Sometimes I find it hard to get out of bed in the morning. And here I am in beautiful mid-Wales, nestling amongst hills with no noise to disturb me and only the bees out the front and the occasional hiker to give movement to the scene. And yet it is hard to find any hope. Why? Well, it’s everything really.
First, there’s the fact that every morning when I open the door to let the dogs out, it’s mild. Again. I mean, here were are, it’s nearly November and there is still no frost. It’s not even slightly cold; in fact right now it’s positively warm – and forecasters are saying if we don’t sort out global warming soon we may not be able to. I want to enjoy the weather but my enjoyment is tinged with guilt and fear. Climate change is here, right now – and what are our politicians doing about it? Planning a third runway at Heathrow, that’s what. I despair: I grew up under the flight-path at Heathrow and I know how horrible it is for those living around the airport. But it seems there is no more will to care about them than there is to tackle climate change. After all, that would ‘hurt business’, and we wouldn’t want that, would we?
So much for the planet; then there’s the state of the world. There’s a constant drip of horror-stories from Syria and territories where IS hold sway (the latest thing I saw – and decided not to click on – was an article about women taken by IS as sex-slaves.) Then, closer to home but related to this is the refugee debacle and of course this all spills into the national news and the nastiness in the air post-Brexit, with people targeting anyone who looks vaguely Muslim or has the temerity not to speak English in a public place. It’s all unutterably horrid, and I don’t know what can be done about it.
But if it’s hard for me in a beautiful village in Wales, what must it be like for unaccompanied minors in Calais or women in IS territories or, come to that, people living in the doomed village of Harmondsworth? What do I have to worry about?
I worry about them, that’s what. And I worry about all the rest. Because there’s a state of things and I don’t know what can be done about it.
What CAN be done about it? Answers on a postcard please.
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 