My four-year-old daughter doesn’t much like me writing blogs. She pulls at my arm and demands “Come on Daddy. Sid-down!” She means that I must sit down with her and watch TV in the lounge. Who can resist? Cute as a button. I would do anything for her. Even watch Mickey Mouse’s Clubhouse.
She forces me to sit down on the sofa before jumping on me. She’ll drag my arm over her chest and clamp hold of it to make sure I don’t go anywhere. It is very sweet. It is for moments like this that I do what I do. You see I have this demon. It is this: that I won’t leave the world a better place for her to live in.
It is that simple.
What bewilders me is why my simple ambition (to leave a better world for our children) invokes such online dislike of ME personally!? In my humble opinion I THINK we MIGHT use up all the good stuff and leave nothing but scraps for our children. They may well have a lower standard of living than us. They may not have the cheap fossil fuels we used and abused for the last 200 years. For them the future MAYBE uncertain. IF so it is only natural to wish to preserve what we have and mitigate the damage it has done.
It is my opinion. I am not Transition Town High Wycombe. I am only one of their bloggers. But I know THEY would heartily agree with me. Everyone else is welcome to not agree with me. You may see other threats. You may see no threat at all. But we are all ears. If you have a vision of a future High Wycombe with more cars and more houses and more people all chugging along on nuclear-fusion-powered-hover-boards then let’s hear it. Or maybe your view is pessimistic and Orwellian: our future will be dark, grim and only the fittest will survive. Tell us about it and maybe give us some evidence.
I guess it is my fault. I dragged this wrath upon myself for uttering words about that taboo topic: climate change. I have questioned the unquestionable: our religious faith in business as usual. Do I come over as an arrogant twit smugly telling you how to live your life? Is there some proof of my hypocrisy? Or am I just asking a simple question? I don’t need to know that my house WILL burn down in order to have home insurance. It just seems like sensible risk limitation. I have asked repeatedly whether we are so scared of the medicine that we are denying we have a disease. Have we even tasted the medicine? Maybe it could be the nectar we have all been looking for.
If you wish to comment on this blog then you may do so on the TTHW Blog or on the TTHW Google Group forum. The reason you can’t comment on the Bucks Free Press website is that this is not a moderated forum which only lead to arguments. It might be good fun for SOME but we don’t have the patience. This is not a circus. We are interested in debate and discovering novel points of view that create better MUTUAL understanding. Progress can be made. This could be the most exciting adventure of our lives.
However, a minority have a lot to say about my opinions in forums that I am not participating in. (I have friends who do.) Such venom, such fire-and-forget spite. To what end? Does this slander happen because of an inability to see me as a doting Father? Then one day I was queuing at the post office. I saw the usual notice telling us that they wouldn’t tolerate violence against their staff. You see the same thing in Hospitals. Every time I see it I ask myself: “who would punch a postman?” and “who would hurt a nurse?”. They are all such nice people. Then it grabs you. Yes, they are nice people because you are nice to them. Those who go out looking for a fight will find one, even if they have to create it. They see what they want to see. It is a perfect reflection of the self.
So, what are these demons? What is that deep down pain that leads to the tearing down instead of the building up?
Discuss.