On Terrorism...

R. Uncle Melvyn?

M. Mm?

R. What do you think about Terrorism?

M. Beware of -isms and -ists.

R. What?

M. (Puts his book down) How does anything turn into an -ism?

R. Don’t ask me. Does it matter?

M. Powerful people can insult people they don’t like by granting them an -ism.

R. What’s that got to do with terrorists who blow people up because of their faith?

M. Take someone like Jomo Kenyatta….

R. Who?

M. Jomo Kenyatta. We chucked him in gaol because he was head of the Mau-Mau who were trying to throw us Brits out of Kenya as our Empire was shrinking.


R. Then what?

M. We let him out and he was elected President.

R. What’s that got to do with -isms and -ists?

M. We called him a terrorist. That’s what he was to us.

R. But what about all the other-isms: Communism, Socialism, Consumerism etc:

M. There are a bit different, as they all claim to adhere to a common ideology. Sort of.

R. What’s an ideology?

M. A system of beliefs. If we organise things this way the world will be wonderful.
Utopianism. That’s an -ism for you: .

R. But what about blowing up innocent women and children in a crowded market? Terrorists do that.

M. Horrible. It should be stamped out by force if necessary. But is it any worse than being collateral damage from a Cruise missile? Terror is a cheap way of fighting a war if you don’t have the resources.

R. You sound as if you support the terrorists!

M. I’m against all fighting and killing..

R. Even killing to stop killing?

M. I give up! Lets have a mug of tea.

R. And a marmalade toastie, please.

ON GREEN-NESS

Rachael and Melvyn 9.
On GREEN-NESS

R. Uncle Melvyn....


M. Mm?

R. There’s so much green-ness around; trees, grass, everything. It’s weird..

M. Hildegard of Bingen thought green-ness was fertility, justice and even life itself.

R. Who?

M. Hildegard. One of my favourites. She ran a nunnery on the Rhine about a thousand years ago. She was a visionary and a writer. She composed wonderful songs too.

R. And she thought green-ness was life…. I suppose animals eat green stuff, and we eat animals to keep alive. Unless we are vegetarians. Perhaps she had a point. But I don’t expect she knew much about chlorophyll.

M. Nor do I for that matter. Tell me about it. It’s a long time since I did any Botany.

R. Chlorophyll in plants turns carbon dioxide, water and sunlight into sugar and oxygen. Apparently there wasn't any oxygen on earth 'till chlorophyll came along.

M. Well, well. Fancy that. Good system, isn't it?

R. Lucky for us.

M. Do you think it all came about by chance?

R. Dunno.

M. Mind you, it’s funny that it’s called chlorophyll which means green-lover I believe. It seems to me that in fact green isn't much use.

R. What?

M. It's what the plants chuck out when they've sucked out the red light they really like.

R. Mm. Sounds like Hildegard was wrong. Maybe she was wrong about fertility too. Our teacher says you get the best wild flowers where it's not so fertile.

M. How’s that?

R. She says that where there's plenty of fertility about the boring, greedy grasses bully and smother the wild flowers.

M. Just like boring, greedy people. But we don’t generally eat wild flowers and more fertility means more food.

R Mmm. Food. Any chance of a marmalade toastie and a mug of tea.?

HATE

RACHAEL AND MELVYN 8.
on Hate

R. Uncle Melvyn?

M. Mm?

R. Why do people hate each other so much?

M. Which people? Some people love each other.

R. Jews and Arabs; Fascists and Communists; Shia and Sunni Moslems; Hutus and Tutsis; Catholics and Protestants for a start. Even some Mums and Dads and brothers and sisters.

M. That's quite a bagful! I suppose Christians would say that it demonstrates the fallen nature of mankind, and only Christianity could save them.

R. But Catholics and Protestants both call themselves Christians.

M. Most of them get on pretty well.

R. Not in Northern Ireland they didn't! And Shias and Sunnis are both Muslims. And they are killing each other in Iraq.

M. Maybe there are other factors.

R. Such as?

M. Competition for resources: Water, Food, Power, Money, Oil, Minerals....

R. What else?

M. Pride, Revenge, Utopian dreams, Fear, Laziness...

R. Laziness??

M. It's easier to blame, and therefore hate, others than to try and sort yourself out. Or your own society for that matter...

R. Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but not the beam in thine own?

M. Exactly. Well remembered!

R. It stuck in my mind.

M. Your Jesus said it needed effort to do that. The effort of love.

R. He's not my Jesus! I believe in the Big Bang!

M. Oh yes; I forgot.... Anyway, He was right.

R. So what about all those other factors?

M. They all lead to power. And power corrupts. The one thing power cannot abide is losing the advantages it brings.

R. What advantages?

M. Freedom, feeling superior to others, self-indulgence....

R. Pleasure in bashing up people who are weaker or different....

M. Persistent infantile behaviour....

R. Things are pretty awful, aren't they?

M. Nothing that wont be cured by a marmalade toastie and a mug of tea.
　

(Logo)
Rachael and Melvyn 7.
On
GOODNESS
　
R. Uncle Melvyn?
M. Mm?
R. Do you think there’s any point in trying to be good?
M. Of course. It makes other people happy.
R. But what if they take advantage; why should they be happy at my expense?
M. Miserable girl! If you’re nice to people, they are usually nice to you, and that’s nicer for everyone.
R. I hate nice! Yuk!
M. OK. It avoids unpleasant conflict.
R. So it’s good to give in, even if you’re right and they are wrong?
M. I never said that!
R. Let might and bullying win!
M. It’s the way of the world. Hate never goes away. Love and forgiveness are too hard for some people.
R. You can’t love everybody! Don’t we need an enemy to get us to love each other?
M. You’ve been reading some cheap psychology. It seems to me that it’s Power, Power, Power that rules the world.
R. You old cynic. Or is it sceptic?
M. OK. Here’s an example from nearer home. Who sets the prices; the supermarket or the farmers?
R. Don’t they work them out together?
M. Yes, but the supermarkets have the greater power. They can find other suppliers if the farmers don’t like it.
R. But they make cheap safe food for you and me.
M. Cheap for you and me, at a cost to the farmers.
R. Same with fashionable T shirts and Trainers?
M. Yes indeed. Sweat shops in the third world.
R. So what can be done about it?
M. Difficult. Regulation with teeth from the UN perhaps? You could do something. You could start by only buying Fair Trade goods.
R. And helping the underdogs?
M. And helping any underdogs. That’s where goodness starts.
R. Marmalade! That’s where goodness really starts if you ask me. Let’s have some marmalade toasties!.
M. OK. I’ll put the kettle on.

Goodness