Can We Have What We Really Want?

Hi Everyone

I expect that when you were at school, there was always a class bully eager to make your life uncomfortable. He - very rarely a girl - would usually have a couple of cronies who would enjoy bullying as much as he did, or maybe just playing up to him so that they could avoid being one of his targets. The usual tactic was to try to avoid them as much as possible, and if you had to engage them in conversation, then attempt to humour them. Almost eighty years on, I can still remember the name of our class bully. Now we have another bully with his cronies to contend with, who just happens to be the President of what he describes as “the best and most beautiful country in the world”. I suspect that most of the rest of the world would presently describe Trump's America as one of the most disliked countries in the world, apart from Russia, which is now laughing all the way to the bank after some of its sanctions were lifted. I say Trump’s America, as we have great memories of our visits there, the friendly people that we met and our wonderful personal friends. Now, like the school bully, many world leaders are doing their best to avoid him and trying very hard to ignore and not react to his public insults. I don’t know what happened to our class bully, but hopefully, he came to a sticky end with few friends. Let us hope that history repeats itself so that America can return to being one of the friendliest countries in the world.

I question how many children are aware of the link between an egg and Easter. The egg is a symbol of new life and has traditionally been decorated through the years. Now it has evolved into unnecessary packaging that gets larger by the year, while the chocolate egg inside gets smaller. Just a few years ago, the amount of packaging on everything was questioned with a promise that something would be done to drive the use of packaging down. No doubt we will be making the same point many times in the future. To me, it is another example of governments and political parties promising but not fulfilling. Add in potholes, insulation in old buildings, the state of many school buildings ……………… and you begin to get the picture. 

We spent a lovely couple of hours in a local community cafe this week with a super pianist, helping to raise funds for a children's group at a nearby church. No TV screen, radio, and very few mobile phones, just local people enjoying each other's company in comfortable, friendly surroundings. That is how the vast majority of the world's population lives, except when a tiny minority decide otherwise. That is how it was in Ukraine and Iran. When will that tiny minority realise that we don’t need them or want them in our lives?  

Just a Thought:

My friend beat up his school bully with a baseball bat. Both his arms were broken. Come to think of it, that’s probably why he felt brave enough to beat him up.

My friend had breakfast at the Pelican cafe this week. The food was great, but the bill was enormous.

Hope that you have an egg-ceptional Easter this year.

Brian