Excellent Question!

How do significant life events or the passage of time influence your perspective on life?

At last something to get our teeth into!

It really depends on the event, personal, national, international.

All violence impacts me hugely, as do terrorist attacks and natural disasters.

One bit of ‘progress’ is that I find the attitude towards Live Aid and Children in Need awful now. Live Aid sought to help with a desperate famine in Ethiopia, now it’s retrospectively wrong. The words of the song weren’t perfect, yet the words in question were calling out those who don’t help when help is needed.

I no longer contribute to Children in need. It’s become about race and apparently trying to help innocents was the wrong thing to do, it’s patronising. It didn’t help for some reason.

There is no such thing as a lesser human, just people who need help and those who can help. However, it’s best to put the money where it doesn’t cause upset, sadly. Everyone needs help sometimes.

I saw a lot of bravery on Children in Need, stoicism, cheer in the face of awful challenges, and it covered the UK too helping our own Children in Need.

With Live Aid I saw people starving that I could help. That I wanted to help. Who deserved the help. Because they’re my siblings under God.

How sad that nowadays things are rewritten to fit modern social mores, not left in the time in which they were born as it were.

Unfortunately, these things have now made me cautious about helping. But I must change my perspective to meet modern requirements. That’s respectful.

When it comes to national events the passings of the Late Duke of Edinburgh and our Late Queen impacted me far harder than I expected. I had huge admiration for them both, and it turns out not a small amount of love. Who’d a thought it?

If you’re a royalist the Royals are a steadying force in our society. We may change Prime Ministers, but our Head of State is a constant. Not political in any way, but a person who knows a great deal about the world, who goes out amongst the public and talks to them.

Prince Charles’ letters to Prime Ministers used to annoy Republicans. They claimed he was trying to gain power. Yet successive Prime Ministers have said no to that. The letters told them what the people were telling Charles about their problems. The Royals are far more accessible than a Prime Minister. He delivered their messages, and that was the right thing to do.

As is well known, like his father before him, he started an organisation to help the youth of this country. The Duke started the Duke of Edinburgh Award to help young people who struggled in education to gain a respected Award. Charles started the Princes’ Trust.

A lady spoke at the Duke’s funeral, telling us that she got a high powered job she didn’t think she would get, beating out several degree holders, because she held a Duke of Edinburgh’s Gold Award. The company said they liked the ingenuity, hard work, and courage it took to gain it. Just wonderful. It would have made his day.

Funny story: A while before he died the Duke and Prince William were walking in the highlands when they came across a group of young people. The Duke stopped to chat to them, they told him they were doing the Award and as they needed to get going he should “jog on old man”. Apparently the Duke was in fits and wouldn’t let William enlighten them. As he said they’d know soon enough when they collected their award. I’ll never forget that story.

When the Queen died I cried harder than I did for either of my parents, which shocked me. I realised that during my troubled family times she had always been there, having her own troubles but standing by her family. Her smile was guaranteed at some point in a day. She kept her word, dedicating herself to our service at 21 and only stopping when she died. She met Liz Truss literally hours before she passed. What wasn’t to love and admire?

It was only when the King did his first televised address, that I settled. He obviously reiterated her promise and he will keep it to his last breath.

It’s why I’m a royalist. Boris Johnson with his shirt hanging out was so disrespectful to other world leaders and their countries, and to our people, I could not face the idea of him being the public face of the UK. The Royals are respectful, meet and know more people of all kinds than any PM, and they know how to behave.

A head of state should afford respect and dignity to everyone they meet. The Royals do.

To me they were the example I wanted to follow. Care for others. Keeping your word. Creating positive change. Recognising need and addressing it. Inclusion.

This image alone demonstrates the change from my 1950s childhood to now.

It’s an image that shocks me to the core. It’s everything that being British is not. Except that for today’s children – it is. I read this morning that we’ve found children as young as 6 & 7 carrying blades at school.

It really makes me feel that the ‘doom mongers’ of the 70s and 80s were right when they said that violent computer games would normalise violence. It’s a daily, multi-occurrence now. It used to be a shock!

I’m sure that many people across the world understand this.

The Actor Idris Elba fronted a recent BBC documentary on knife crime and it’s excellent, balanced, and highly watchable. It’s also a shock.

If you think the majority of crime comes from people of colour, you will be entirely wrong. It’s 67% white crime in the UK. That needs to be known.

Do watch it if you can.

The levels of disconnection and selfishness in our society today stun me. The casual way we cause hurt. And yet, there are so many good people out there doing incredible things.

The Southport riots were a stain we will never forget, but that highlighted an enormous amount of good, inclusion, and partnership working.

So my conclusion here is that my perspective has changed, but my belief in the basic good of humans never will. Wherever there is trouble heroes appear.

I may be ageing but I never trot out the ‘in my day’, I’m not getting old in attitude. So in some ways my perspective is standing its ground. Long may that last.

Allowing selfishness and violence to change you is a non-starter as far as I’m concerned.

This is, of course, strengthened by my spiritual beliefs, especially that God is watching and can’t be fooled. So if say it, I meant it, and I’ll do it, because that’s who I am.

That perspective is not up for grabs, or owned by the state of the times.

Happy Day

Deb xx