I’m enjoying the read…(well listen,I’m an audio book fan).
thenotsomightyom 