Practically Classics Forum

An Obituary printed in the London Times.....Absolutely Brilliant !!



Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common
Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how
old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic
red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable
lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies
(don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults,
not children, are in charge
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing
regulations were set in place.
Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a
classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch;
and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened
his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for
doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining
their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get
parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student;
but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted
to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became
businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a
woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She
spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents,
Truth and Trust,
by his wife, Discretion,
by his daughter, Responsibility,
and by his son, Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he
was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the
majority and do nothing.

This is so true of our society these days, nobody wants to accept responsibility for their own accidents any more, always looking for someone else to blame. Sadly this blame culture has helped in no small part to bang up our insurance policies and put in place so much red tape and precautions that we spend so long 'risk assessing' tasks that they take an eternity to take place. God help us all

It's been doing the internet rounds for 7 or 8 years now, along with the one about the 50's to 70's being the best time to be a kid.

Still just as valid now as when I first saw it. My twopennorth is that we have the "no blame and no punishment" movement to thank for much that is wrong, particularly the anti-smacking nutters. We seem to spend more and more time and money on pandering to the badly behaved whilst punishing the well behaved - particularly those who try to do something to stop the badly behaved in their tracks.

And of course there's attitude of "I don't want to get involved" when street crime is taking place.

I've seen a version of this too. I think the problem is that we now have a widespread mix of the arrogance of what you might call the old time toff, combined with gutter manners; I suppose beggars on horseback. There is no humility any more and I am bound to say that the education system is deluding lots of people, that they are brighter than they are in reality Since the 1980s the so called Thatcherite "Me me me" culture has taken hold. Political correctness is no substitute for good manners.

For what it's worth, I think some kind of national service might knock a few egos down to size (I envisage a kind of military induction school, where you do two years, after which you can leave, if you haven’t already left, to join the service of your choice). I have some experience of military discipline, going back to the early 1980s and in those days, if the sergeant told you that you were a donkey’s p^*c>, that’s what you were. I have been told, by someone a bit older than myself, who is still connected with the forces, that it is now more (As he puts it) “Pink & fluffy”, which I find incredible.

I agree that growing up in the 1950s - 70s was preferable to growing up now (The only advantage, to the latter, would me another 40 or 50 years left to live ).

...National Service...

I don't know why a lot of people think putting a gun in an 18 year old's hand and teaching him/her how to kill people on the orders of (corrupt) politicians is a good idea.
I know - and have worked with - quite a few ex-military folk, including a former business partner, a lot of them would agree there are better ways to get well adjusted and disciplined youths than national service.

In Austria we have National Service, I opted to drive an ambulance for double the length of time instead. Conscience over conformity...

Regards
Karl

I think its the principle of drumming some respect and order into their lives rather than the fighting side... I agree that the fighting side has little use in the wider world, but the discipline and organisation side most certainly has... Surely there must be something similar that doesn't involve the violence?!

There are many other facets to the military, than the infantry. The kind of induction "Camp" I had in mind would prepare people for the military, if that was their career choice but much of it's function would be based on fitness, teamwork and strict discipline (Yes this would involve drill and some weapons training).

karlsgazelle wrote:In Austria we have National Service

That doesn't mean you go around invading places but from what I have seen, Austria is a very well ordered and clean country. When I visited Zell Am See, one Friday evening, even the jewellers shop had no shutters on the window . It can't be doing any harm

Martin Evans, on Austria, wrote:...That doesn't mean you go around invading places....

Was that intentional, or are we having a "let's see who can bring Godwin's Law crashing down on this thread" contest?

To my knowledge Austria, in it's present form, hasn't declared war on anyone and the last time "Austria" declared war on anyone was nearly 100 years ago. Having national service hasn't made Austria and aggressive nation.

Ah, but you said "invaded" not "declared war on" and yes, I know that just because he was that way out, his crimes can't and won't be visited upon subsequent generations.

Great Britain, on the other hand, has declared war several times in the space of the last few decades and of course no longer has conscription which, incidentally, was responsible for my Father's having no hearing in his right ear and precious little in the left but he loved it for all that. He would, he'll be 80 this year.
Those who want to fight, dress up in shiny boots and have a predilection for Izal can still join up of course, there'll always be jobs in the military. Oh wait, no there won't, redundancies are being made all over the place these days. How does that work I wonder; being made redundant as a member of the armed forces?