Seventy, older…but every day is still very much a school day.
Excitement was the word I had in my mind as my 70th was fast approaching. Looking forward to another day, but a milestone ticked off, and the ability to do what I did the days leading up to it, run, do my weights, row, read and write.
Well, it turns out that excitement wasn’t nearly enough, and it most certainly didn’t last long…the excitement that is.
Just another day, and unless my head was buried in the sand, I couldn’t help but to reminisce on the past, and sadly fear for the future.
In 2024 the Ukraine conflict still isn’t resolved…infact the outcome next year could be even worse. The Gaza situation is something akin to the slaughtering of people from a distant past. Syria is now run by Islamic terrorists…and Western leaders are dropping their pants for them!
And here in America, we have a bright young man who has just been taken to New York, having been captured for killing a high-profile CEO…which would never have happened if the CEO’s company didn’t have a policy of shafting it’s clients. The young man in question is being seen by many as a hero.
All of the above tells me that it’s time for change.
And that change can happen right now, and keep going into 2025.
Another bomb doesn’t need to fall on Gaza. Another Western leader doesn’t need to drop his/her pants for a bunch of Islamic terrorists in Syria. Another shot doesn’t need to be fired into the back of another CEO.
No, not if our leaders lead with integrity, tell their electorate the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth…and serve that electorate and not the billionaires that fund their campaigns.
The people will then decide the policies through their representatives…those policies being domestic and foreign.
It’s easy really…yes really…and yes easy.
But none of this will work without the help of the media. Remember the media?
Yes/No?
Those were the people a long time ago now who gave their souls to roll up their sleeves and get out there and news gather with the utmost accuracy while remaining neutral to what’s happening. They were the people who described in the moment, exactly who the individual is who they were interviewing.
Important stuff that! So the reader, TV news watcher, and radio listener, can understand just why things are happening in places they are interested in hearing about.
Go online for your news, and there’s even more interference by foreign proxies feeding in untruths and bias. And of course, the news channels and papers are politically biased as their news suggests.
So, get rid of the talking heads, who by the way mostly get paid to sit there and blether, not all do it for free. And get back to news gathering the way that it used to be done.
When someone in Syria is being interviewed for example, I want to know who exactly they are, so I can understand why they’re saying what they are. If they’re Sunni, then they can be asked is that why you oppose Assad? If they are Christian, ask them about their’ families history in the Region, and did the past regime protect or attack you?
The listener deserves the whole story, and the listener deserves the media to do their whole homework on the subject…without bias.
Once that’s done, we ALL then have a chance of holding government to account. That government can then hold the corporates to account, and so on.
Just like Afghanistan and Iraq, if the electorate at home got to hear the truth from what was going on, as opposed to mainly the spin from Generals to heads of organizations to government officials’ spin, then the electorate would have pressured the government into pulling out our troops years before it happened. Saving both blood and treasure.
I keep hearing over the years just how my country (the UK) and the US are the best domocracies in the world. I also keep hearing just how we all need to be the same, and have the same…no matter who we are, what colour we are, what religion we are, what sex we are…
Be the same, and have the same? I don’t quite think that’s right, no matter where we live. It’s neither human nor animal.
But what we can have…is for us all to begin at the same level, by having the same opportunities, then it’s up to us where we end, having all been given those opportunities.
So, I’m not holding my 70yr old breath for change, but remember, it’s only the people that can make that change…through the proper workings of a proper democracy, and a free and fair media.
Here’s to the decent common people shouting out loud in 2025…every decent common person everywhere deserves it.
Bob Shepherd 
I’m at 73 with the same feelings and precious little optimism for the world. Sadly, the people don’t really care about reality and what they can do about it, they’re awash with the drivel sprouted from social media, politicians, so called “influencers”, and sadly the news outlets that pander to their perceived interests. Unfortunately the people get what the people collectively deserve and it was ever thus.
A lot to think on and make our New Year resolutions, my own opinion is it’s too late. We sit back and allow our country to be sold off, foreigners have more say in how our country is run. We have allowed ourselves to be pushed to the back of the queue and it’s too late to change it. It would take a revolution and who knows that may come one day, but for now we’re being walked over. Anyway Bob you and your family have a lovely Christmas and New year
Steve