Evening thoughts.
I need to make something really dark and bleak crystal clear for a moment:
"The world owes us nothing." Every right and freedom and benefit that we enjoy in the U.K was fought for either by our ancestors or by the people around us, perhaps you have been involved with a few campaigns or marches over the last few years? If so you will understand more than most that nothing has ever truly been freely given to us.
I have experienced a considerable amount of failure but I have also experienced success as well. I have traveled over 15,000 miles in my lifetime and yes, arguably, this was because at the tender age of 10 I picked up a Cabbage and upon the cabbage I saw "Product of Spain". I vowed to spend my life traveling further than a cabbage, "I will not be outdone by a vegetable". This determination drove me to travel abroad and experience other cultures. I did so with the remnants of my student loan.
If the world owes us nothing though, how does one have things like the NHS, a welfare state, police, fire service and much much more? Human rights and the ability to live with dignity was something that our ancestors fought towards for centuries. Our rights were not available to all. Even the emergency services used to be reserved for the few. Once upon a time in London a fire service would only serve those that had insurance, doctors would only treat those that crossed the doctors palm with silver, the world was a cruel place. Concerned citizens saw to fight for the creation of a better world and through a gradual war of attrition the people secured many things and we regarded these things as "basic rights". Rights such as the right to vote, to own property, the creation of social housing, the right to strike, to openly love regardless of gender/sexuality, free access to healthcare and education.
It is important for our society to appreciate that these developments did not simply appear. Any brief reading of history will tell us that our rights, our liberties, the very existence of an 8 hour day with lunch breaks...These things did not appear overnight. They were the result of century long struggles by the working classes. People had to fight and die for many of the valuable services that we use today. Our society forget this quickly when discussing that we can no longer afford the NHS or whether women deserve an equal wage. The world does not owe us social housing, it does not owe us an NHS but our ancestors fought tooth and nail for these things. We owe it to previous generations to remember the sacrifices that they made in order to create the very society that we currently enjoy. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to protect and develop our society. To assume that the world "owes us" something is to forget the price paid by the people that came before us. We have already been given something. If we have something then we must acknowledge the work that was done to acquire it, or the work someone must have done for us to get something. Acknowledging the work we have done throughout our lives is a healthy way to remember who we are and what we are capable of.
I had more to write but the epiphany vanished. I had something about sum of parts or something. Damn.
Thank you for reading,
Have a great week,
Bailey.
Edit: It is true that many companies make their millions off of the backs of a workforce that was trained by the state at the expense of taxpayers. It is true that there are companies that arguably owe us (unpaid taxes) and their refusal to pay a fair share is costing us billions a year. However the flip side to this is that when anyone is capable of improving their life or wealth, such individuals will actively attempt to increase their life chances or wealth. Therefore when a company or a person uses legal loopholes to escape certain taxes it is primarily our fault for allowing our tax system to have continued like this. We owe it to ourselves and those that came before us to hold companies and people to account but we cannot assume that every company and citizen will play by the rules if we are each acting from seperate rule books.
Here is a photo of some cows in a field that I took a few months back.
<- I do get outside! Look at this beautiful field!
Sources:
London Fire Service - http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/early-fire-brigades-and-james-braidwood.asp
The Eight Hour Work Day - Robert Owen - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonhard-widrich/the-origin-of-the-8-hour-_b_4524488.html
I need to make something really dark and bleak crystal clear for a moment:
"The world owes us nothing." Every right and freedom and benefit that we enjoy in the U.K was fought for either by our ancestors or by the people around us, perhaps you have been involved with a few campaigns or marches over the last few years? If so you will understand more than most that nothing has ever truly been freely given to us.
I have experienced a considerable amount of failure but I have also experienced success as well. I have traveled over 15,000 miles in my lifetime and yes, arguably, this was because at the tender age of 10 I picked up a Cabbage and upon the cabbage I saw "Product of Spain". I vowed to spend my life traveling further than a cabbage, "I will not be outdone by a vegetable". This determination drove me to travel abroad and experience other cultures. I did so with the remnants of my student loan.
If the world owes us nothing though, how does one have things like the NHS, a welfare state, police, fire service and much much more? Human rights and the ability to live with dignity was something that our ancestors fought towards for centuries. Our rights were not available to all. Even the emergency services used to be reserved for the few. Once upon a time in London a fire service would only serve those that had insurance, doctors would only treat those that crossed the doctors palm with silver, the world was a cruel place. Concerned citizens saw to fight for the creation of a better world and through a gradual war of attrition the people secured many things and we regarded these things as "basic rights". Rights such as the right to vote, to own property, the creation of social housing, the right to strike, to openly love regardless of gender/sexuality, free access to healthcare and education.
It is important for our society to appreciate that these developments did not simply appear. Any brief reading of history will tell us that our rights, our liberties, the very existence of an 8 hour day with lunch breaks...These things did not appear overnight. They were the result of century long struggles by the working classes. People had to fight and die for many of the valuable services that we use today. Our society forget this quickly when discussing that we can no longer afford the NHS or whether women deserve an equal wage. The world does not owe us social housing, it does not owe us an NHS but our ancestors fought tooth and nail for these things. We owe it to previous generations to remember the sacrifices that they made in order to create the very society that we currently enjoy. We owe it to ourselves and future generations to protect and develop our society. To assume that the world "owes us" something is to forget the price paid by the people that came before us. We have already been given something. If we have something then we must acknowledge the work that was done to acquire it, or the work someone must have done for us to get something. Acknowledging the work we have done throughout our lives is a healthy way to remember who we are and what we are capable of.
I had more to write but the epiphany vanished. I had something about sum of parts or something. Damn.
Thank you for reading,
Have a great week,
Bailey.
Edit: It is true that many companies make their millions off of the backs of a workforce that was trained by the state at the expense of taxpayers. It is true that there are companies that arguably owe us (unpaid taxes) and their refusal to pay a fair share is costing us billions a year. However the flip side to this is that when anyone is capable of improving their life or wealth, such individuals will actively attempt to increase their life chances or wealth. Therefore when a company or a person uses legal loopholes to escape certain taxes it is primarily our fault for allowing our tax system to have continued like this. We owe it to ourselves and those that came before us to hold companies and people to account but we cannot assume that every company and citizen will play by the rules if we are each acting from seperate rule books.
Here is a photo of some cows in a field that I took a few months back.
<- I do get outside! Look at this beautiful field!
Sources:
London Fire Service - http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/early-fire-brigades-and-james-braidwood.asp
The Eight Hour Work Day - Robert Owen - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leonhard-widrich/the-origin-of-the-8-hour-_b_4524488.html
