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John Ramwell
TIME AND CHANGE
Living, as we do, day by day, it’s not always that obvious how rapidly things change around us as we plod on. But change has always been with us. From the age of the cave dweller through to the age of the street dweller (as in homeless - today) so much keeps changing and we have coped. We adapt. In fact, as a species, we’re almost too good at adapting. More than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species that ever lived on Earth, are estimated to have died out. Civilisation, as we know it, is only about 6,000 years old which, in the scheme of things, is no time at all and whereas so many of the globes’ species becomes extinct over the millions of years from when life first emerged we, have thrived. I was born in 1941 into a world already populated by 2,300 million. Today it is 7,324.782 million. But this piece is not about climate change or about sustainability; it is about the current speed at which so much changes around us and our ability and, in many cases, our inability. to cope. I want to briefly examine what has happened to us during my life time, more specifically, what is happening to those embraced by our culture and our society. How our beliefs, our ethics, our attitudes to such as generational inequality, to morality, to sexuality has changed within one generation. This whole issue of how our life styles has altered in what, even in contemporary historical terms, is a blink of an eye is amazing and unprecedented.
Take racism. Even I can remember those appalling signs outside properties to let which said, ‘no Irish, no blacks, no dogs.’ Today we still struggle against intolerance but I see local school children seemingly totally accepting that skin colour is inconsequential. My own generation has still a way to go.
Take sexuality. I well remember, as a young Hospital Officer, escorting prisoners to NHS Aversion Clinics where electric shocks were employed to cure homosexuality. To be gay back a few years ago was a burden too far; even today it can be difficult. We all realise that attitudes fed by bigotry will never fade entirely. Yet we’ve come a long way in a short time as we are able to largely accept same-sex marriages.
Take equality. To be born into the aristocracy was to claim every possible privilege as a birth right but whereas to be born in the backstreets of such as Salford normally meant inadequate education, harsh working conditions and an average lifespan of 25 years. Okay, I realise we have some way to go. But we’ve arrived at a period of acceptance where most of us have a fair(er) chance of success that hitherto was denied to the working class.
Take human rights. We do take our access to justice and to fairness for granted even though our daily media reminds us others are not so fortunate. This does not imply that we’ve achieved a level of universal rights that is totally acceptable. I doubt we ever will. Much still depends on individual ability to fight a cause, be it with
wealth or circumstances.
Take religious belief. There is little doubt that our society has become so much more tolerant of those with different beliefs from our own, including the majority who are of no faith. But, unfortunately, it is not just our acceptance of others who are different but the self inflicted disintegration of some institutions, one in particular, that has left many bereft of belief with little or nothing to fill the vacuum. Having a strong religious belief was an important part of our ammunition in dealing with the curse of modern society, stress. I wonder whether the increasing rate of addictions, mental health deterioration and self harm has not increased commensurate with the rate at which we have become more atheistic.
Take modern life styles. Drugs, mental illness, pornography, addictions, kids living with parents, death of high street. These issues cross over into issues I’ve dealt with or have yet to deal with. Not many are new to us but the severity of them has increased manyfold to an extent many of those affected are simply unable to cope or do so at enormous personal cost whilst, at the same time funding and resources are being sliced back.
Take technology. Communications, AI, social media, speed of change, on line research & shopping. Our lives have changed so considerably that it is impossible to over rate the impact of such as use of mobile phones, Facebook, invasion of our privacy by such as surveillance cameras and personal data collection and protection. I’ve enjoyed using technology in and around the home. I take advantage of WiFi and blue tooth to the extent that Alexa almost rules our home. But, like everything else, it comes at a price. I know with some certainty that Alexa listens to what we say. You’ve only got to mention, within it’s hearing, that you fancy a ‘cuppa’ when Amazon lists every make of tea on your potential wish list. I can live with this in return for being able to remotely control so many aspects of our home. Nothing is ever absolutely free!
Take modern welfare, NHS, housing crisis. We take an awful lot for granted as the State steps in to care for us from cradle to grave. But we also abuse these advantages rather than respect them. We see so much as being a God-given right rather than a privilege and the result is a collapsing health service and over-reliance on our welfare arrangements. And the cost to the public funds is a necessary diversion of resources so that we don’t have sufficient affordable housing stock whilst we do have a crisis in schools, prisons and the collapse of so much of our infrastructure.
Take personal finance. Pensions, low wages, debt, Massive and widespread debt, are elephants in the room. Our failure to deal effectively with modern pensions when so many fail to invest in one is a volcano waiting to erupt. Combine this with so many taking a mortgage or rent into their retirement and the cost of care if required, then our volcano is going to erupt with more than a bang and a plume of smoke.
Okay, I could go on with my ’take this, take that.’ Like a piece of string that keeps unraveling, the more you tug, the more it unravels. Continuing with this metaphor, the fundamental question remains. Are we able to unravel in time to coil it into a neat ball? The world has always been a place of change that usually sees incremental improvement, often two steps forward and one back. History shows us how humanity bounces back after cataclysmic events such as world wars, the Black Death and financial collapse. But, together with our natural fortitude and determination, over time we soon settle down and continue plodding onwards. Just maybe the ingredient, time that we’ve relied on in the past, will not be enough. We need some wake-up calls so that our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren may inherit a life my generation have rather taken for granted as we jumped on the gravy train as it pulled out of the WW2 Railway Station. I’m asking whether, despite having so many factors in our favour as we cope with change, are changes coming too fast this time around? We can only hope not.
And I’ve not yet emphasised the big, big, big, huge, gigantic elephant, climate change.
John Ramwell
