After trailing through the town on market day I sat, exhausted, on the park bench doing my best wino imitation, although with no wine. I ought to have placed a hat at my feet and gauged the kindness of passing strangers I suppose, however as too many of them were accompanied by dirty big dogs I declined to attempt this. By 'dogs' I do of course refer to animals, terriers, Labradors, German Shepherds and a Marmaduke impersonator or two. At no time did I mean to infer a comment on the woman alongside the dog handler, although I suspect he often questions where the slim, 8 stone, blonde beauty, who went like a rabbit, disappeared to as he awoke one morning to find a 13 stone lump grumbling like a steam engine after a thousand mile journey lying beside him.
Anyway I digress. I sat on the bench enjoying the blue sky above as it blew the cloud cover eastwards, and dug deeper into my frail jacket as the same wind attempted to freeze my neck. I pondered not on these changeable beauties of nature but instead I pondered on pathways. A pathway is of course a means for an individual to get through the surrounding obstacles. Today my pathway led me through the market and the many stalls on show there. Now it at once becomes clear that a male of the species will attempt to pass through the pathway between the shops on one side and the stalls on the other in a straight forward manner. He makes his way positively though he will give a sidelong glance at the stall he passes, taking in all that is on show therein, and also glance at the shop window thereby taking in a closer look at the well stacked blonde standing at said stall at the same time. He will make his way quickly from one end to the other and continue cheerfully on his way.
The female of the species however appears to find this action difficult to accomplish. Whether being of a size comparable to a Blue Whale that has failed to succeed at 'Weightwatchers,' or a skinny model suffering from anorexia, the female appears unable to do anything other than block the pathway! Often while attempting to make it to the grocery stall a blockage is caused by one of these creatures staring, seemingly, into space. Her eye has noticed something and this holds her attention, even if no-one else on the planet can understand what she is looking at. Cats, you will notice, also suffer from this affliction. On occasion she will actually be looking at a stall, cogitating on an item there while ensuring that she, her pram, her brats, or her bags will block the pathway so nobody can pass until her work there is done. Whether she actually buys something is of course another matter, as is whether she actually needs whatever she may buy! Time it must be said here, is an irrelevance, unless of course 'Loose Women' or some such tripe is about to begin talking about men and sex once again on TV! One woman can block a path, two could block the M1.
Human nature is a wonder sometimes, and on that note I come to pondering on the riots!
This of course is not the first time riots have occurred in England (Note: Unlike the English press I use the word 'England' as all riots so far have been there. The English press use the term 'Britain' in such circumstances although had this occurred in Scotland the term 'Scotland would of course be used. These riots have been found only in England, please note!). Beginning in north London after a peaceful vigil for a man shot dead by police the riots quickly escalated. Various parts of London soon found themselves ablaze with many, mostly young, yobs keen to destroy wantonly, steal and loot from every shop in sight, and on occasion injure any who stood in their way. Soon Birmingham, Liverpool and even the small town of Gloucester got in on the act. Police shortcomings have been exposed here, and while a more positive approach is now being seen it is much too late, although is has to be said nobody could have seen the widespread 'copycat' events that occurred later.
The reason for this remains shrouded in endless chatter and blame sharing. Police and 'ethnic minorities' have had trouble relating in London for years. The liberal types point out the police failings, and they are many, and few have the courage to stand up and indicate the black 'minority' have a fair part of the blame also! In the eighties Commissioner Paul Condon claimed eighty percent of muggings were caused by young black males. A huge outcry was heard, mostly from black politicians, and the only people to suggest he might be right and that something ought to be done were black pastors of local churches and black imams of the mosques. There were few who wished to face reality, but many who wished to make the most of the position. (I spent 21 years in the centre of London and found hardly any race issues amongst the black folk I knew!). A lack of family values, far too many single mothers, gun gang crime based of Hollywood movies, and money from drugs lies at the bottom of this. Heavy handed policing does not help, especially when people die in police custody and no-one is to blame! How often does it happen, usually to a black man at that! These are often thuggish black men it has to be said, not innocent passersby. Rarely does this happen to a black meteorologist or computer engineer, dentist or taxi driver, the usual recipient of violent treatment is often a man with a violent record, missed by few! This does not dismiss the police failings, not the number of occasions such event occur, and there was in the past a certain amount of racism in the Metropolitan Police Force, although to consider it wholly racist was just wrong! This weeks situation began with a man shot dead by police, whether a criminal, a suspect or an innocent man, in truth nobody either knows, or is saying at this time. The truth will arise eventually, maybe.
The trouble that followed was not based on youths feeling ignored by society. This was not a rebellion against a world that kept them down. Many would have had jobs, many rejected jobs to stay on the dole and make much more money selling drugs, others were still schoolkids, some from primary school! The vast majority involved were following that aspect of human nature we like to pretend we do not possess, the part that likes to hate, and likes to take whatever it can when opportunity arises no matter the cost to another. Greed is idolatry and it has been seen this week. Rarely do we admit to ourselves that we enjoy hating an enemy, unless the world around us agrees with our opinion. Rarely do we admit that grabbing loot from a damaged shop is great fun and personal gain! Rarely do we admit just how awful human nature really is, and many reading the reports in the media, a media full of bullshit it must be said, rarely do we admit to a jealousy that we were not near enough to go and grab that item we really wanted! The suffering of those who lost businesses, homes, jobs or everything they possessed may move us slightly, but how many of those involved, when moved as many will be, by such emotion will give back their booty and show their remorse by an action?
The circumstances of being at the bottom of society, ignored by the government, treated badly by the authorities actually affect many more people than the young or any 'ethnic minority!' Nothing today justifies the behaviour seen in the past week. There can be no justification for the burning of homes, nor the robbing of others, this behaviour comes from the fallen human heart, and circumstances allow this to reveal itself in all the horror it can get away with. The worrying thing is that while we do not wish to believe it this conduct is within us all, the human heart is rotten to the core and only Jesus and his finished work on the cross can cure this. He has seen riots like this many times before, since the dawn of time. Britain, and I mean Britain not England, has often been troubled by riots, in the eighties in Brixton and Liverpool, during the twenties when men returning from the war found the promised jobs failed to appear as did the promised houses, and even many officers were found sleeping rough in our cities. Riots in the past over Corn laws, and parliamentary reform, riots over bad working conditions and poverty have returned to Britain many times. Today we do not have riots because of poverty, or even lack of opportunity or bad police relations. We have riots because human nature likes to steal, rob and destroy. One day we will admit to ourselves that this is so, if we have the courage to do so.
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