OPTIMISM AND HOPE RETURNS
In the previous article (6th June) the Welsh poet Idris Davies’ lament, The Bells of Rhymney, later popularised as a protest song by Pete Seeger were shown to be prescient to the global situation today.
Once again it is Pete Seeger who provides the inspiration for this piece. In 1959 he recorded ‘Turn!, Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season) - later to become an international hit for The Bryds in 1965. The lyrics (except for the title and the last two lines) consist of the first eight verses of the third chapter of the biblical Book of Eccleasiastes which suggests there being a time and place for all things. In 1999, Seeger arranged for 45% of all the songwriting royalties to to donated to charity. Throughout its sixty year history the song’s plea for peace, tolerance and hope after darkness has constantly resonated with changing global crisis - and never more so that today especially:
“To everything, there is a season
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to refrain from embracing, a time you may embrace.”
There are now many signs of recovery of tourism around the world from New Zealand to Slovenia (the feature of the next article), Croatia to Denmark and to the small green shoots of hope in Wales and Ireland.
Innovation and creative thinking prevails. Hybrid solutions are emerging from hybrid thinkers all over the place. New business models based on re-set metrics of success with new types of collaborations and partnerships flourishing. Re-thinking tourism is vitally important.
And, everywhere there are many small celebrations happening that lift the spirits and breath fresh life, interest and momentum driving us forward in a positive frame of mind.
Here are two such highlights to lift us from the gloom - they might appear as small gestures in a global context but their symbolism is indicative of the the doves that are now being released. In the first case one of the finest, classiest, cricket batsman of the past 60 years, the wonderfully modest Alan Jones MBE finally received his England cap at the age of 81. It is a long story of poor treatment of a prodigious batsman who scored over 1,000 runs in 23 consecutive seasons for his beloved Glamorganshire County Cricket Club. Llongyfarchiadau Alan!!! For the full story you can read is biography ‘Hooked on Opening’ by Gomer Press.
The other example to make you want to pop a bottle of sparking wine is the news yesterday that The Dawes Twine Works (see blog about the Lessons from the Cokers) has been voted by the National Heritage Lottery Fund in the UK as one of the best heritage projects in the 25 years since the Heritage Lottery began supporting projects in the UK. Well done to all concerned.
Whilst we can tip the cap in recognition of the re-emergence of tourism and these celebratory moments England and the USA, together with a number of other countries, are suffering as a result of impoverished leadership, poor decision making and uber-arrogance. In a excoriating, no holds, new book, ‘The Covid-19 Catastrophe: What’s Gone Wrong and How to Stop it Happening Again’ the former doctor and Editor of the hugely influential medical journal The Lancet lambasts the way the UK Prime Minister (Boris Johnson) has missed opportunities and applied appalling misjudgements. He writes that the UK’s response was ‘glaringly unprepared revealing a broken system of obsequious politico-scientific complicity.’
As the UK nears 50,000 deaths the lack of humility, the sheer absence of any understanding of the implications of their inadequacies as leaders is shockingly obvious. Big questions must be asked of the UK Government’s approach to COVID-19 and we hope there are enough investigative journalists willing to pick up this challenge.
