Just a few kind acts can transform society
The Economic Voice points me to this article from the Beeb:
Villagers in Solva in Pembrokeshire are enjoying a Merry Christmas, though not quite as merry as their slightly eccentric benefactor may have envisaged.
Margaret Allan left the seaside community about £400,000 in her will, as a thank you for the welcome she received when she moved there in the 1970s.
The 90-year-old also set aside £5,000 for the local luncheon club, Clwb Solfach, to spend on Christmas drinks. As there are a couple of dozen regular members of the club, that would have been some drinks celebration.
So, club leader, Jane Pascoe, made a few amendments.
Jane, who was also an executor of the will, organised a special Christmas meal (including drinks) for the members, along with past and present helpers. And there’s still plenty of money left over.
The lady was described in the article as “eccentric”. Leaving one’s money to others does seem eccentric in this day and age although we’d approve of the action. What would we do? The Litte Drummer Boy comes up with the answer that that is all he has to offer; we offer what we can and only we know if we could have given more.
It’s one thing to believe it and another to put it into practice but there is a theory that if we look after others, our Maker will look after us. There might be more to this than meets the eye. If enough people were to adopt that idea, then there is at once a feeling of wellbeing, a community spirit fostered [think how these selfless acts stick in the mind long after the acts themselves] and a tendency to think twice before being a bit unreasonable in our own wants.
To an extent, I see that here where I live, in the really quite entrenched habit of people opening and holding open doors for others. I was surprised at first to have a door held open for me but after some time I saw that it was no one-off. All these little things become cumulative and the sight, the other day, of what looked to me to be an ASBO saying to my Indian shopkeeper, “Packet of [whatever cigarettes], David,” was quite a shock, given what happens in the rest of the country, especially the big cities.
IMHO, it is possible to have something like this running in a community and it’s one reason I’m loathe to leave this area.
Filed under: Society & human issues
If enough people tried it, it would spread and become the norm and this country would be a lot better for it.
Yes – that’s one very good way to do it, and one I’ve determined on myself. Win the culture wars by fighting the culture wars and you can do it by doing the right thing.