Shrinking World

I find it astonishing that people from 43 countries have read this Blog. The highest number of readers come from in descending order; the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Ghana, and Brazil. In the last couple of days, readers from six States across the Pond have been reading the Blog. That’s interesting because I didn’t think that any of the recent posts were particularly relevant to my American cousins.

Then again, what attracted those readers from Turkey, Romania, Poland and the like? It’s just wonderful, not that so many people read my rambling, but that we are in the position to ramble and to be read.

It wasn’t that many years ago that I entered a department store in Bristol and as I went up the escalator, a chap was descending on the other side with a box in one hand, a lead coming from that box, and a phone in his other hand on which he was talking to someone. I gazed at him in awe. Me, the chap from the gasworks who had to walk two streets to push my coins into the telephone kiosk, after my statutory twenty minute wait stood in the cold and rain with others in the queue waiting for someone to run out of money and end their call.

Who could have thought at that time that we would have a thing call the Web, and hand held phones that would access the Web or call and text anywhere in the World. Oh gosh the words ‘Web’ and ‘Text’ would have caused serious confusion at that time. We have progressed at a phenomenal technological rate, to a position where we have the facilities to readily and effectively engage with others throughout the world. It’s simply astonishing.

Doing the right thing

I don’t mind losing because I never try to win.

I try to remain detached, and try and fight the issues involved in the way that I believe each situation or problem should be highlighted. Everything that I have ever done has always been about doing the right thing. I have never knowingly embarked on a project or made a decision that in some way was about or involved getting one over on the other side. If I needed someone to do something, then the likelihood was that I believed that others would benefit. When I have stood up for something, it is because I truly believed that the something deserved to be aired. I have strong views and am opinionated because I believe that some things are worth saying.

The world would probably be a better place if people made decisions and engaged in events as participants rather than competitors.

Maybe a little bit of humility, coupled with a willingness to see the other point of view, would go an awful long way. Instead of opposing one another; working together to find a relevant and equitable solution to the problem. You do not have to win to succeed.

We should look at problems on the basis of what is fair, equitable and right. What should we do to put it all straight? What can we do to make the outcome successful? Maybe we cannot do what is right for everyone, all of the time, but much of what we do, can and should be towards the greater good. So the next time you are trying to stick someone (an individual or a group), please stop and remember these are real people that you are dealing with. People, who, like you, have the same or similar; fears, aspirations, needs, and desires. If you ignore this and go ahead and stick them anyway, then remember that in many ways, you have also ‘stuck’ yourself; as you become a lesser person through your behaviour.