No Future

"No future but that we make ourselves."

That's what they said in the Terminator films.  Of course, they're quite right, but I very much doubt if it'll be killer robots under the control of a deranged defence computer that does for us.

Greed, selfishness and arrogance will deal with us long before that could ever come about. From all walks of life there are examples of how so many of us now only look after #1. From the people who moved in above us who didn't bother with sound-dampening under their laminate flooring to the executives whose first impulse if profits dip is to fire more workers and ruin hundreds of lives, other people just don't matter to most of us now.

I'm sure that not one of those who behave like this think of themselves as anything other than truly decent human beings. Yet in so many ways - little and big - we just make life worse for those around us. In some cases - and I truly see much of government & council policy as big culprits in this - they're going out of their way to make things harder. How?

Well, start at the bottom of the scale with the neds who'll roam the streets at night howling just to disturb as many people as possible. Or how about the way so many people now refuse to make the slightest effort to give way to others on the street. Not so much as a turn of the shoulder. As Abby and I were waiting for a bus the other day a boy-racer car crossed the street and pulled up in front of us. The door opened, the shell-suited ned driver leant out, pinched the bridge of his nose and expelled a long stream of snot onto the pavement, not into the gutter, in front of us. We were then fixed with a challenging glare before the door was slammed and he wheelspun back across the road forcing two other cars to brake. There were no other pedestrians within sight so this must have been purely to offend us. We'd never seen him before so he just went out of his way to spoil someone's day.

Government level? How about my recent attempt to apply for a driving licence? After filling in the form I went to sign it. The box is about the size & width of that on a credit card with a strict injunction not to touch the sides when signing it. As it happens my signature places one name above the other so it is quite impossible to fit it into this space. I called the DVLA 'helpline' and the callcentre drone I spoke to refused me any advice other than, "If your signature touches the side of the box it will be rejected." repeated in monotone at the end of every question.

Yeah, thanks. Very helpful.

Al Qaieda and their kind don't need to destroy our society, we're doing fine all by ourselves.

So to make sure they don't, make sure that you do something to make a stranger's life a bit better just by being considerate. All it takes is stepping to one side and smiling.