The Way Things Have Always Been (JULY 2017)
Tradition, ritual, and
custom.
The way things have
always been.
As pertinent to
Christmas gifts before OR after the turkey feast as to antiquated practices in
law and at Westminster.
From the swearing
allegiance to God and The Queen to the need to pronounce and declare through
the Speaker of the House,
From the uproar
directed at those without ties to the shameful, everyday sexism and racism that
trips of far too many a political tongue.
Tradition, ritual, and
custom.
The way things have
always been.
As lauded in Britain in
terms of ‘our heritage, our values’ as it is in the good ol’ U.S. of A. with
presidential aims and claims to be ‘great again’.
Observe, here at home,
the manifestation of visceral frets about losing our land of hope, and
so-called glory,
All too evident in the
verbal, virtual and physical bullish battles to ‘get our country back’. Quite
from where, or from whom, nobody is able to say.
Tradition, ritual, and
custom.
The way things have
always been.
As significant to the
personal as it is to the political (which of course are always entwined).
The references to boys’
and girls’ jobs by those who (should) know better, the continuing double
standards pertaining to looks, dress, emotional display,
treatment of and
responses from,
And the sorry, sad
evidence of the still remaining fear; of love that some deem unnatural and at
appeals for reproductive rights for all.
Traditional, ritual,
and custom.
The way things have always
been.
But, there is hope,
with real signs of change and some delicious glimpses of more, and of more, and
of more.
For increases in
P/political self-education, engagement and activism are supported by
networking, collaboration, community endeavour and at least some in the arenas
of sport and entertainment keeping up with the times,
So alongside schoolboys
in skirts protesting silly rules, and advertisers being called to address
gender stereotyping, we have tennis’ World No 1 calming correcting casual
sexism and a (13th) Doctor true to the spirit of regeneration.
AND YET,
See the hands thrown up
in horror and the backlash to challenge and change. Some cite,
Tradition, ritual, and
custom. And,
The way things have
always been.
Still plenty to do
then…
The Way Things Have Always Been, PART TWO (JANUARY
2018)
Tradition, ritual and
custom.
The way things have always
been, PART TWO. No doubt there will be more.
Despite the historical
‘pride’ the interpretation of what was, and so what should be, is often nothing
more than damaged and damaging misunderstanding and misrepresentation.
From shout-outs, tweets
and memes that reduce complex positions and arguments to ABSOLUTE positive or
negative certainties,
From politicians who
heckle rather than debate to others (and the same) who abstain so as not to
lose face or possible favour,
Benches full of the
privileged that put personal prejudice and Party gain before country thus
ironically threatening democracy past present and future; the way things have
always been.
Tradition, ritual, and
custom.
The way things have
always been.
The voices of some of the
rich and the powerful still (over)valued by a multitude despite their mouthing,
and living by, a rhetoric that favours the few and not the many.
Be it deference or
ignorance, false information, deflection from or denial of, the things that
should concern us all.
Whilst the NHS faces
what patients and professionals all insist is the worst crisis ever, whilst the
(some still suggest) most powerful person in the world behaves more like a
child than a man,
We are told that
‘nothing has changed’ and that our rulers, are ‘strong’ and ‘stable’, ‘steady’
and ‘genius’ whilst simultaneously the ideological goalposts sliver and shift and
slip in the sand.
Tradition, ritual, and
custom.
The way things have
always been.
‘Boys will be boys’ still in 2018 despite a hundred years
of women’s suffrage and hundreds and thousands more of the fight for equality
for all.
From harassment –
verbal, physical, sexual, online and face-to-face – to un/equal pay to media
double standards on whose voices ‘need’ to be heard and those that continue to
be silenced.
Add to this the ‘no
sense of humour’ old chestnut used to attack those who, in any way, question and
challenge,
And it’s no surprise
that, contrary to much evidence, some feel able to continue to speak of the undeserving
and those who bring misfortune all on themselves.
‘The problem lies with
the individual’ they say, and is not the responsibility or fault of the state
or of the way things have always been.
Traditional, ritual,
and custom.
The way things have
always been.
When those whose job it
is to hold the powerful to account provide at best a weak critique we must
continue, despite our sometimes despair, to respond, to resist, to work
together for something better.
Whatever our
differences, with respect and through openness we can be, we are, so much more,
But beware those who
try to divide us and others suggesting that passivity is best.
Is it worth the effort,
the struggle? Yes it is. For who can prefer the politics of hate and of fear
over hope and belonging; love and community; friendship and trust?
Change isn’t easy. Not
least when it frightens those less safe at the top.
Tradition, ritual, and
custom.
And, the way things
have always been,
Can not be, must not
be, taken for granted, unchallenged, unchanged.
With eyes and hearts
wide open; the only way forward.
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