Robert Elms made a comment on his show this morning, after playing a John Denver track for a listener going through a rather tough time. Some time later in his show, he read a readers email thanking him for playing the track. Robert made a comment that he always felt slightly embarrassed when people thanked him, as he was just doing his job and he enjoyed it. It stuck in my mind. My mind turned to Donald Trump and the Nobel peace prize. Unlike Robert Elms, Donald Trump feels that he should achieve the highest accolades for his work and his acheivements. Mr Trump boasts that he has stopped eight wars and millions of people are alive today because of his efforts. Whatever Mr Trump may or may not be, humility is not something he is ever prone to.
I was mulling over this and the idea of sacrifice came up. I don't mean the ritual sacrifice of animals, something which I find rather disturbing if I am honest. I mean the concept that we give things up, or endure hardships. At this time of year, we make new year resolutions. Often these are things like new diets, giving up alcohol, doing punishing exercise routines. The idea is that such sacrifices are good for us. But are they? Clearly if we havea chaotic lifestyle and alcohol is harming us, then yes. But to me the concept of 'dry January' is ridiculous. If you simply start bingeing on the 1st February, it is really rather silly. Similarly with diet and exercise routines. Going on a punishing run, when you are unfit is a rather good way to do yourself some damage. Similarly, with diet changes, if you starve yourself and then go bonkers, it will do you no good at all. There is a notion that the effort of sacrifice is good for the soul is to me, a bogus concept. I am all for New Years resolutions, but we should make them achieveable. A sacrifice is only worth making if it leads to a permanent change and development.
Let me give you an example. At the start of 1985, I was in a period of turmoil. My health was not great and the band had recently split up. I had been advised to avoid alcohol and change my diet. I was feeling rather depressed about everything, I started thinking how I could make this a positive. I took a long look at myself and the band and realised that although I'd been in a band for six years, I needed to radically change my way of working. As I wouldn't be going to the pub, I would practice guitar for three hours a day and I'd also do a professional songwriting course. The course I chose was one evening a week for ten weeks. When I finished school in 1981, I vowed I was done with education, so this was a big thing. I thought it would be boring and I'd hate it, but it was a revealation. Combined with properly practising guitar, I realised that the whole way I'd approached music had been flawed. I had thought that this whole period would be a sacrifice, but it was a revealtion. By June, the band was back up and running and I had a whole new lease of life and energy musically.
So was that a sacrifice? Not at all, it was wonderful. There are many things I've done as a 'sacrifice' that I ended up getting more from than I put in. Volunteering at The Passage homeless daycare centre was one such thing. I didn't like getting up at 5.45am to get there for the breakfast shift at 7am, but it was brilliant and was a real education.
At Catholic Primary School, the Nuns would tell us about 'Holy People' who used to do all manner of self flagelation etc, to purge them of their sins. To me this always seemed ridiculous. If you commit a sin, put the harm right. If you make a mistake in life, rectify it. I've made plenty and where I can, I have tried to make amends. Sometimes this can be a simple apology. Sometimes it can be some sort of reparations. I was intrigued by the debate about whether the Church of England should make financial payments as it benefitted from the slave trade. I had an elderly Jamaican friend who explained the concept to me in 1985. If my Great Grandpa robbed your Great Grandpa, and so three generations of my family lived in a mansion, whilst three generations of your family live in abject poverty, denied education and opportunity, surely a decent person would recognise this and seek to undo some of the damage.
His view was interesting. He did not blame the current generation for the sins of their forefathers, you cannot change the past. But you can give the current generation of those, who are still in poverty, a chance. His view was that bursaries at the best schools and universities should be set up and paid for by those who are still benefitting from the crimes of their forefathers. They do not not need top be forced into poverty, just make some sort of amends to recognise the fact that their priviledge was not the fruit of their own work. Is it really a sacrifice to give back something that should never have been yours in the first place? To me, that is the crux of the matter
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