A Gentle Invitation to a Revolution

A GENTLE REVOLUTION?

Here is, perhaps, the gentlest invitation to revolution that you're likely to see or hear.

A gold-coloured postcard came through the postbox today. It boldly declared, as if it were good news, that property prices had increased by 11% (and even more in some areas of Dorset). The call to action was to find out how much your property could now be worth.

At the same time, I'd reached a decision-point with my Apple computer. It had failed to run my most important software because I'd resolutely stuck with the old Operating System. The reason I'd refused to change was that I have a Mind Mapping programme that is no longer made nor supported. A new Operating System would mean the loss of this wonderful programme. However, being able to edit videos in the way I expect to be able to is more important, thus I took the risk.

The property price postcard from Domvs was, in my opinion, far from good news. An 11% increase in property prices pushes out more and more people from the hope of ever being able to have the stability and security of owning their own home. Rents, of course, are mercilessly high here in Dorset.

When we are comfortable, it is an act of insanity (or nobility) to challenge the status quo - to rock the boat. Britain is, in all likelihood, too comfortable a Society to have revolution. There are too many people with too much to lose. Let's not assume, though, that those who 'have not' will be quiet and compliant forever. We who do not have may have as much hope of provoking successful moral change as we do of ever owning our own homes but as the pressure increases and the gulf between the haves and have-nots increases, something will happen.

Like my computer, we need an upgraded (not updated) Operating System for 'Great' Britain. We need an Operating System that brings hope. The consequences are that we may lose some of the old ways (like my old Mind Mapping programme) that we love and depend upon.

Yesterday, we had an excellent message at church on being 'salt' - standing up for something when Society is in the wrong. After the service, I was chatting with some friends about what that saltiness would change. Today, the golden postcard arrived and I realised that Society has to change. We need new ways of building and buying homes - biophilic ways (i.e., in harmony with Nature and the environment. See https://www.biophilicdesign.net)

We need a Society that encourages realistic hope for the future, a Society where there is a home (one home) for every 'unit' whether that unit be a single person or a family. And we need a Society where Food Banks become a quaint and puzzling memory like rationing in the 1950s. Otherwise, to misquote Scripture, the ones who have will get more given to them, and those who have not will lose even what they think they have.

George Bernard Shaw said, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the unreasonable man."

I would say, "The person who is comfortable adapts themself to the world; the uncomfortable person persists in trying to adapt the world the themself. Therefore, all progress depends upon the uncomfortable man, woman, or child who will take action."

Perhaps we will look back and see that Domvs has delivered the postcard that sparked a revolution...