Why can't people be more caring?

It was in the July of 1984, when I was walking back onto the fairground at Caversham with a pile of records I'd just bought from 'Pop Records' in Reading, that, after taking a look at what I'd bought, Georgie Traylen said that I was born too late. He felt that I should have been born 20 years earlier. The records I'd bought had all been made in the late 50s and 60s. He reckoned that I was an old man in a young man's body. And I think he may have been right.

A couple of nights ago I was watching something on the television and someone said that if you have a yearning for nostalgia, you are inherently sad. Again, I think the speaker may have been right.

I make no bones about the fact that I'm a nostalgic man. I'm also one that feels at odds with the world I'm surrounded by.

A world in which people won’t stay at home in a lockdown because they don’t want to. Where people don’t care about the greater good. Where they’re so selfish they only care about themselves.

And where, whilst the first lockdown was on, were rioting on the streets, taking their kids to the beach and then moaning when it was time to take them back to school. Were going to parties and meeting up with friends.

And not only that, even before the nastiness was coming to the fore. Our world becoming more spiteful.

We have a world in which politicians are wished dead. Where Vegan extremists (for crying out loud, even the name make me grimace) target meat-eaters. Where people stabbing each other on the streets is deemed as part of life living in a major city.

Where liberal parents no longer keep their children in check and don't expect them to behave with respect for others. Where even worse, they have children and decide that they aren't a boy or a girl, they're gender-neutral.

Seriously, what kind of world are we leaving to children of the future?

I could cite many more examples of things that are happening today that make me yearn for a time when things such as respect, discipline, caring and so on were more to the forefront.

Perhaps I'm naive. Perhaps the world in which I grew up listening to the songs of innocent love, has coloured my vision along the way.

Perhaps I'm just sick of the nastiness and hatred that spreads across the planet.

My mum and dad always taught me to be nice to people, to always treat people as I'd like to be treated. To see the best in people.

Don't get me wrong, I've got a mouth on me and can be scathing at times. If I'm asked a question, I've been known to say exactly what I think and it's not always complimentary. But at the same time, I'm not malicious, but I won't lie and blow smoke up your backside either.

I'll rant and I'll moan about things. That's me.

But I honestly can't think of a time when I've been downright nasty to someone.

So yes, I'm probably sad at the way the world is going. Perhaps that's why I look back at times gone by with rose-tinted glasses. Because it seemed a much simpler time for me. It may not have been, but that's how it seemed.

However, don't think that because I'm sad at how things are going in the world, or that I'm unhappy because I'm not. Of course, things could be better as they could be for anyone.

But I've had a wake-up call in my health and am happy to be here with a future still to look forward to.

 I just wish that people could be nicer to each other though.

 Have a great day!

 

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It's not about your looks...

 

I was reading something earlier where this pretty late-teenage girl was asking whether people thought she was ugly. As she thought she was.

When will people learn that ugly isn't really about looks? Looks are superficial.

I've known some gorgeous looking girls whose whole demeanour made me want to stay as far away from them as possible.

And I've known some good looking men who look in the mirror and think they're wonderful and then treat people as though they're nothing compared to them.

Ugliness to me comes from the inside. It's the way you treat people. It's the way you think. It's what comes out of your mouth. It's the comments you make on social media.

But here's the thing, it works exactly the same in the other direction. You don't need to see what someone's looks are like to know if they are good people. You see it in their actions and their interactions.

I've said this before; when I see you, I don't see how good looking you are. I don't see what colour you are. Or your religion either.

What I see is whether you're a nice person or not. I notice whether you speak well of others, whether you're respectful of others. Whether you take advantage of people. I watch your actions.

I've noticed that my gut decides what kind of person you are very quickly. And it's usually right.

I see tons of hatred and wonder why you'd want to carry that around with you. I don't even hate the person who wronged me the most in my life. As far as I'm concerned, he's dead to me. I see him once in a while at some event, but I just spend time with people who I like and carry on as I would if he weren't there.

When I thought I was going to die almost 4 years ago, it brought to my mind that hatred isn't important. What's important aren't the things that you have, It's the people you care about.

And it's most certainly not about how good looking you are or not.

So to that girl who's worried about whether she's ugly or not, I say don't worry about it. Pay more attention to whether you have a good soul. To whether you are kind to people. To whether you're willing to help people who need it. And whether you care.

Because at the end of the day, who you are as a person will tell most of us whether you're ugly or not, not whether you have unblemished skin and the face of an angel.

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