Lord Byron

Tuesday 10th November, 2020

The system in Scotland re restrictions is based on a tier system. Each tier has further rules and regulations. In Fife we have just moved from tier 2 up to tier 3. It mainly effects restaurants and pubs and alcohol. None of these affects me as I live without alcohol and rarely go out to restaurants. But it will have a knock on negative effect on employment and peoples' sanity. There is talk of the vaccine but the positive remarks are soon dampened by the gloomers and doomers. If you have not read Lord Byron's poem 'Darkness ' try it. You will need a determined heart and a soul of hope and a positive attitude to life, yet it has a message. We forget how many people are upset and stressed and suffering trauma and depression as well as loneliness and what a friend calls ' Cabin fever '.

With these thoughts I walked to the library to return books and take out more. I am ever fearful it will be closed down and I will be bereft. There was a free gift to all of us. The Scottish Book Trust had published a thick booklet entitled 'Future'. The introduction was written by Val McDermid. " We are living in a time of chaos. We are living in a time of fear. We are living in a time of uncertainty. What we need now is the confidence to rewrite the script. "

I have dipped in to the book. So far I am interested by it. The various sections are under five headings: Celebrating Now, Remembering Yesterday, Changing Tomorrow, Lockdown Reflections and Hopes for a new decade.

I always seem to go back to Eliot who wrote of time passed and time future all being contained in time present. That should speak to us and our lives and feelings of the moment. We need forgiveness and learning for the past, we need sensitivity and mindfulness for the present and we need hope and faith for the future. Most of this is up to ourselves and to our participation with and in the Community but it is also a mind set.

I am fortunate to have a religious faith and some faith also in society and human beings. I have a hope born of believing we should do what is right whatever the consequences or chances of success. I also believe in what St Paul noted about love...how we should put on love to bind all together and to make all of infinite worth.

I am reading a book called ' Death Song ' and that is good for it is important not only to live well but to die well. What I need most is ' Life Song ' the tune by which to live. At present it is a bit of a cacophony but there is an underlying melody whose rhythm I am learning. My past and my present all feed in to it and my future depends on it. Whatever the tier the most vital fact is the integrity and wholeness of one's self. That is a life time's task and one we should relish.