Punch-Drunk Promenades

Let me confess, Dear Friends, that I am an huge fan of human frailty including my own. Don’t get me wrong I do want the surgeon who is hauling out my child’s infected appendix to be on her game.  I do get frustrated when things do not go my way. But I have to confess that some of the best experiences of my life have been based on errors which I or others have made. There is an incident in Adam Nicolson’s  “How to Be” which I read recently which, I think, illustrates this point.

A Greek philosopher of 2000 years ago is looking up at the stars, trying to understand the meaning of life and his place in the universe. He is stepping backwards as he is doing so. A young slave girl is laughing at him because she sees that very soon he is going to take one step too many and fall into a well. We need the head-in-the-clouds intellectuals in our world but we also need the down-to-earth plumbers, do we not, Dear Friends?

Every time I read a newspaper article or a book, I realise my own inadequacies; it comes home to me how much I don’t know. I have recently read several excellent books and every one of them has given me pause for thought and then sent me out to walk. …..for thought.  Indubitably the latter is always better for coming to terms with the state of the world in which we live. Most of which has not been upbeat and optimistic. Ho hum, every silver lining has a cloud, of course, and I have had my fair share of silver linings. It is, therefore, a small price to pay to read about the hardships which millions of our fellow humans face, often every day.  I guess that I am determined to read what I don’t like because I have recently read this adage from an ancient great:-

“We can forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Plato

Without delving into the current Davidson reading list too much, Dear Reader, I have recently read about the atrocities of the British Empire; the depraved manipulation and murders of the Asage Native peoples in the 1920s in the United States (Martin Scorsese’s movie of the book, “Killers of the Flower Moon”  by David Grann comes out in October); more about the current slavery taking place in mining cobalt in the PRC; war in the Ukraine; starvation in Africa; corruption in government; stupidity in government; platitudes in government and, most worrisome of all, powerful  small-minded egos, in government.

When I walk, Dear Friends, I usually return having rationalised that I cannot do anything about the balance of power but I can find again, with every step, the power of balance. My equanimity is restored, the grin is back and my ‘hail fellow, well met’ bonhomie is in place. And rather than reading more doom and gloom, I will reach for something light and amusing and spend a few days lapping up some pleasant, mindless escapism.

I am then strong enough to froth and foam over the irritants of this world. I can look at them with a smile, hmmm albeit maybe a jaundiced eye, and recognise that I am not alone. Most of the enemas of the people are just that. They pass through with a bit of initial pain and then, Dear Friends, the purge is complete. Looking at people in the News is often like picking at a wound, wiggling a loose tooth, rubber necking a road traffic accident. So many of them seem to be not of our world, there is a parallel universe which is full of the inanity of celebrity, a vast acreage of the world which is filled with doublespeak and nonsense; an unacknowledged group of certifiable humanity whom we wouldn’t trust to put bread in our toaster, yet we allow to talk down to us with all the presence of an officious nanny.   Glance at them briefly on your TV screen,  Dear Friends, note what chaos they are causing and realise that they are doing the work of an enema. And when one switches the box off, then they have passed through and the rest of your life can begin again with nary a backward glance. I am sort of with my friend, Natalie, who gave up on the news because it was so depressing. However I know, even though I wish it was so, that that cannot be me. I have to see the world warts and all, I have to cope with it, I have to come to some sort of agreement within myself which allows for optimism, humour and every day cheerfulness. One cannot let the sun set on gloom too often otherwise we don’t do justice to the following dawn, don’t you think?

“A ship is always safe at shore but that is not what it’s built for.”  Albert Einstein

OK, Dear Reader, I do realise that not all of us are built for going to sea. But there is a nitty gritty out there and removing our rose coloured spectacles for a few minutes to view the muddier danker side of humanity has an effect, does it not?  Personally if I need continually to appreciate how lucky I am then dipping into the darkness occasionally helps me to confirm it.

“And the day came when the risk of remaining tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Anaia Nia

And then, friends, sometime after I had written the main draft of this blog, the day came  when a friend of mine whom I hadn’t seen in a while arrived for a visit. He and I walked and talked our way to Lonsdale Quay and back. I like to think that I listened more than I spoke. Either way  I came away from our conversation, certainly uplifted and most certainly enlightened. I heard a take on the world’s affairs which I had not heard before, a perspective on current events which was refreshing and, more importantly, insightful and wise.

So I guess the moral and morale of this story is that we do need to sort things out in our own minds but when a different perspective appears on the scene we should listen. Such an occasion that I had on my recent walk with my friend should prompt more reading (And he did recommend a book) and should provoke thought.

And, Dear Friends, if I continue to walk my thoughts alone then I have realised yet again that occasionally I need to step away from my solitary island and join with others so that together we can stroll the world into a better place.

“Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.” Victor Hugo.

Thank you for your time.

*Those of you who are regular readers of my blog may note that I was a bit down when I published “Orwell and Beyond” on April 15^th, 2023. I was saddened by the lack of publicity that the slave miners in the PRC (People’s Republic of Congo) were getting. I was, therefore, reassured recently to find a full page article on the situation in The Globe & Mail of Saturday, July 22^nd. It is titled “Our Green, Their Red” by Siddharth Kara, the investigative journalist who wrote ‘Red Cobalt”.