TALK WECOMEONE

I was sitting at my desk thinking about what to write in my recent essay when I stumbled across an idea… what actually makes us unique? So I found the nearest search engine on the internet and typed in the question ‘what makes us unique?’. I came across a variety of findings that possibly shape our lives but nothing ironically that demonstrated uniqueness. The most identifiable areas were work which could technically apply to someone but are there any unique 9-5 jobs out there? Different institutions also appeared such as education but again this tends to remind me of a conveyor belt rather than something unique.

I tried a different search topic and changed the ‘us’ to ‘you’ so it read out ‘what makes you unique’. This enlightened me alot more as various of links to quotations appeared. The meaning of the word ‘unique’ may be slightly different in the dictionary but possibly the true meaning of this word is a combination of talents, interests and ideas that makes someone stand out in the world. It is your expressions, your views that matter and how you put your strengths into action.

Instead of trying to fit in and not be noticed, magnifying your uniqueness allows you to express yourself while providing variety and greater perspectives on various things.  

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening, that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is UNIQUE. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost.

                                                Martha Graham

Heres something that will get you thinking about the continuing divide in society.

The figures come from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) dating back to 1999.

Did you know that the richest fifth of the world population has 74 times the income of the poorest fifth. That is a massive gap between the richer and poorer parts of our world.

The richest fifth had 86% of world GDP (basically all the goods and services on record as produced by the country’s economy in a year), however the bottom fifth had just 1% in comparison.

The top 3 billionaires in the world own in excess of the combined wealth of the 49 least developed countries and their 600 million people.

 After looking at these figures, why don’t we do something productive with our money?

Two of Britain’s leading retail chains are selling clothing made by child slaves, an Observer investigation reveals today. The exposé raises serious questions about this country’s soaring demand for low-cost clothing and has triggered angry calls for retailers to take far greater care in sourcing garments.In a network of mud-bricked sweatshops in the lawless Haryana area of New Delhi, India, this newspaper found dozens of children cramped together producing clothes for the UK high street.

For the rest of the article follow this link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/retail/story/0,,2063009,00.html#article_continue 

Here we are, yet again - practicing our Sacred Democracy. Its local election time in many places across the country. Will you be voting?  If so, do you know for who and why? If you’re the majority (who will not be voting) ask yourself why? Is it because politics is boring?  Or is all rather disenchanting? Is there a difference between any of these politicians?

 At Wecomeone, we don’t worry about voting or not - rather we ask ourselves WHY - to what ever it is that we are feeling!  I have to say, we do take the whole voting thing rather seriously here at our office.  We like to introspect.  We invaded Iraq, killing tens of thousands in the process, we’ve turned a reletavely nasty stable country into just a NASTY country - all for what?  “Ahhhh yes - for Democracy, FREEDOM and the Stars & Stripes - no sorry not the last bit!!

So we went off galavanting to foreign lands to spread the noble values of democracy - so it should be us leading the way in how to practice it - right?

I’m not sure if I will be voting - I’m off Labour, can’t trust Conservatives and Liberals, well their Liberal!! How about the Green Party, or the crazy looney raving party, not sure about you, but am a little confused! 

Why dont you tell us who you voted for and why.  We’d like to know, and it’d be great to bring a snippet of democracy into our Blog.

The Government does its best to put money towards risk reduction, through, for instance, road safety measures and yes that probably includes those hedgehogs we see on TV telling us how to cross the road. The same applies for companies as well who have to allocate money towards risk reduction. This leads us to question how many lives a given amount of money can be expected to save. They must, in other words, set a price on life.

So how much might this be? A workers probable earnings? What a mother would pay to keep her child alive? There’s not a set measure to determine the price of saving someones life so academics and civil servants have resorted to asking people how much they would pay to avoid certain risks. In the UK this process produces an average of £1m per life. This can include pretty much anything. Those really tedious health and safety videos during training in a new job or your usual health insurance.

The figure appears to vary little until we actually think about how valuable we really are despite running from risk to risk.

People say a life is a life, needless of how it’s lost or saved….

I just finished work this afternoon knowing that our new library (or ’information commons’)was open and ready to use. A few people at work really thought there was something amazing about this building. I needed a few books for my essay so I thought I might as well check it out. Hi-tech technology compared to the old library, more books, more self service programmes etc… As soon as I saw the building I was pretty much gobsmacked. It looked alot better than I thought it would. The entrance system was completely different where the swiping mechanisms were modernised. Luckily for me there were staff willing to help everyone shift to more modern facilities. I eventually found some of my books with the others still in the old library but the checking out process was fairly different. Again staff had to help me out (I’m pretty useless with new technology). So I got my books and getting out was a bit of a hassle. I guess its better security as you need to swipe both times when you’re coming in and out. So I headed to the old library and thought to myself, wow, we live in such a postmodern world… the thought has been around for a while but I didn’t think something like a library would seem to influence my thought on postmodernism. I’ve not really been a big fan of it but its hit plenty of the cities in the UK and had both its positives and negatives.

Think back to when its Christmas. What is one of the usual adverts shown around that time of year indicating ’sharing and giving’? Yes….the company that helped create the jolly character in red……if you haven’t guessed it, its Coca Cola. So when was the last time you opened that bottle or can and wondered where does this yummy stuff comes from? Any guesses? Quite a lot of it is produced in Kerala (South India) and theres no suprises that its nowhere near ethical. Despite the company clearing out the supply of water from wells that local farmers use to maintain crops, the corporation then gives all the waste products to the farmers (as a ‘gift’) as a form of fertilizer. Of course these waste products are toxic and they will be no good for these farmers and so have damaged their lifestyle. Despite many protests to the government, the company still maintain their unethical work not just locally but globally too. So next time you’re craving for a can of this drink just take a moment to think about those poor farmers who aren’t given a choice.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/india/story/0,12559,1005564,00.html#article_continue

It’s day 6 on my trip to Holland, Den Haag, its political centre.

Today is Friday and the sun is shining.  About 100 yards from the flat in which i have isolated myself to write my book, I can see a central square.  The square is filled with people meeting one another, sharing a drink and catching up with what life has shown them the previous week.

The point worth noting is that one half of the square is full of people sitting outside drinking coffee or a glass of red wine, while the other half is full of bikes that people have rode to get there!  To ride a bike here is liking using your phone back home.  Its just normal to cycle every where.

Another point worth noting is that people aren’t just meeting their friends or colleagues, far from it, people are here with their families.  The kids cycle after school, the parents leave their work and cycle down at the designated cafe to meet them.  I saw tables where kids, their parents and grand parents were catching up.

It got me thinking…in England, we’d probably have been with mates, having an early p**s up! I wouldn’t have seen grandparents with their grand children in a fancy cafe drinking coffee or sharing a glass of wine.  It occured to me that here family is important, it is more central in everyones lives - as it should be! 

It got me thinking, when was the last time, i said to my granny, “hey come on, cycle down to town, and we’ll have coffee after I finish work”? 

Maybe I should.  Sure, people will look at me funny, but who cares!!  

So why have I decided to talk about happiness today? Is it because our mass societies are dependant on material resources that reinforce our sense of satisfaction or am I writing about this because its sunny outside?

 Now let me put the qeustion to you…….What makes you happy and why?

Is it that new games console that you’ve splashed out on? A new pair of designer shoes? or maybe just socialsing with a few friends at a bar or cafe? I guess having a credit card is a life-saver but how long will these products satisfy you? Until theres a new and better item on the high street or until something goes wrong with it?

There has been a trend with this issue. There is one important factor that determines how happy we really are…….the answer is Money. Now ask this question to yourself, ‘Can I actually think of something that makes me happy that doesn’t involve money?’ 1 example may come to mind and maybe 2 if you’re adventurous. It is such a difficult subject because generally when we are poor we are usually miserable as a society and when we recieve that first pay cheque for all our hard work, we splash out and enjoy ourselves.

Expansion of your usual weekly shopping outlet and megastores have not really helped due to their low prices and pretty much anything and everything under one roof. But the next time you’re looking to cheer yourself up and put that smile on your face think about how much your spending, whether it be buying your favourate chocolate bar, a new piece of music or that top you’ve been seen on the shop window mannequin. Buy something different that does not involve your wallet.

Right now, I’m at the Hague, in self isolation.  Am currently writting a book, and so thought it’d be a wise idea to remove myself from the daily husstle of life and come here to quite Holland. 

Am staying here for 10 days, hoping write a minimum of 5000 words each day.  This is day 3 - I’ve written 15,234 so far.  Going well you might think - well you’d be right.  For this, I thank the Thinking chair, on which I am spending the best part of 10 hours a day, writing.  The only time i seem to be getting up, is to visit the loo, eat or drink something.

I love Holland - I always have.  Theres something about the cobbled streets, all the people riding around on bikes and all the sex shops that are around.  Wait…no not the last part!! 

No seriously, i dont like the sex shops part - but otherwise its near perfect to write a meaningful book.