The Past is dead - face up to reality

 I’ve read a lot of history books, but whilst its been interesting to learn how people behaved and dealt with past problems, the study of history is of little practical use. Because the world today is not the world of yesterday, you cannot just keep doing the same thing, just because it may have worked in the past.

Putin, when interviewed by Tucker, gave a half hour history lecture to justify his invasion of Ukraine. It’s a shame that the Ukraine and Russia of the past no longer exist, and his use of history (however he  sees it) to make decisions today is fundamentally wrong. The world continually changes and these changes cannot be ignored in any decision making process. If you do eventually reality will catch up with you and will force change upon you.

Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist party also want to finish a war of  75 years ago and take over Taiwan, which was part  of China in the first half of the 20th Century. He ignores the fact this was now a long time ago and that today the people of Taiwan vote for continued independence. Again history is used and the reality of new circumstances are ignored to justify present policy.

Why can’t they just be honest? Putin and Xi want to take over these places, because they are democratic and therefore a direct threat to their personal wealth, status and power. If people who are culturally very similar to the people over whom they rule start enjoying the benefits of democracy and freedom, then they are highly likely to be pushed aside as new leaders, who will have more focus on the lives of their fellow countrymen,  get  a chance to govern and show what they can do.

This explains why Putin, who is basically a violent criminal gangster and Xi Jingping, who says his ambition is to finish the socialist utopian dream, are getting on so well together. They both fear modern western ideology which can no  longer be defeated, or even challenged, intellectually by historic alternatives. Therefore their only option to maintain their personal positions is to use to violence against their own people and war against the west.      

Time to choose your future - but please don't ignore reality.

A Celebration

 My partner and I have just walked the Southern Upland Way, a path that crosses the boarder lands between Scotland and England, from coast to coast. Because of long ago wars and lawlessness, it cuts across some of the most unpopulated parts of the British Isles passing through dramatic hill country.
Being 215 miles long and requiring 8500m of ascent whilst carrying a pack of camping gear and food, I was not convinced we could manage it, when first suggested as a “holiday” by my partner.

But the real failure in life is not to try, and we have done a lot of walking in the past, so two and a half weeks ago we walked out of Port Patrick, heading for Cockburnspath with an outline of a plan and only thoughts of where to pitch the tent that night and how to obtain water.

Well, luck was on our side and the weather was cold and dry, rather than wet and windy. We had a great time walking the hills, sleeping under dark skies and waking with heavy frost on the tent. We learnt about the areas we past through and met some great people; isolated farmers, walkers from aboard, friendly locals and also the path ranger who works  hard to maintain the path.

The last few miles, the glory path just before completion, are always the best. We strolled the cliffs at dawn, just as the early morning sun set the sea on fire with a golden light and the fog clad the hills with a silvery mist all to the orchestra of waves and sea birds. It was great to be alive.

Some people, from less fortunate parts of the world, don’t understand why we do such things. When asking why westerners want to climb a mountain they ask “ what’s up there, what’s so fascinating ?”. Or when they discover we go on camping holidays, they think we are mad - to them camping is associated with poverty, homelessness and refugee camps.

Nearing the end, we met a farmer, who was polite but standoffish. Perhaps previous walkers had caused problems, but I sensed he just had no comprehension of why people keep tramping across his land. At first I couldn’t express why we do such things. It’s hard work, some of the time unpleasant, but as one of my friends says “What’s the point of doing easy things? There’s no challenge, no achievement”

On reflection I choose to do walks such as this because it is a celebration of being alive, of living simply and experiencing this wonderful world with minimal impact. (Not to mention getting away from all the **** in the news.)

My only wish is that every one in the world could also have the health, the wealth, the time, the support, the companionship, the peace and above all the freedom, to take what ever path they want to walk with minimal impact on others..