It’s a new year and so let’s start again. No, I don’t mean do the same as we did last year only do it in 2013. I mean let’s start again. Let’s go back to the beginning and start again as though last year and the year before hadn’t existed, and start again as though we were doing something for the very first time.
OK, I know it’s impractical, but why can’t I dream of starting again as though I hadn’t been around when whatever it was, was done in my name. But first, I want to think about a few things being done by those who take our money and then pretend they are giving us something back. Such as, ……
The assurance company that has taken money for sixty years with a promise that it will nurture a beautiful long-lasting flower called a pension; then there’s the banks who have lost the money they promised to keep secure in case we needed it for a rainy day. And what about the insurance company which promised that if anything unplanned occurred they would sort it out with no need to worry, but who then inserted exclusion clauses for all the foreseen ‘unforeseens.’
Of course we can’t leave out Politicians who take our money with promises of world beating health care, secure borders, safe streets, world class education, individual freedom and care in old age. Although many question their talk of Britain being the envy of the world, we can be sure that they have worked miracles with our money. If in doubt just ask them!
But back to my big idea for the New Year! We will start again but this time, insurance companies, and banks will really care for our money; they will not buy prestigious office furniture, gamble with it, or pay bonuses based on falling asset values or short term results. The same goes for the big corporations who shift spreadsheet numbers around the globe so that high costs are generated in low taxation countries and then charged against revenue raised in Britain. In my dream for 2013, big corporations will pay taxes in the UK but without the ‘pretend’ transfer costs added by offshore tax havens. Likewise, no-one working on the public payroll will be paid bonuses for simply doing their job to the best of their ability. Nor will global charities give money to corrupt leaders or waste it on jollies to exotic locations.
But the best is yet to come. My really big idea for 2013 is to turn every organisation, including the church, upside down so that its head is where its feet now are. This revolutionary idea is not new however, as I remember a sermon from my youth during which the preacher spoke on the scripture: “Let he who would be your Leader become the Servant of all.”
The early church was very much organised from the bottom up. However, it then adopted the organisational model of the Roman Empire whereby power was concentrated at the top, and permits to act handed downward. Readers can still see this principle in action today but with the centre of power now in Brussels not Rome.
Like all big ideas some of my details are sketchy, but I hope you get the drift as to where 2013 ought to be going. But will it? It might when we realise that our own decisions are more important than slavishly and unquestioningly following other people’s systems or protocols. My preacher also said that. “No man is better than another, and although one may have more skill or money or have more intellect or be better looking, he is no more valuable than another. We are all equal in the eyes of the highest judge of all and, although roles may vary, inherent value does not!”
Talking of difficult times and new beginnings however, reminds me of the two worried city bankers in the pub for a penurious lunch. They tearfully bewailed the loss of perks and bonuses and their pariah status. Things were so bad said one. “It was even worse than a divorce because :
He had lost his money but still had the wife.
View from the Pew 