Tuesday, 17 November 2009
New Look
Ok, so after no posts for ages suddenly theres three in a day, wierd huh? It's not quite as odd as it seems, and no I haven't suddenly got the urge and spent all night writing either. For a while now I've had three or four blogs floating around the internet, on various subjects, so to keep life simpler I'm moving them all to one place. So from now on this here is where i will post all my blogs under their various different headings. So there will be Positive News Blogs, there will be the standard Thoughts of a Former Student blogs, there will be the Theatre Blogs which I've got floating around, and I have plans for a couple of others too. So keep checking back; if I've written it you'll find it here!
Around the world on £1
At a time when money matters and problems seem to be dominating much of the news, the story of Keiichi Iwasaki is inspiring. Eight years ago he left his home town, and his father’s air-conditioning business, and has not been back since. Starting out cycling round Japan, he was bitten by the travelling bug, caught a ferry to South Korea, and has now covered 37 countries on his Raleigh Hopper bicycle. In case the story itself wasn’t good enough he has done all this having left home with the equivalent of just £1 in his pocket. Cycling the world on a whim, funding the trip by street performing? Tell me that isn’t a good story.
The sheer brilliance of Keiichi’s story lies in the fact that not only is it inspiring, but it’s achievable. It’s all very well being inspired by the story of a soldier returning to the front line following horrific injury, but most of us will not be in that position. However we can all take a moment to try what Keiichi Iwasaki has done. The world is becoming more and more accessible these days, and more and more people are setting out to see it. However it’s not hard to imagine that many people are put off travelling the world by the cost of it. A round the world plane ticket will set you back around £1800 and that’s before you’ve even got money to live off. This is where Keiichi’s story becomes even better; if he can do it, so can you! Sure it’s hard work, he performs on streets to fund his trip, and has done the whole thing by bike, but why do what everyone else does? There are hostels aplenty round the world where work can be found to fund a trip, and there is a real joy to making it up as you go along.
In many ways there has never been a better time to travel. My girlfriend was recently advised by her bank to temp to make some money, go travelling, and come back when the recession has died and there are jobs again. And who are we to ignore the advice of bankers?!
The world needs more people like Keiichi Iwasaki. As he said himself “dreams can come true if you have a strong will.” The realism with which he has gone about his trip is equally brilliant. Clearly living out his dream, Keiichi is honest about the hardships he has faced on his trip. He is currently on his fifth bicycle, having had two stolen and two break. Along the way through the 37 countries he has visited he has been robbed by pirates, attacked by a rabid dog in Nepal, and been arrested in India. However he has also become the first Japanese man to climb Everest, swum in the Ganges, narrowly escaped marriage in Nepal, and is currently trying to climb Mont Blanc. How many other people can say that?
Any of you who have travelled, or taken the opportunity of a lifetime, know that it is the complete experience which makes it. You feel enriched by the whole experience, both good and bad. This is what makes this story so inspiring for us. Keiichi Iwasaki has gone all out to fulfil his dream of travelling. He travels by bike because he wants to “see and feel everything with [his] own skin.” In the tradition of the storybook hero who goes to find himself, he left home with the proverbial napkin and stick on his back, and has enjoyed experiences most of us just imagine. But as his story proves, the only reason we are just imagining them is that we haven’t bothered to go out and live them. If one man can leave home with £1 and a bike and see the world, then there’s no reason why everyone else can’t too.
But if you do decide that travelling the world is not for you, then keep an eye out for the book Mr. Iwasaki wants to publish when he gets home. It will probably be an Odyssey for our time. Only slightly fewer mythological creatures, and a story the readers can actually live themselves!
The sheer brilliance of Keiichi’s story lies in the fact that not only is it inspiring, but it’s achievable. It’s all very well being inspired by the story of a soldier returning to the front line following horrific injury, but most of us will not be in that position. However we can all take a moment to try what Keiichi Iwasaki has done. The world is becoming more and more accessible these days, and more and more people are setting out to see it. However it’s not hard to imagine that many people are put off travelling the world by the cost of it. A round the world plane ticket will set you back around £1800 and that’s before you’ve even got money to live off. This is where Keiichi’s story becomes even better; if he can do it, so can you! Sure it’s hard work, he performs on streets to fund his trip, and has done the whole thing by bike, but why do what everyone else does? There are hostels aplenty round the world where work can be found to fund a trip, and there is a real joy to making it up as you go along.
In many ways there has never been a better time to travel. My girlfriend was recently advised by her bank to temp to make some money, go travelling, and come back when the recession has died and there are jobs again. And who are we to ignore the advice of bankers?!
The world needs more people like Keiichi Iwasaki. As he said himself “dreams can come true if you have a strong will.” The realism with which he has gone about his trip is equally brilliant. Clearly living out his dream, Keiichi is honest about the hardships he has faced on his trip. He is currently on his fifth bicycle, having had two stolen and two break. Along the way through the 37 countries he has visited he has been robbed by pirates, attacked by a rabid dog in Nepal, and been arrested in India. However he has also become the first Japanese man to climb Everest, swum in the Ganges, narrowly escaped marriage in Nepal, and is currently trying to climb Mont Blanc. How many other people can say that?
Any of you who have travelled, or taken the opportunity of a lifetime, know that it is the complete experience which makes it. You feel enriched by the whole experience, both good and bad. This is what makes this story so inspiring for us. Keiichi Iwasaki has gone all out to fulfil his dream of travelling. He travels by bike because he wants to “see and feel everything with [his] own skin.” In the tradition of the storybook hero who goes to find himself, he left home with the proverbial napkin and stick on his back, and has enjoyed experiences most of us just imagine. But as his story proves, the only reason we are just imagining them is that we haven’t bothered to go out and live them. If one man can leave home with £1 and a bike and see the world, then there’s no reason why everyone else can’t too.
But if you do decide that travelling the world is not for you, then keep an eye out for the book Mr. Iwasaki wants to publish when he gets home. It will probably be an Odyssey for our time. Only slightly fewer mythological creatures, and a story the readers can actually live themselves!
Heroes
Everyone loves heroes. There is something inescapably positive about one person’s heroics, and the celebration of them. Little kids, and a number of adults, spend there days reading comics, or watching TV shows, about heroes. The outstanding actions of one become a good for all to celebrate. This is particularly true when we can relate to the people themselves. Hence comic book heroes having secret identities, of course it does allow for the obvious exploration of the human cost of heroism, but it also makes the hero that much more accessible. Would anyone sympathise with Spiderman if he was just an all-in-one wearing, web-shooting, smart alec? Probably not. It is human heroics which we celebrate, and as such news stories which reveal the heroism of normal people become shining beacons of positivism in amongst the cynical, and frankly depressing, stories of war, disease and economic downturn.
Luckily for us there has been a bit of a spate of heroism which has made the news recently. The stories which accompanied the death of Harry Patch on the 25th of July brought to us the inspiring memories of an individual, described by the Very Rev John Clarke as “an ordinary man who led a brave life.” Importantly the passing of the man who was the last surviving solider who fought in the trenches of World War One did not draw attention to the war itself. Patch once said that “war isn’t news” and it was refreshing to find that media attention focused on the man, and not the global incidents. The character of Harry Patch is what was celebrated. He was a bastion of hardiness and survival, and an inspiring example of the heroic, and honourable, values which many look back on with such nostalgia today. This was not a man who revelled in his status as an icon; he returned to his job as a plumber following the war, and only really began to talk about his experiences in the last eleven years of his life. Harry Patch was, and still should be, celebrated not because he fought in a war, but because he came through one, and survived to be the oldest man in Europe.
The issue of war heroes has been furthered with the tales of Matt Woollard. While the idea of a man returning to war may not be an inherently positive image to many, the story is. If we look past the debates on the merits of war, and this current one in particular, we find the story of a man overcoming hardship to do what he loves. Matt Woollard is not an inspiring hero because he is returning to fight the Taliban. He inspires because, like Harry Patch, he is one of us. He is a normal man determined to continue living the life he wants to in the face of adversity. The Sunday Times appropriately compared Woollard to World War Two hero Douglas Bader who flew in the Battle of Britain with two prosthetic legs. Beyond the personal heroism of Woollard himself is the nature of his recovery, he talks about how the army is keeping him informed with tactics, and anything he needs the return. Here is a man who wants to rebuild his life, get back to living it, and is being helped and supported by the society, and medical care, around him. The message is clear, you can overcome adversity, and you do not have to do it alone. The hope and ideals elicited by the stories of Patch, Bader and Woollard highlight the heroism which is either missing or ignored too often in our world today. Heroes are our childhood inspirations, and finding tangible ones in real life proves that the world is not all doom and gloom. Look around, there might even be one nearby!
Luckily for us there has been a bit of a spate of heroism which has made the news recently. The stories which accompanied the death of Harry Patch on the 25th of July brought to us the inspiring memories of an individual, described by the Very Rev John Clarke as “an ordinary man who led a brave life.” Importantly the passing of the man who was the last surviving solider who fought in the trenches of World War One did not draw attention to the war itself. Patch once said that “war isn’t news” and it was refreshing to find that media attention focused on the man, and not the global incidents. The character of Harry Patch is what was celebrated. He was a bastion of hardiness and survival, and an inspiring example of the heroic, and honourable, values which many look back on with such nostalgia today. This was not a man who revelled in his status as an icon; he returned to his job as a plumber following the war, and only really began to talk about his experiences in the last eleven years of his life. Harry Patch was, and still should be, celebrated not because he fought in a war, but because he came through one, and survived to be the oldest man in Europe.
The issue of war heroes has been furthered with the tales of Matt Woollard. While the idea of a man returning to war may not be an inherently positive image to many, the story is. If we look past the debates on the merits of war, and this current one in particular, we find the story of a man overcoming hardship to do what he loves. Matt Woollard is not an inspiring hero because he is returning to fight the Taliban. He inspires because, like Harry Patch, he is one of us. He is a normal man determined to continue living the life he wants to in the face of adversity. The Sunday Times appropriately compared Woollard to World War Two hero Douglas Bader who flew in the Battle of Britain with two prosthetic legs. Beyond the personal heroism of Woollard himself is the nature of his recovery, he talks about how the army is keeping him informed with tactics, and anything he needs the return. Here is a man who wants to rebuild his life, get back to living it, and is being helped and supported by the society, and medical care, around him. The message is clear, you can overcome adversity, and you do not have to do it alone. The hope and ideals elicited by the stories of Patch, Bader and Woollard highlight the heroism which is either missing or ignored too often in our world today. Heroes are our childhood inspirations, and finding tangible ones in real life proves that the world is not all doom and gloom. Look around, there might even be one nearby!
Positive News
It can seem that all news is bad news. In our world where war, terror, disease, economic collapse and hardship are splashed across front pages, and streaming out of television and computer screens it can all seem very bleak. However, ignoring the old adage that ‘bad news travels faster than good’ this blog will bring you only the positive stories in our world. From small human pieces to worldwide miracles, let us go in search of the good news. It must be out there somewhere…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
