The moment we lose sight of the fact we must care for each other the world becomes a darker place.

My column in the Herald Express 15th May 2014

Sir David Attenborough was eighty-eight last week and is still a vibrant role model for so many, including me. Something that he said a while ago made me reflect when I noticed his birthday mentioned in the paper. He said “We are a plague on the Earth. Either we limit population growth or the natural world will do it for us.” At the time his words sent a shiver through my spirit and I think that it still does today.

We hear so much about saving the Planet and the aspiration to make our world a safer place and yet the evidence of that happening is a little too scarce, or so it seems to me. The global stuff is hard ask when you look at the fractured communities, particularly when socio-political events and religious dogma seem to harden hearts. So what difference can we make? Philosophers and thinkers throughout history have wrestled with the growth of population and the nature of community.

Population growth is something that we must think about but of course that has huge implications socially, politically and religiously. What we can do something about immediately is the nature of our community and the way in which we look after each other. American psychologist Carl Rogers talks about ‘prizing’ the individual and that is, in my opinion, so important. The moment that we lose sight of the fact that we must care for each other the world becomes a darker place. That should be a core value in the platform we are building in the next generation.

In these restless times it seems to me that one major factor in developing a vibrant community is the provision of meaningful employment. Being able to support yourself and those around you is so important and builds self-esteem. We all may have particular ‘wants’ it is the ‘needs’ that will cause stress. A chap called Maslow many years ago produced a little triangular model called The Hierarchy of Needs which explained this nicely. At the bottom of his triangle you will find the essential building blocks of life; those things that allow you to live such as food, shelter et cetera. Having some sort of meaningful income allows latitude for the ‘wants’ but being able to cover the core ‘needs’ is absolutely vital.

With all that in mind I was particularly captivated by a recently released song by the late Johnny Cash. Many of the lyrics used by Johnny Cash carry carefully constructed social observations about the way we treat each other and of the consequences of social inequality. Those of you that take the trouble to read what I write will know that youth unemployment worries me tremendously. The Johnny Cash song can be found, with the lyrics on You Tube and is called ‘Out Among the Stars’ and the words talk about a boy who can’t find a job. It’s worth finding the time to listen to the words and meditate on how that might one day impact upon our own community.

Something that I have been working on recently is the establishment of small locally based socially focused business developments. I’m not alone of course and as huge numbers of public sector jobs go many of those people now look at starting their own business. These new start-ups are quite often registered as Community Interest Companies and seem very exciting. Whilst they quite often attract grant funding they must also have a robust business model.

One local community based organisation is Agatha’s Closet (part of Future Shores) which is a project aiming to inspire and give new skills to local people of all ages based around fashion. They now have a retail shop and workshops in Hyde Road Paignton. Do drop in and have a look at this exciting project and have a chat with Aly Lazel.

There is support from within our community for many of these new and exciting socially conscious groups. I happened to spend an evening with some very interesting folk recently. They under the banner Creative Thinking Torbay and their mission to provide a ‘think-tank’ for charity based groups. Creative Thinking Torbay is championed by Bare Foot Thinking guru Peter Redstone and includes Barry Cole from the Torbay Business Forum and the energetic Angela George who now chairs the Torbay branch of the Federation of Small Businesses. They are ‘lateral thinkers’ and invite a guest local organisation to spend two hours with them working through opportunities. It really is very good and I can certainly recommend the experience.

I guess what I am saying is that we really are all in this together and if we want to make a difference then hold out a friendly hand to those around you. In the words of Tom Paxton from his song Peace Will Come “Oh my own life is all I can hope to control. Oh let it be lived for the good of my soul.”

Keep the smile!