Reasons to be Cheerful this Week
There is much to be cheerful about this week, once, that is, that you accept that you and not the government can create the change you want.
First, then, learn to ignore the government; unless you want to become an MP (and if you’re reading this, I urge you to give it a go because I know that any friend of this website is a good person) you are not going to affect any change on a grand scale; that’s just a fact.
Perhaps we should learn that the only way that we can control what the government do/don’t do is through our reaction to events. And that, by reacting positively to bad things we can make up for the fact that there might be idiots at the wheel from time to time.
And I believe that by acting locally, on a micro scale, we can make a difference. We have the power! The people can truly make a difference. From where we sit, we can’t affect global decisions and events, but we can improve the lives of those around us and, in turn, this will enrich our own lives in quite dramatic and beautiful ways.
When this whole sorry chapter in our national history ends we can continue to say ‘hello’ to neighbours we barely knew before, we can keep community WhatsApp groups going, we can shop locally, we can take in deliveries for people down the street, we can give flowers to an elderly person in our village or donate a percentage of what we earn to local, community charities.
This is the change; local, not global. Be optimistic, be positive, be happy, because actions like these will enrich your life deeply; truly, these are the things that matter. This is a fine way of fighting back and its very much in your gift. Love, kindness, a smile, a wave, a generous comment; these matter more than anything and they will spread through your life and community like a benevolent virus.
Second, join Tim’s Twitter Listening Parties. In case you’ve missed these, every day during lockdown (and often several times a day) Tim Burgess hosts a listening party via twitter. Tim is a singer/songwriter/author/unbelievably positive spirit and now an internet sensation. His idea is simple in execution; at the allotted hour you start to play a classic record and listen along at home with thousands of others, while anyone, the artist included, tweets memories and observations about the record. If that sounds boring and weird, it isn’t; it’s a powerfully nostalgic and cathartic experience and weirdly similar to going to see a band live.
I’ve joined four parties recently, for the first albums by Aztec Camera, The Streets, The Specials and Dexys Midnight Runners. I absolutely love all of these records and the experience has been at once joyful and sad; for gut-wrenchingly beautiful music and for times past. At the end of each party the ‘guests’ are sated and often, it seems, the artists are overwhelmed. One said that it was like being in the audience for their own show.
The best bit has been that I have joined in with two of these with my youngest child, Felix, who is 19. We both have a powerful love for The Streets and Aztec Camera and the shared experience was, perhaps surprisingly, as powerful as seeing the artists live. A friend with a shared love of Aztec Camera texted to me after that party; he wrote, simply, SIGH. That said it all.
Third, skipping is back. Who’d have thought it? Well, not me. I imagined that along with hopscotch, skipping was a minority pastime. But everyone is skipping again and sales of skipping ropes have soared. For week or two it was impossible to buy one. It’s an entirely logical thing, of course; people need to exercise and are consigned to a small space and skipping is fantastic exercise. But, still, you’d have been almost supernaturally foresighted to predict this one.
Some of my children are brilliant at skipping. One can go for the entire time I am on a run (yes, I can run for longer than five minutes). I had to ask them not to do it indoors because I feared that the house might collapse; seriously. Now they go for it outside. I have never been able to skip. Coordination is not my key skill by any stretch, and I think about three jumps is my record. But it’s a lovely thing to watch; curiously mesmerising and the best bit is that I don’t have to do it.
Charlie Gladstone