Category: Thoughts
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On entitlement.
I always had an issue with the word ‘deserve’ in relation to my own needs and wants, but I came to realise that I was conflating it with ‘entitled’. Witnessing a sense of entitlement – both within myself and others – was the actual source of my unease. Everyone deserves love, respect, access to healthy,…
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On generational differences.
All too often we will explain away the behaviour of an older generation by attributing it to a generational difference. But to do so is to perceive the individual in question as a passive victim in the face of cultural forces, without any agency to make their own choices and cultivate their own thoughts and…
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On Society and Storytelling.
Everything in the past is a memory – a story woven from elements of objective truth, and subjective experience and interpretation. These stories echo through time for generations – even if not a single word is uttered or written about what unfolded. Stories were created to make sense of the world and helped provide an…
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On isolation.
Isolation is a state of mind. It is an interpretation of our reality – a story we tell ourselves. We can be in a romantic relationship and living in a densely populated, vibrant metropolitan city surrounded by people we call friends, and still feel incredibly alone and isolated. Conversely, we can be wandering on our…
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When the wind blows.
“The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm.” ― Confucius While I think this quote captures with beautiful simplicity our need to reflect on what it means to be strong, I believe there is a time for being the green reed, and a time…
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Being human.
We are all children existing within ever-ageing bodies. Who we are now has been formed and moulded by the experiences of our childhood. Those experiences dictate how we act and function as an adult. Whether we like it or not, no matter what age we are, our thoughts and actions are heavily influenced by what…
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Business as usual.
Colonisation did not end with the fall of empires – it is very much alive, and more pervasive, destructive and exploitative than ever before. The colonisation of land and communities across the globe may no longer be directly carried out by the political or ruling classes of foreign states, but instead by proxy through foreign-owned…
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Destiny of Nations.
Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote in his book ‘The Physiology of Taste’ (1825), reputed to be one of the most famous books on food ever written, that ”The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they feed themselves.” This simple statement brilliantly captures the importance of our food system, and the impact of how we…
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Smoke and Mirrors.
There has been an increased awareness in the UK about plastic waste – the unnecessary use of single-use plastics, plastic straws and plastic bottles in particular. But the British public tend to be easily distracted – manipulated even – by big business, the media and politicians. These news-generators all know the half-life of a particular…
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Why the UN SDGs are doomed to fail.
In 2015 the member states of the UN decided to create the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which they see as “a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity.” They state that eradicating poverty “is the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.” But this simply isn’t true! Anthropogenic climate change,…