Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Hidden Article

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

Did You Have A Good Life?

Keith Farnish | 09.01.2007 20:45 | Analysis | Climate Chaos | Ecology | World

Sorry, it's too late, your life ends tomorrow. Did you have a good one? Think hard, there isn't much time.

Alan

“Come in, my friend, find a space. I know it doesn’t look very pleasant but the pain doesn’t bother me too much as long as I can keep the morphine topped up…there we go. Jean! Can you get my friend a coffee? Sit yourself down; it’s a nice sofa, isn’t it? Cream leather, with invisible stitching, and mahogany inlays. I would have had walnut, but it doesn’t match the wall unit, but the leather matches the car interior very well; I upgraded to the new Range Rover Sport 3 months ago, after I heard about the latest tumour. We thought, ‘What the hell? The life insurance will cover that, and the Lexus.’ I don’t want Jean going without; she’s used to this way of life, and I’m not going to deny her that after I’m gone.”

“Gerry came in earlier. You know Gerry? He worked with me at Chase Morgan before the bond débacle. They found me out, as you know, but I took half the department down with me. I wasn’t going to let them know who really bought those junk bonds; Mali is a growing oil market, and we all have to make a buck where we can.”

“Well, anyway, Gerry has just come back from Mauritius. It only seems like yesterday he was in Kenya. He says he can work remotely, just in case the boys need some advice, so can always swing an extra trip. You know what our gang were like, always off on some jolly. Some guy at BA told us we could offset our flights, which sounded like something guilty people do, but then that extra bottle of Veuve Clicquot was calling to me and I had no loose change. Next time maybe. Maybe not.”

“How are the tennis lessons coming along? Did you try Lucy’s club? She’ll make an excellent coach, don’t you think? Chip off the old block, as they say. I wish I’d spent more time playing myself, but what with work, those late nights at the wine bar – comes with the territory, really – weekends at the villa; I couldn’t pack any more in.”

“I’ve had a really good life, when you think about it. Look around – have you seen a better parquet than the one in the sitting room? And when I look out of the window, I know that most of that is mine. It’s a great feeling. No, I’ve got no regrets - life’s for living, isn’t it?”



By the time you come to the end of your life, there is little you can do to change the impact that you have had on others – be they friends, family, strangers, animals, the air we breath. You could lay to rest old feuds, show people that you didn’t really mean what you said, be forgiven by those that were angry with you; but you have already trodden a physical path between your coming and your going, and that is not going to be undone.

Self evaluation is an important part of what keeps people motivated; after all, if I’m not going to do good things during my life, then when else am I going to do them? Maybe you believe in an afterlife - that you can repent your actions (or lack of them) on your deathbed. We all have our right to beliefs and wishes, but whatever may happen to your soul after you are gone has nothing to do with what will continue to happen in the physical world.

The point I am trying to make is that, because the mere fact of sharing a world with other living creatures has an impact on their lives – however small – and that humans are at the very top of the global ecological network, it really does matter what kind of life we lead.


James

“Rachel, I won’t be able to make it this afternoon. Yes, I’m having a few problems today and couldn’t get into work this morning. I hope you can find someone to cover – it’s hard enough looking after things when everyone’s well. That’s very nice of you. I hope so too. See you later.”

“Oh, hello. Sorry, I didn’t see you there. Sorry about the mess, I’ve been trying to keep the place tidy, but haven’t got the energy lately. If you’re going past Oxfam this afternoon could you pop in and see if they need any help? That’s really kind, I hate to let them down. Do you want a tea? There are some bags in the jar by the kettle; mind the boxes, I’ve asked Julie to pack up some of my old clothes for the recycling – I don’t think I’ll be needing them any more.”

“She does so much for me, does Julie. I wish I could afford to pay her petrol money. I got rid of the car last month – hardly used it anyway, what with the pollution, I’d feel bad driving to work when I can cycle, but it’s so bad for my lungs. I reckon it’s the traffic that’s made my asthma so bad over the years; I could hardly catch my breath yesterday…excuse me (inhales)…sorry, I hate for you to see me like this. The hospital are delivering my new nebulizer tomorrow, but it hardly seems to help when I do use one.”

“I was looking at some photos this morning; Linda and I had our honeymoon 40 years ago last month. I wish she could have been here, but Julie gave me a lift down to the cemetery, and I said what I had to. It was difficult to concentrate with the aircraft going over, off to sunny places I suppose. We had our honeymoon at the seaside, at the same hotel we stayed at for years after – it wasn’t too posh, but we liked it. We loved getting the train; didn’t seem any point driving as we’d only be stuck in a traffic jam.”

“The airport are trying to get planning permission to extend the runway, and they want to move a bit of the cemetery. Progress, I suppose, but they want to move Linda’s plot, and I can’t stand the thought of that. Why can’t they just leave things alone? I mustn’t complain too much, but sometimes life feels so unfair – some people have it so much better.”



Someone in James’ position might feel they have led a modest, possibly unfortunate life; things have not always gone as they should have. But look at the two stories again. There is such a fundamental difference that it might not be obvious:

Alan is a taker. He has worked hard for his money, granted, but his lifestyle is one of luxury, consumption and, some may say, excess. He has no regrets, and in his world everything is there for the taking.

In James’ world, things are there to be shared out; people do what they can to help others, they do not consume to excess – even if he had the money to, he wouldn’t.

I am not trying to judge individual actions here - most of us would enjoy a holiday in a far-off country, and revel in a beautiful view from our bedroom window – or how much money people earn : I am judging the motivation of everyone who inhabits this planet. I believe the goodness of our lives is determined by what motivates us.

What motivates an individual in their life may range from survival, through to living in the lap of luxury; from having so much more than everyone else – money, status, material goods – to wanting all things to be equal; from saving oneself to saving the planet.

I can’t begin to say how much I admire people who give up all their worldly goods to fight for a cause they really believe in, and put up with the constant shouts of “get a job” and “get a life” from others, that seems to come with the territory. The protestor believes that some things are far more important than wealth and the accumulation of consumer goods. But to very many people, the sole motivation in life is to go from one life stage to another – job, house, children, retirement – and then what?

After the achievements have been counted; the house, holidays, cars, TVs and savings added together; what is there to show for a life in which little thought was ever given for the people outside your immediate family and circle of friends, and the world beyond your doorstep?

If you need to change, I hope you still have time.


(First published at :  http://earth-blog.bravejournal.com/entry/19828)

Keith Farnish
- Homepage: http://www.theearthblog.org

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech