Happy New Year 2022

It has been an awful year. The biggest global pandemic in a century, with millions dead.

Humanity is a species divided against itself, actively fostered by those who seek to find things which divide us, rather than those things that unite us.

They, of course, are encouraged and empowered by those who willingly seek comfort in the hands of paranoid and ever more far-fetched conspiracy theories which deny the reality of educated analysis in favour of ignorant gossip-mongering.

There has never been a year which has left me more in despair for the future of our species. I will be brutally honest, if the leukaemia or some other cause takes my life in the next 12 months, I will not be anything other than relieved.

Just this week, my Facebook account was hacked by some individual who sent out a few posts and put out a few nasty comments on the posts of others, pretending to be me.

Why?

What did it achieve? What possible pleasure could they have got from pretending to be me and putting some unpleasant or nasty messages/ comments out there? Some people just like to create and foment nastiness, division and discord. These are the people we must bring back to the centre of compassionate behaviour.

I am not religious - I do not believe in god. But I do believe in the core message of Jesus Christ: Be the best person you can, be kind, compassionate and thoughtful. If people are different to you, show them love, not hate.

I think it is the hypocrisy of so much in society which depresses me most. Just this morning, I read a post averring that the current government is fostering hate by its stance on illegal immigration, but the poster then went to to describe their hate for those in the Conservative Party. At no point did they recognise the hypocrisy of their words.

Hate is hate. It never changes. The same hate that leads people to say they hate the Tories or the Labour party is precisely the same hate that underpins racism, sexism, homophobia and all forms of bigotry and prejudice. As I have talked about previously, we have lost the ability to disagree with each other. Everything is about hating those who disagree with you and inferring that they are not allowed to hold their own opinions unless they match yours.

How on earth have we ended up like this?

Did millions not give the ultimate sacrifice so that we could have the right to hold our own opinions and discuss our differences in a polite manner?

You do not change someone's opinions (no matter how offensive you may find them) by shouting them down and denying them the right to debate. All that will achieve is to create a situation where like minded people gather together away from the bright lights of open and free debate, their views and opinions becoming ever more extreme and unhinged from reality. Far right and far left views appal me (and they are both equally destructive), but the only way to confront them is to engage in open, informed, intelligent - and respectful - debate.

We need to recognise that our opinions and beliefs, be they political, religious or anything else, are only that: Opinions and beliefs, not facts. We cannot claim "the truth" when it is only the product of our opinion.

We also need to recognise that as human beings, we are all flawed. None of us are so perfect that we are in a position to aggressively criticise others. Discussing our differences in a rational and informed manner is far more likely to bring societal harmony than shouting insults, belittling comments and puerile name-calling.

So here's my view for 2022. You are not black or white. You are not Jewish or Muslim. You are not gay or straight. You are not Tory or Labour. You are not this or that.

You are the same as me. You are a human being, just like me. And I will treat you as such. I will endeavour to be kind, thoughtful, compassionate and caring.

I won't always succeed because I am human and I am not perfect (not even close). But if you hurt or offend me, I will forgive you and I hope that you will do the same in return.

I will try to be the best person I can and however tiny its impact might be, I will do all I can to make our society a tiny bit better by being the best person I can be.

Who's with me?

Stay strong. Fight hard. Laugh lots.