But what happens when goodwill is lost?

 



This is my column script published in the Herald Express 18th April 2013.

 Sometimes things slip quietly away and you don’t really notice until something that you expect to happen doesn’t! The nature of the missing ‘thing’ too often is almost intangible. That is the problem with things that we too easily take for granted.

These are curious times and much is being asked of people as the throttlehold of economic hardship grips ever tighter. We hear on a daily basis of job losses, of folk being bounced from employment and of the increasing number of people looking for work. Those that still have jobs in a workplace being ‘downsized’ tend to have a common wide-eyed look about them.

I’ve always believed that we should work toward a greater good and do whatever we can to make the world a better place. That process inevitably brings with it a curious commodity. What is that commodity? Why, it is goodwill. Goodwill, in my opinion, is a sort of social cement that often holds the fabric of a society together.

In times of organisational stress it seems to me that even when the tension of administration is tightly stretched the goodwill of that community tends to keep things going. You don’t have to look far to evidence this. NHS funding cuts place ridiculous pressure upon nursing staff, for example, yet their goodwill keeps the unwell safe. Youth workers struggle on, despite draconian funding cuts, to provide a service that offers a platform for the disadvantaged and marginalised. Exhausted care workers labour a little longer voluntarily because they can’t leave without making an old lady comfortable for the night.

Things are far from easy and as the fund holders handle reduced budgets the consequence is an increasing reliance upon goodwill. But what happens when goodwill is lost? Suddenly the social cement that was holding the structure together crumbles into dust. Then we are all in trouble. I’ve written before about community cracks and it seems to me that the loss of goodwill may be something that is slipping into the widening gaps.

One example, for me, of a community crack is the withdrawal of funding by Torbay Council from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE is its new corporate name – for it has become, in my opinion, a little corporate). I’ve always seen the Award as a socially cohesive activity and have been active since 1963! Last year Torbay Council decided that funding cuts meant that they could act as the coordinating agent which rather cut everyone adrift for a while. A little funding at the new Parkfield Centre provided a hub for those not part of uniformed services or an educational establishment participate. But now that funding has gone. The goodwill of many still provides a service but for how long?

You see we have a growing number of young folk who are not in education, employment or training. They are the ones who will benefit from support but that platform cannot simply be provided by goodwill. My worry is that like the morning mist on a warm summers day goodwill will suddenly evaporate. In all likelihood we will not even notice its passing until we reach out for the helping hand that isn’t there anymore.

Hmm. Well here’s something to think about. Have you heard the story about the frog in a pan of cold water? He’s swimming happily around without a care in the world only slightly aware that the water is warming. It not until the water is hot and sapped his energy that he discovers that he hasn’t the strength the hop out of the pan!

You may remember that I was jumping up and down with excitement when the new development for our young people opened at Parkfield in Paignton. My concern at the time was that although millions had been spent on the wonderful facility that perhaps insufficient thought had been given into funding the infrastructure. The recent financial battering at Torbay Council has reduced the number of staff working with young people and one consequence, as I say, is the loss of funding for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Goodwill will keep things going for a while but as the numbers of young people becoming disillusioned with this changing world I think that we all need to pay more attention.

We can shape the future but that very much requires an understanding of the present. We must engage as a community and not ignore the increasing water temperature!

Keep the smile.

 

Spring sunshine is the very best

SPRING! I have always loved this time of year for all sorts of reasons. The spring Equinox signals the arrival of longer days, hopefully warmer days and new life.
Easter has a very special place in both the religious and the secular worlds as a time of celebration.

For Christians, it is the very cornerstone of belief and for the less religious it is a time for seeking the Easter Bunny with an almost endless supply of chocolate goodies.
As I write this column the sun is streaming through my study window and a cobalt blue sky covers the English Riviera.

It really is a stunning day after many months of mostly dismal damp weather.
Bright sunshine is without doubt a much needed tonic and immediately encourages reluctant bulbs to spring from the 'terra firma' at long last.

For me, the Easter period has always been an atmospheric and quite magical time.
It is an interesting fact that Easter weekend appears to drift around the calendar confusing the unsuspecting. Do you know why the date changes? Well, curiously it is actually subject to heavenly movements! Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full Moon after the spring Equinox. How magical is that? Of course, there are many that would like to see Easter Sunday as a fixed date but it seems to me that would take away from that magic.

I think that in a 'previous life' I might have been a grizzly bear because I have always found the winter months hard on the mind and suspect that may be true for many.
Summer sun lifting over Torbay really is a tonic and I would recommend finding the time to sit near the sea one early morning on a sunny day and watch to sun lift from the distant horizon.
It really is the most breathtaking experience and will make you tingle from head to toe.
Sunset over Dartmoor viewed from Marldon is also equally therapeutic. All we can truly know is this exact moment, of course, and sunshine can be such a tonic if you allow a moment of quiet reflection as it washes over you. The past is the past. It has gone and whatever happened cannot be changed.
Many great writers talk about things past and two immediately come to mind.
The first is Nikos Kazantzakis (Zorba the Greek) who said something about only when the time is past that we realise how happy we were. The other is L P Hartley (The Go Between) who made the comment about the past being a foreign country and that they do things differently there!

But it is a fact that we cannot change the past.

The future, as the famous song goes, is not ours to see and so all we can do is make the very best of the here and now! The other evening I was running an evening class for folk who want to develop the skills to help others. The room we were in faces toward the west and looks out over the distant hills on the edge of the Dart. For a little while the setting sun washed the room in the most wonderful reddish golden light and it sent a lovely shiver through us all. For a moment we were filled with the same spirit. Spring sunshine! It has to be the very best.

These are hard times for so many and yet there is so much to celebrate. You see there is a propensity locally to talk things down or to spin the negative and the trouble is that it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy! The public spats between our political elite tend to turn folk off which isn't helpful.
Too often the consequence of discord is that good people simply walk away and that has to be a loss for all of us.

It would be wonderful, as the sun lifts higher in the sky, to feel that we all have common purpose is lifting the energy level throughout the community. Perhaps a good start would be simply to stand on a harbour wall in the early light and let the first rays of sunshine wash over you. Let the light lift your spirit and fill you with new purpose and a desire to work for the greater good.

This is your community, your time, your life and in the words of singer songwriter Tom Paxton: "My own life is all I can hope to control so let my life be lived for the good of my soul!"

Not a bad philosophy, in my opinion.

Keep the smile.