A New Pope

I find it intriguing that the Papal election has chosen the Cardinal Bergoglio, Archbishop of Beunos Aires, not because he is from South America, but because he is closely involved in politics in his home nation. I'm willing to bet that he will not be long in trying to restate the Papal Decree which originally divided the world between Spain and Portugal in the 1500s - in favour of Argentinian's claim to the Falklands. You can be pretty sure of something else I should think.

I doubt there will be any move toward rethinking relations with other Christian professions of faith, nor will there be any move toward married clergy, much less the recognition of the ancient ministry of women, suppressed since the 600s AD. He faces some tough challenges, among them the corruption within the Vatican, in its financial affairs, in the power mongering in the Curia and the wheeling and dealing among certain lobby groups. The abuse scandals won't go away either, and the people involved are still in power in the Curia. It will be a very tough task.

It remains to be seen, what, if anything, will change.

There is a time ...

There is a time and a tide in the affairs of men, wrote Shakespeare.  He is in fact quoting an even older source, Ecclesiastes 3: 1 "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven." As one gets older, and presumably gathers some wisdom, there comes a point when one appreciates that it is right. There is a 'season' for everything and within that season, a 'time.'

Several things have made me realise lately that one season has passed for me, and with it, the time for certain things. It concerns my former career. 

I had a great one, yes there were lots of tears and frustrations, but there was a lot of laughter and some superb friends - people I would trust with my life. I am still in touch with most, if not all of them, and hope to remain so. I learned a huge amount, not just the acquisition of knowledge and experience, but about myself in the process. At times things sort of plodded along, at others it was a wild white water ride, but each part of it was worth every knock, every scrape and every scar. Some time ago, I realised that I saw my work as a 'vocation' and not as a 'job.' That, in itself, was a revelation.

As I worked my way through the service, I accumulated qualifications, some, like the two degrees, would have astonished some of my school masters (and still amaze me!). I met people and saw places I'd never dreamed of either being associated with, or seeing. When I moved to the UK, I knew I would be putting the job I loved on a siding that would end, one day, against the buffers. But still, thanks to some of the super people I worked with and under, managed to carve out a new career path and, I hope, make a useful contribution to the UK Fire and Rescue Service.

That season has run its course. I retired six years ago, and, because I enjoyed teaching fire investigation, fire service command and management and fire safety and protection, I continued offering my services to my former employer and others. That led me to some fascinating places and experiences and to meeting some really super people from totally different cultures. Six months in Tehran was an eye-opener, so were several weeks in Libya (pre-Arab Spring), so too was a spell in Jamaica. In each country I have visited, what has made it special is the students and the people I have met. I treasure the memories and the friendships, but I feel the time has come to let others pick up what I have been doing, and to accept that it is time to step aside.

Yes, I will miss the challenge of keeping up with the latest science, the latest techniques or the latest developments. So I won't stop studying them or thinking about them, I'm really only going to stop accepting contract work to try and teach it. I will miss the interaction of the classes, and the opportunities to explore something in a lot more depth, or to draw on someone else's experience. I've enjoyed the ride, I've had the fun, but the season has moved on and so has the Service.

It isn't the service I joined in South Africa 1970, and I'm happy to say that I was among those who moved it out of the 'Dark Ages' and into the realms of professional qualification and forward thinking. Nor is it the UK Fire Service as it was in 1992.  But neither are the Fire Services I thought I was helping to create either. It is time I stepped back, adjusted my focus, and looked at what this new 'season' in my life is leading me toward. That said, should someone ask, I'll always be ready to share my knowledge and experience.

Out for a walk ...

Saturday Harry went for a walk with the other Shelties from the Rhein-Main-Sheltie group. We walked in Ober-Ramstadt in a 'nature trail' area of the forest and the dogs loved it. Some scenes to show the fun -

Gathering the pack ...

Checking their people ...

Harry, Artus and friend ...

Group shot at the half-way point ...

Pure fun to watch these dogs race one another, play tag, chase and just enjoy themselves as a group. We had a very tired, but very happy pup when we eventually got home ...

The Falklands Referendum

An article today on the Yahoo News feed about the forthcoming referendum makes interesting reading, particularly the propaganda campaign the Argentinians are waging against the Falklanders and the flood of foreaign journalists descending to write about the "illegal British Colonial occupation" of the Malvinas. As usual propaganda bears little relationship to truth.

What I find interesting is the comments beneath the article which, no doubt, reflect a small but significant section of "public opinion" in the UK. There were all the usual comments about "taxpayers money being spent to benefit a few" which "could be better spent on the NHS/Social Security/etc." Even a few politicians would have no qualms doing what they've done to those they first sent out to work the colonies - with the profits going to the politicians and power mongers in Britain - and now wanting to throw them to the wolves because they've become an inconvenience now they want a share in their own productivity.

For once I'm in agreement with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office when it says that the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands is a matter for the Falkland Islanders - not Buenos Aires or Whitehall. The only reason Argentina wants them is to exploit the oil they think may lie off East Falkland. If they were to be given them the islands would quickly become yet another Latin American slum - with any money pouring into the pockets of the rich and powerful in Beunos Aires.

As for those in the UK who can see no further than their own comfort, mostly unearned from milking the system of benefits by the look and standard of the spelling and language abilities - let them be shipped off to live in Argentina for a while. It might give them a more realistic perspective.

You can fool some of the people ...

Abraham Lincoln was a man who could put emotions, concepts and home truths into words everyone could grasp, but his famous and oft quoted "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time" seems, these days, to be less true. Watching the circus that is currently taking place in Venezuela I wonder whether the balance is changing when it comes to "fooling all of the people all of the time."

Hugo Chavez has ruled his country through three terms as President and was elected for a fourth, but then, without reference to the electorate, appointed a 'caretaker' because he was terminally ill. He was elected by popular vote - Venezuela has a lot of poor people and a small number of very, very wealthy ones - and promptly nationalised a lot of the countries assets. He then set about creating several 'projects' to 'uplift the poor' and has ridden a wave of popularity ever since which has seen to his re-election again and again. But the people he claimed to be helping are still poor, the nations economy is in deep trouble and corruption among those he appointed to implement his Marixst/Socialist policies is well out of control. Yet the majority are still devoted to him ...

The North Korean government provides another example. Here is a nation that is so deep in poverty its ordinary people are starving, yet the "party" and the military have it all. Their populace are told, all day and every day, that they must continue this imbecilic armed truce situation "because the US is using South Korea as a springboard for attempts to destroy their Marxist paradise. And the bulk of the populace seems to accept it.

Then there is the current situation with Islam. The vast majority of Muslims accept the line that Israel is a US tool to destabilise and undermine their faith - I've had some interesting conversations on that one - and that all "Jews" living in Israel arrived there post 1945. This, of course, feeds into the idea that Israel must be destroyed in order to 'restore Palestine.' It underpins the credo by which Muslim fundamentalists live.

What strikes me most forcibly in each of the above is that the majority in each case - and in some everyone involved - actually believes the 'party line.' They make no attempt to check facts, or to examine sometimes obvious evidence which would immediately expose the lies they are being fed. But they prefer to be fooled apparently.

I can only wonder what Abe would have said.

Culture Clash ...

It has several times struck me in recent years that many well intentioned people simply do not understand any culture outside of the one they live in - and many have only a fairly parochial grasp of their own. The most obvious examples have to be the attempts to impose western ideology and 'democracy' on Iraq, or Afghanistan, but there are many others one could draw on. The left-wing media hype about the "Arab Spring" which failed utterly to understand either the cultural issues, or the demography which has resulted in the current situation in most where 'regime change' has replaced one dictator, with another.

Most of the western 'liberal-left' now eschew Christianity, and in doing so, fail completely to realise just how large a role it has played in developing our concepts of justice, human dignity and rights, our legal systems and even our understanding of government and democracy. None of that is present in any society where Christianity has not been a major player. Islam has its Sharia Law, a religio-legal Code developed from the 9th Century onward and, in many ways, similar to the English "Common Law" system in its development. Hindu and Buddhist cultures have their own codes of law based on the tenets of their faith as well. This ignorance of other cultures - or indeed recognition of their differing ideals and roots - was amply demonstrated by the utterances of the Blair government over the Bi-millenium celebrations when they invited Jews, Muslims and Hindus to 'celebrate' the two thousandth anniversary (give or take about six to twelve years) of the birth of Jesus Christ.

The proponents of "Multi-Culturalsim" happily believe that if one adopts the position that "all gods are equal" (as Sir Terry Pratchett has written in his Discworld stories), then all cultures can be compatible and equal and live in harmony. Unfortunately, that is naive, but its proponents do not wish to recognise that. So we continue to see the promotion of the idea that someone can change countries, but bring with them all the baggage of the society they have opted to leave. They can then live in a "cultural enclave" without integrating and with its own laws divorced from the rest of the nation. As I have remarked before this, that is the underlying premise of Apartheid, and it must be the supreme irony that many of those who now promote "multi-culturalism" were once among the placard waving and chanting crowds who demonstrated for the end of that ideology.

Now many of these same people wish to export their ideology to countries who do not share their cultural heritage. There is a certain arrogant ignorance attached to looking at another country or people and saying 'they would be much better off if they lived as we do.' For one thing, they seldom bother to ask whether those they claim this change will benefit, want it. Not everyone wishes to live in a society where there is a Pub on every street corner, a Post Office and a grocery store in the High Street. Not everyone wants to be a customer of a Tesco, Sainsbury or Carrefore. Not everyone wants to be able to receive 999 TV channels or live in a town where every move is watched by CCTV cameras. Some are quite happy to live in modest unheated homes, without television and a mobile phone, and many, many more, are quite happy to let government get on with whatever, as long as they don't interfere with their farming or their private lives.

It is a peculiarly western idea that government can or should 'improve' the lot of the ordinary citizen by intervening in their lives financially or materially. Once again, it stems from the misappropriation of certain elements of Christian teaching and it doesn't 'translate' to any other religious cultural background. I became aware of this when sent to work briefly in Bangkok. I was appalled at the poverty of many, often on the doorstep of fabulous and opulently displayed wealth. It was gently explained to me that each individual is responsible for their own lot in life and that families often benefited by the sacrifice of a child who might become a sex worker. To a westerner, brought up in the Judeo-Christian concepts of morality and societal responsibility, this is a totally alien concept - but, does that make it any less valid? Many Thais would argue that their system allows a child to raise its parents from poverty. I would not necessarily agree with that, but it is their society, not mine. By what 'right' would I impose a change? Human Rights? Human dignity? Morality?

Americans (and most westerners) are often surprised by the distaste with which many Muslims regard our culture. They look upon us as having no morals at all, pointing to our immodest (to them) clothing, our loose sexual code and our lack of religious observance. For our part, the 'liberal-left' often finds itself ina Catch-22 situation. On the one hand they decry the strict control of women's dress and their being subject always to husband or father, branding it as outdated and 'medieval.' On the other they eagerly encourage the preservation of these very aspects by promoting it as somehow superior to our own religious beliefs. These are then the same people who send an 'adviser on woman's rights' to 'assist in the development of a new nation' when they embark on 'Regime Changing' military adventures.

As I said at the outset here, the problem, certainly among the liberal-left activist types currently forming our political thinking, is that they do not understand 'cultures' at all. Not even their own.

 

Some Common Sense?

I rarely read the Daily Mirror, I think the last time I actually held a copy in my hand was sometime in the 1970s. Yesterday The Postulant sent me a Tweeted link, to an article by The Fleet Street Fox entitled "Eastleigh was a failure all round because our politicians are Daleks."

Frankly, he puts the problem in a nutshell. Our politicans might as well be resident on one of Jupiter's moons. They are so far out of contact with reality they can't be on our own or even on Mars. I've been following the row over the "bedroom" tax and that is certainly yet another example of their loss of contact with real people and real living costs and conditions. The tax hits the armed forces (NOT all of whom live in "Barracks" as the Minister thinks), the disabled, and those on low incomes - but the relevant Minister claims it doesn't.

The Fleet Street Fox says it very well. I urge you to read his article.