Because Keir Starmer has the first name as one of the founders of the Labour party, Keir Hardie, there have been a few articles about the original Keir. Do read more about him.
But what struck me was that Keir Hardie was only 14 when he became chairman of a miners union and only 23 when he co-founded the Labour party. This was not unusual for people to be becoming leaders and politicians at a young age. William Pitt the younger was standing for election when he was 21 and was Prime Minister by 24. Lord Nelson had his own command of warships at aged 20. And these are just a few. Ordinary people were having families in their teens.
I know we could say that happened because they died younger. But there is more too it.
Lots of the laws passed to stop children working were good but did things go to far? I do wonder if there would be less young people – aged 12-20 hanging about in parks, in high streets, in gangs, if we treated them more less like children and encouraged their potential.
We keep children young for much longer than they used to be. Ok yes back in Hardie and Pitt and Nelson’s times often these men were fighting and leading but were not able to vote so that has changed. But now we keep our young people as children at school until they are 18, followed by the expectation of many to go to university where they are still hanging out with people mainly their own age. After having a stint at university from 2011-2014 it did seem like not much, apart from getting 1st or 2.1’s in their degrees, was expected of the young people.
This year Nadia Whittome is the youngest MP in the UK parliament at 23 and is being called “the baby of the house” is some papers. And it is being made into quite a big thing. [There was a woman of 18 from Scotland who won in the previous elections but she step down not very long after being elected]
I think if you call someone the “baby” you are making them feel young, feel small, feel maybe not as able as “the old timers“. Being 23 and in the House of Commons at one time was not a big thing.
We need to stop holding our young people back!
I wonder if we harnessed some of the energy of these young gang leaders who do run drug businesses that are well-coordinated and make lots of money – if we could take that energy and, instead of holding it back by saying they must be in education until they are 18+ – by which time they are off making money – I wonder what a difference our world would be?
But instead these young men and women, who our school system does not agree with, are in and out of prison, have babies, are “lost”, vilified, and seen as no good and a waste of space.
[My tutor friend of mine was paid by the local council to worked with a young man of 14 who classed as a “school refuser” because he was running his own decorating business, including doing all the accounts, getting the correct amount of materials, etc, and could not see the point of saying at school. She understood!]
Read Keir Hardie’s story of being an the child of a single mother, working class, living in the slums, and look where he got to with not being held back as he matured and saw the things in the world that needed changing.
But how do we get to those young people have been told for so long that they are a waste of space and no good and give them something positive to aim for?
[See tomorrow’s for my take on prejudice]
sharing this book on his Instagram ages ago) This quote from Jan’s course jumped out at me because it fits in so much with what I am reading at the moment that Willard is saying the problem with Christianity is. (Note I am only on page 77 at the moment 🙂 )
and even alcohol. It lasted five days before I decided that I needed to finish the elderflower presse off with the gin liquor my daughter had given me. It was a week before I decided to use the cheese that was in the fridge for a meal, to use up the mushrooms that were lurking in the vegetable rack with the turkey that was sitting in the bottom of the freezer. Why couldn’t I do it? Because I was doing it as an “ought” rather than it being something my innermost being wanted to do. And the funny thing is that we generally only eat meat once or twice a week, drink wine only on a weekend, and only have spirits on special occasions! It was in the telling myself I couldn’t that I wanted to. When it is just a part of my life – I suppose part of my innermost being – then it is easy.
So I think we need to stop telling people that Jesus lets us see a meaning to life, or even telling people they don’t know the meaning of life but help to show them the bits of Jesus life that help us all to find true connection with our innermost being and truly bring us alive. And to be honest I don’t want to hangout with a God that doesn’t do that for me
My group asked me the other day about how to use real people in their memoir writing. I wish I had found this quote when I was looking for information to share with them.
like “Bob is an alcoholic” is not a truth unless Bob has told the family. So one could say “Bob appears to drink a lot and I am concerned that he is an alcoholic” or “Bob says he is an alcoholic”. Both statements are true because one is that I have seen Bob drink a lot and he has said he is an alcoholic. The concerned bit is my opinion. So with “your mum” I could say she seemed happy to me because that is my opinion.
someone else might perceive them then I do feel freer to know that what I understand is what I understand and not to have to spend time browbeating the other person to believe in things how I see them. So going back to “your mum was really happy there”. That is my truth. Another family member could say “mum was really upset there” and that is there truth. Maybe we need to ask mum and see what she thinks? But then maybe mum was happy at the waterfall but upset as she walked back. Maybe both things are true and each person saw her at a different time (Note this is made up to help with a point and not factual 🙂 )
I was walking the dog on Conwy Beach this morning looking toward Deganwy and felt God speak to me as I was looking at the basalt column that rises above the down. He felt Him say “on this rock I will build my church” so I asked for a bit of explanation as it’s a verse we all know well and have often been told it means the confession of Peter that Jesus was the Messiah.
What is left? Faith – A faith that God is bigger than anything I ever hoped or believed and that He is always there for me whatever I walk through and that I will stay with Him forever. Hope – that God is bigger and that those who’ve died before me will be with Him, that those who don’t profess to knowing Him on this earth will be with Him at the end [see I can’t believe that if we are all made in the image of God – and that we don’t just become made in that image when we “pray the prayer” – that God will take what He has made to be with Him . But that’s another thought entirely ] Love – that God loves me, loves those I love, loves those I don’t love too, and that I must learn to love too.
between life and death, blessing and curses. The apostle Paul said Jesus came to take the sting of death away. This poem on Velveteen Rabbi’s blog post this morning, says it all for me about how too often we choose death. For me not only are the gunmen responsible for deaths, the terrorists responsible for deaths but we all are. We are in a world that allows guns – ok so in the UK and Europe we don’t have the same gun laws and the US but we still have guns; young men in inner cities with guns because of fear and need for power, farmers with guns to shoot rabbit, vermin, etc, Policeman carrying guns because there are gun crimes. We live in a landscape that gives rise to fear and hate, for the need to control, for the need to be seen. Too often we choose death not live, we choose to put the other down rather than raise them up. We choose to fear rather than trust, to see the bad rather than the good.
over life. Yes we need to stop gun crime. Yes we need to stop stabbings. But we also need to stop fear and disempowering others. If we gave people a voice, some place to speak, gave them power without the gun, maybe that would help them choose life over death.
Aspirational Adventures 