Every day I see evidence of the decency, empathy, sympathy and generosity of spirit exhibited by countless individuals and groups across the world. And each time it gives my jaded soul a nudge, and suggests that all is not lost.
And then I look at what governments and national powers do, and again I despair.
The ever-present tragedy behind the ongoing war in Syria is becoming almost a background noise to our daily lives. But close by is another humanitarian crisis, a level of atrocity that should never happen, and one that has our name stamped all over it.
Yemen, or rather the innocent civilians of Yemen, are being killed, injured, starved, decimated and driven into the dust with weapons supplied by the UK to Saudi Arabia.
There is no right in this. There is no justification. There is no tipping point to be reached. This is slow, despicable genocide with our assistance.
Saudi Arabia are friends and allies. They are a trading partner. The relationship creates and supports jobs.
In the UK, those jobs can be quantified by salaries, mortgages, shopping, utility payments, all the little trappings of a safe life.
In Yemen, those jobs can be quantified by death, starvation, the destruction of a generation, and the potential for another focus of hate that led to the rise of ISIS.
The moral high ground eternally claimed by our esteemed leaders over the years has at its root the convenient ability to forget ever despot and dictator that has been propped up over the years, for the pragmatism of international relations.
But even that isn’t the truth. Behind it all, behind every overlooked atrocity by every national leader that has been ‘a friend and ally’ across the decades, the reality is to ensure that those with the power and influence retain and increase it.
And now, with Brexit, the way is open for the justification to deal with any and all, as long as we turn a quick profit – and don’t look at the bodies left behind the curtain of national freedom and patriotic sovereignty.
The recent criticism of Fidel Castro illuminates the hypocrisy of those in power. Yes, there were atrocities in Cuba, as there were by the regime that Castro overthrew – the one that was ‘ a friend and ally’. But, no responsibility is taken for the west’s isolation of Cuba which created so many of the pressures on the alternative state.
Just as there is no acknowledgement of the involvement in so many other crisis zones around the world. Because we are never wrong. We have good on our side.
As a nation, we are made up of countless good and caring people. As a country, we are tainted with the bloodstains, one step removed, of countless innocents.
There is no moral compass amongst the power brokers in this country. There is a vacuum. A lack of acceptance of responsibility. A lack of courage to act with morality as the imperative, rather than the self.
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