Just thoughts, not right or wrong!

I was once told that political and other views tend to become more extreme with age. Since I retired mine have done the opposite. As a young man I focused on my middle class, somewhat right wing view of the world, did not have much time for the less fortunate (it was either their own fault or bad luck, but not my problem) and considered myself correct in my views and others wrong.

Now I know that all our thoughts and views are simply a result of how we have been brought up and our life experiences. They are different to those of others, but are not right or wrong. If we had followed a different life path our views would be different to they are now, and in the future depending on what we do, see and hear they will be different again. Therefore, they cannot be right or wrong. They just are.

I now feel for the less fortunate, who have not been as lucky as I, and view the minority in the world who are well off (and I do not mean rich, although they are often the worst) to be greedy, self-interested and to be honest, many down-right unpleasant. I do not want others to think like me, or be like me and accept their views, but I do wish others would recognise that their thoughts are simply thoughts, that are not right or wrong, and should not be expressed as if they are.

Another issue is how everything in the world of "haves" seems to be blown out of proportion. I have been very guilty of this in the past, but try hard not to be now. Here is a little example. Recently a hotel burnt down in Exeter, which is unfortunate for the owners and others I am sure, but it induced an out-pouring of grief around the loss of this building from many quarters. Hang on, it is one building, no one was hurt or injured I understand. This news displaced pictures of Aleppo and Mosul from our screens. Now they are places worth a lot of thought. Towns ravaged by war, buildings destroyed a plenty, and lives lost and devastated. If any of us lived there we would perhaps be forgiven for considering the situation to be something of a tragedy. Not the loss of one building in Exeter as some seemed to believe it to be.

Brexit (I hate that word, which I gather is now in the dictionary); what that has stirred up. Latest is the three judges decision on our constitution. Now the root cause here is Mr Cameron calling a referendum, not expecting any chance of a leave result, and therefore not putting any due process in place to deal with it. I do not like the fact that three men can now make a decision about how it is handled. From what I have said above they have their views which are theirs' and theirs' alone and not right or wrong. However, our democratic constitution seems to allow this so accept it we must. By the way those of you who have already had the good sense to read my book will know I have little time for the legal profession as it is (just my view of course and not right or wrong).

I could mention the USA and their election. Oh ok I will. Only two things to ponder really. 50+ years on from Kennedy it seems that the FBI and CIA are still Republicans at heart. I hope Hilary does not use an open top car! Secondly, a good article in the New Statesman compared Trump to Kaiser Bill of Germany, and we know what happened in 1914, some would say as a result of his reign! Finally, (I know that is three) it is a bit tragic that the best the Yanks can manage is a Trump and a Clinton! And of course, as I would expect neither of whom realise that their views are their own and neither right or wrong!

Back to the less fortunate (much less fortunate). A retired American general I think he was, recently said that the solution to the wars and other issues in the Middle East is not to assist "our" chosen faction to wage war, but to get them out of the poverty that means they have very little to lose by fighting one another. How "right" he is! Money, and the lack of it (poverty) is the driver in most things bad around us. Religion, Nationalism and Tribalism also raise their heads a lot. It seems that Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Kurds, Turks, Jews all dislike each others' views of the world and wish to shed blood in the name of their thoughts. If only they realised that they are just thoughts and no more.

Mind you as, I have said many times before, we did it a long ago when we slaughtered Muslims in the name of Christ in the days of the Crusades, and of course Catholics and Protestants did it in Ireland much more recently. Remember as well, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.

Enough! I am only glad that not too late I have realised all this and am a better person for it.