Bringing the best and leaving the rest at the door of
2016, the lessons from the Irish experience, which can be of benefit to all…
When I thought of 2016
as a year to come, the lotto gave way to wider thoughts about Irish society;
past, present and future. Given 2016 is the 1st centenary year of the 1916
Irish rebellion that started a chain of events leading to partial Independence
from the United Kingdom in 1921 and full independence as an Irish Republic in
1937, the lessons learnt from Irish tragedies and triumphs over the last 100
years came into focus.
Michael Collins was a
true Irish Patriot and a warrior for doing what is right both in war and in
peace. He had a vision for Ireland that certainly has not being realised to
date given the recently uncovered corruption and collusion between partners
best kept apart. This at times has risen to outrageous exploitation of the
ordinary citizen trying to put food on the table, maybe find a little happiness
and live their lives with a fair ounce of common decency. 10 days before he
died in 1923, Michael Collins said of the economy: “Our object in building up the country economically must not be
lost sight of. That object is not to be able to boast of enormous wealth or of
a great volume of trade for their own sake. It is not to see our country
covered with smoking chimneys and factories. It is not to show a great national
balance sheet, nor to point to a people producing wealth with the
self-obliteration of a hive of bees. The real riches of the Irish nation will
be the men and women of the Irish nation the extent to which they are rich in
body and mind and character."
This oratory hit home at
what it means to be Irish. He embraced our relationship based society
for its strengths and harnessed the protection of the longer term future even
at the expense of short term gain so that our children’s children may enjoy a
sustainable elevation in lifestyle, income, and quality of life in context to the Irish nation. His views had
a strong socialist orientation but were sharply prudent in fiscal matters along
with a mastery of economics that was not lost on his fellow Founders nor his
other contemporaries of the day. Fairness, equality, literacy, art, exploration
of knowledge through the sciences and international trade strongly featured in
the vision Michael Collins had for the the new Irish state and its future.
So, if that was the
past, it’s now fair to say we live in a present where many rightly highlight
the growing gap between rich and poor along with the slowing migration to the
middle class that would otherwise make our nation complete. They highlight the
catastrophic failures over the last two decades in particular that make 2016 a
year of remembrance of what our forefathers went through to make us custodians
of our own house. It also sets a challenge for us in the present to restore the
founder’s spirit and fair intent so that we all may see that fair future coming
down the tracks for our children to enjoy.
My own thoughts draw
many conclusions that are useful for the future ranging from learnt lessons at
a national and local level to a personal level. Here are my top 5 that all
could use wherever they are in the world:
- Integrity - Governments should recognise people as people, companies as companies and never ever mix the two when it comes to politics. As custodians of the public trust, lobbying companies need to take second place to the welfare of the people in all cases. ‘In the public interest’ needs to be reconstituted in this light so it rightously regains public trust
- Separation of Concerns - Private industry needs to remain private noting it must protect itself through 1st party means from market downturns and not rely on public money to “bail them out” ever again
- Productivity - Public industry needs to become owners of their own future and self motivated drivers of improvements from within so that in-house expertise is developed. This expertise then creates value so that every action at the very least negates waste
- Fairness - Those who give the most should not get the most, but get what is due. There is no point in being the richest man in the cemetery, especially when it is at the unnecessary expense of our fellow citizen. We need to accept the honour of creating value for our people that when we put food on our table, the fruits of our labour are efficiently redistributed to our kin who have not being as lucky as we have. If tweaked until done right, our public services can become a hand up and not a hand out for those down on their luck and in need of mother Ireland’s help.
- Culture - Our departure from socially conscious culture towards an ego centric culture is something we must reverse. The credit crises of 2007/08+ was not the shock, but an escalation of the shock that our fellow countrymen felt in the early 1990s when real money often in the form of credit was visited upon the real Irish citizen. Those in power need to protect those not able to do anything for them and ensure that they are not preyed upon by unscrupulous captains of villainy that hail from the four corners of Ireland and the globe. The ability of our culture to march forward with honour depends on a reassertion of our socially orientated culture. We need to do what is right bearing in mind the consequences for all in every decision.
I have passed many
homeless guys over the year just gone and apologised for not being able to
afford a few pennies to give to them knowing that the act of directly donating
such monies would not make a difference. However, the respect of apologising to
them may just may make a difference in their lives. Who is to say that the guy
begging may not connect with this real self and re-find his humanity through my
own by simply paying him the respect of talking to him? If our society moves in
that direction, we all can reconnect with our clan roots and just maybe that
guy begging could become something new and influence a positive change in our
future that no-one ever saw coming. If I have learnt anything in this life,
it’s that our future is not pre-ordained, its chiselled out by the characters
of those in the present. This fact can make the next 100 years a golden age for
Ireland, a nation that in 2016 is celebrating 100 years, yet going on 7000
years old. I think it’s time we acted our age! What do you think.. do you
agree??...
Sources/Credits:
Pics;
Credits;
Michael Collins Quote at
Rare Irish Stuff: http://www.rareirishstuff.com/collins-collection-limited-edition/michael-collins-portrait.5433.html
Quality of Life
Definition at: http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/quality-of-life
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