The three options
When everyone’s a-din and a-dither, it’s too easy to choose an easy option. ‘Just make it stop!!’ But sometimes, that is just the time to find the still, quiet voice of compassion, deep within.
I’d rather see fewer cars in town and clogging up the roads into town each day. But would I like to see charges introduced so that only the most wealthy could afford to drive, while average and lesser mortals were forced onto public transport, bikes and their own two feet? Providing better public transport, more cycle routes, and electric bikes and scooters for loan, while pedestrianising much of the town would do the job better.
I would like there to be less need to build new homes on green-field land, and newcomers moving into the island certainly add to this pressure. I’d prefer people had decent jobs to do in the countries where they grew up, felt secure that their own governments had their best interests at heart, and so felt no need to travel looking for safety or a decent life. But I don’t want to find myself arguing against refugees and immigrants alongside racists, bigots and greedy nimbys.
I think it’s urgent that something be done about extreme wealth inequality. ‘Fat Cat Friday’ fell on 4 January this year. This was the day by which the average CEO had pocketed £29,574, the median annual take-home pay of a UK worker. But I don’t want to see everyone earning so much that they can throw away phones, clothes and cars at will for new ones in this year’s colour. Enough for our needs, not for our greeds, and measures in place to level society’s playing fields.
I think Theresa May’s Brexit would be a weak and unsatisfactory affair, but that doesn’t mean I’m in favour of the UK crashing out, with troops on the streets and ferries full of emergency supplies queuing at the ports. I want to see the environmental and human rights protections that the EU has provided, regardless of the whims of consecutive Westminster governments, maintained and strengthened.
Those who plan our world, and our referendums, don’t like there to be three options on the ballot paper. ‘You’re either for us or against us,’ they say.
But the ghastly depths that our society has plumbed right now, including climate change and species extinction rates never seen before by humans, upsets everyone.
It’s too easy to join in with the most vocal opposition. Sometimes it is important to heed the quiet calling of our wiser compassionate hearts and say, but I choose life: kind, thriving, loving life.
This article first appeared in the Jersey Evening Post on 10 January 2019
