How to do the right thing

I’d like to start by thanking you  for reading this blog. You are clearly an excellent reader and it is a privilege to have your eyes roam across my words. So I’d like to thank you for doing that and  to let you know that if I let myself down in this blog, no one will be more annoyed with me than I am.

If the above paragraph sounds as if I’ve been hit on the head with a brick, I’m not surprised. I’m modelling myself on Simon Harris, who made it sound as if it was simply wonderful to have met up with Charlotte of Cork, and even more wonderful to have had a telephone conversation with her. The other thing that was wonderful was that he had made a mistake,and you know that really wasn’t  him.

Here – I’ll have to stop before I throw up over my keyboard. My real purpose in this blog is to talk about the importance of voting. In the 2020 general election, just over 62% of people who could vote actually voted. That’s 38% who chose not to bother.

If you’re one of that latter group, I want to ask you to think again this time. The trouble with not voting, like not being ambitious, is that you pass power/position to someone else. Will they use it wisely? Should they be allowed to make decisions that will affect you? We don’t allow children to vote, because they’re obviously too immature to exercise their franchise. But you’re an adult, and one of the marks of the adult is that s/he makes the decisions in his/her life.

You may have decided not to vote because you think all politicians are the same. Really? Are all lorry-drivers the same? All teachers? All nurses? Clearly they’re not. And the same applies to politicians. Some stink, some are OK, some are very capable indeed. So could I beg you,  whoever you decide is the least bad of politicians in your constituency, take the short time involved to get down to the voting centre and cast your ballot for the least bad.

In 1916 and after, men and women gave their lives so that the people of Ireland would be able to run their own country. If for no other reason but respect for them,  just do it. The opportunity to do something that is obviously and totally good is an opportunity you really should grasp, if only for your self-respect.

Spike Lee once produced a movie called ‘Do the Right Thing’. Maybe that’s what’s involved –  doing the right thing.  If you don’t, you’ll have to wait another five years before you get another chance.