Celebrate

Today I want to talk about some things I would like to celebrate.

I think that it is very easy to complain, and sometimes I do. But there is so much to celebrate and feel awed about that today that is what I want to do, so if today you have got out of bed on the wrong side and feel like a grumble go and read a newspaper and come back to this tomorrow.

These are some things that I think are absolutely magnificent about living in this world, at this time, in this place.

1)  National Insurance

If I were to be disfigured due to some dreadful misfortune and feel upset about it (as well I might) I live in a place and time where I would be helped to get reconstructive surgery or plastic surgery which is complicated and difficult: and every one in the country would chip in a bit to pay for it. We all pay a bit towards the medical service and joyfully it is not just there to mend cancer or broken legs (and how splendid even if it only did those things) – but also to make people’s lives worth living again. What a brilliant world.

2)  Tax

We all hand a bit of our money over to the Government and argue terribly about the best things to do with it. But we all still do it. We give some of our money into a big pot and the Government uses it as well as they know how, to do all sorts of things, like build roads or to make sick people better or to help people get jobs and places to live.

3). Tax and National Insurance

We make sick people better. People work hard their whole lives trying to find cures for illnesses they don’t have themselves. If that weren’t miracle enough, we think it is important even to make unhappy people happy. Think about that one. We all chip in a bit of money to help people whom we don’t know and will never meet, to be helped through sadness, crisis and depression. There might not be as much money available for this as we would like – my experience in running any budget is that there is never enough money for things which aren’t life or death – but the wonderful thing is that we think it is important enough to try.

4) Council Tax

We spend an awful lot of money on teaching children everything we possibly can to try and make sure that every single child, every one, gets the opportunity to be the very best they can manage. We worry dreadfully about those that don’t and debate hard about how we might find better ways of helping. What a lovely thing, that we care so much that we will do this, for everybody’s children.

7). Tax, Council Tax and National Insurance.

We help people put money away for their old age when they can’t support themselves and also we put money towards them when they don’t manage to save enough of their own. As far as we can, we make sure absolutely nobody starves. We argue about the best ways to do it, and are collectively shocked and appalled by our failures: but we are trying. We are all agreed that nobody in our country should be hungry, or go without an education, and we try hard to make it happen. Even more astounding than that,  we think it is really important that amazing riches like libraries and swimming pools are available for everybody.

8).    Tax and Council Tax.

We teach people to put fires out and chip in to buy some fire-putting-out machinery for every town so that if somebody has a dreadful accident we can all have a bit of a hand in rescuing them. Some people are so incredibly brave that they will walk into a burning building to rescue a stranger: and all the rest of us contribute a bit of money to buy the best possible equipment that we can afford to try and help. Some people make their life’s work reminding everybody to drive safely, and keeping us all safe from reckless youths and people who can’t help but drink, others get stabbed or shot protecting the peaceful from the damaged, the angry, and the bitter. We can’t decide how we can best stop people from reaching this terrible point of violent madness: but we are all agreed that we need to try.

We are trying. The most surprising thing is that we all care enough to argue really hard about it. Every one of us will spend hours and hours of our lives talking and discussing and disagreeing and thinking, call it ‘politics’ if you like: but what we are doing is trying to work out the best way to teach children, heal the sick and help the misfortunate and make the world a good place for everybody.

Tax, Council Tax and National Insurance. Fantastic stuff. What a wonderful world.

Today I want to celebrate the caring and the trying, because I am awed and grateful to live in this generous, supportive, benevolent world. The people with whom I share it, and who all chip in their bit are all heroes. Thank you all.