Balance Sheet or Basic Humanity? Ethics or Economics? - Our Warped Value System.

When I was about 19 I first read John Steinbeck’s "Grapes of Wrath" – a book that at the time and still today, after almost half a century and many readings, continues to have the power make my anger burn bright. The overwhelmingly powerful, poignant and sad tale of the Joad family’s pathetic struggle to survive in America of the Great Depression culminates with Rose of Sharon – the teenage daughter - who is severely malnourished and has just given birth to a stillborn child – breastfeeding a stranger who is too sick from starvation to eat solid food. I can still remember the feelings of initial confusion,  then horror and finally raging anger when I first read this. It came as a bolt from the blue and with no shadow of doubt became one of the formative elements of my life . Of course, society has "moved on" since the Great Depression of the 1930s and it is to be hoped that scenes such as those depicted in Steinbeck’s novel could not be repeated today. But, even in these 'enlightened' times there is still a resonance.

I am not clever enough to understand all the messages from Steinbeck’s tale but for me much of it seems to be about the struggle of the individual to survive against the powerful economic forces that were at work in America at that time. The Joad family, like thousands of others, were simply trying to survive and make a better, more dignified  life, but drought, economic hardship, the collusion between corporate interests, lack of rights and the spiral of financial havoc wreaked by Wall Street  brought them to their knees. In that context, there is indeed a resonance with today.

In the end the Joad’s were beaten by the forces of economics – the balance sheet. Their humanity was, in the final analysis, "screwed" by Wall Street’s  power and mistakes. I have thought about this story on one or two occasions in the past week or two and especially today when I read of the unveiling, in London, of a statue to Ronald Reagan – a man whose policies with no shadow of doubt (and faithfully emulated in London by Margaret Thatcher) repeated over again the mistakes that lead to the great crash in the early 30s. – making some hugely wealthy and many millions more much poorer. Reagan's and Thatcher's "economics", famously encapsulated in Thatcher's immortal justification "you can't buck the market" was the root cause in both the USA and the UK of inequality spiralling to an all time high and a  situation  where our government (and the US government) are forced (and seem to find it acceptable) to pour endless millions into the banks who brought about our modern day  "depression".  But  at the same time they are unwilling to pour the same resources into other aspects of our national life – the Health Service, the pensions of those who care for us, care of the elderly, our schools and the like. Only a few days ago our Prime Minister was adamant that the current public sector pensions were "unaffordable" – the balance sheet rules. Over the past months and year or so in the  USA a bitter dispute has raged against the President's health care proposals - how can this be that large swathes the greatest and most wealthy power on earth finds it unacceptable to ensure basic health and security for all its people? There is a strange and frightening ethical code at work here.

Someone to look
up to? I don't think so.

Now, again, I am not clever enough to begin to understand the economics of all this. Perhaps, indeed,  there is some immutable law which dictates that all our decisions, morals, ethics and beliefs should be subjugated to the needs of the balance sheet and big business. Perhaps in the end GDP is God – although I suspect that Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed (and other great religious or moral leaders) might have a thing or two to say about that! But, it seems to me that if, indeed, this is the case, then for the good of society in general and all its individuals in particular, we need to re-assess our sense of values in order that society and its individuals are protected from the financial imperative that would govern all our beliefs and actions. Not to do so brings the world of the Joad’s a step nearer for all of us – it brings a return of the Dickensian workhouse and an ethical code based upon winner takes all. If, on the other hand, there is no immutable law which demands that all must be subjugated to economic requirements then we have, as a society, the opportunity to make choices about what we believe, what we value, who we reward and the like.

At this point I could move in many directions. I could discuss the issues and implied values associated with the current public sector union dispute over their pensions. I could consider the mass redundancies just announced by Lloyd's Bank – an act which has, apparently delighted the City to the degree that the stock market immediately moved up a few points. What a strange society we do live in when the putting of thousands on the economic and possibly social scrap heap "delights city investors" – perhaps the age of Dickens is already here. It is doubly ironic when one considers that our own government actually own 41% of the shares in the Lloyd'sgroup! Or, for example, I could perhaps muse on the recommendations of the Dilnot  Commission  into the care of the elderly. But no, attractive though each of these is interesting and important,  I will consider something else.

Statue of the
Good Samaritan

Despite the dreadful end to Steinbeck’s tale there was, within that ending, hope. I said above that the Joad's had their humanity 'screwed' by Wall Street - this is perhaps no quite the case - for despite all their suffering and loss of dignity they still struggled on and did their best. When Rose of Sharon takes the starving stranger to her breast she is perhaps symbolising some form of "regrowth" - a will to survive despite any obstacle. She is also displaying perhaps the very essence of humanity – caring for another. And for me this is essential, because in the final analysis, as human beings, this is what we must be about – caring. Take that facet out of our lives and we are nothing. Throughout the animal kingdom we see simple caring - the swan with her cygnets, the gorilla picking fleas from the fur of its young, the family life of the pride of lions with mothers playing with their cubs and teaching them the skills of the hunt, the cow licking the new born calf.....the list is endless. Are we so different? I hope not, for if we are then the human race is on its way out.  Caring would seem to me to be one of those values that transcends all others. The balance sheet and economics may well have a vital place in the world – but in the final analysis they are as nothing when the chips are down. No matter what your wealth or position when you are injured or desperately ill you will turn to those who will care for you -  you will drive to A & E or  wait desperately for the ambulance to arrive. When the world has crumbled and your savings are gone – as it had for the Joads – all you have is the comfort and care and love and support of others to help you. Economics and the balance sheet will not hep the survivor of a plane crash who is  lost in the desert - it is the kindness of a stranger who gives him  water that is critical.  In those circumstances his wealth and balance sheet count for nothing. The Parable of the Good Samaritan made the point better than I; economics and banks and balanced budgets did not help  the man who "journeyed from Jerusalem  to Jericho".  It was the care of the Samaritan that was important. The Samaritan, in taking the injured man to the innkeeper, did not say "Here's some money to take care of him, but don't overspend, make sure that you are efficient, don't spend more than I've given you, here's my mobile number so make sure you get my authorisation before buying anything, make sure that you reclaim the VAT on any items that you buy and ensure that I receive this VAT repayment......oh, and above all make sure that you only pay your employees the minimum wage or less - I don't want to be paying top whack for their services". No, he said  'Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.' - no sign of the balance sheet there! The Samaritan would have got short shrift in 21st century Britain or America. George Osborne and Sarah Palin would have soon rubbished him - they could not even begin to understand what he was getting at. 

Doing the work that we won't do.

My friend and fellow blogger, Betty Kidd, recently wrote a blog which she entitled "Unsung Heroes" (http://bettykidd.blogspot.com/)  in which she made exactly this point – that the people who are the real heroes are those who care for us and provide the services that are important in life.

So, how bizarre – and indeed distressing – it was to see a ten foot statue of ex-American president Ronald Reagan unveiled in London today. Our own Foreign Secretary William Hague attended and proudly proclaimed that it "is a great honour for me, personally, to take part in a ceremony for a man who changed the political landscape at the time I first became involved in it." Well, Reagan certainly changed the landscape – but with Margaret Thatcher  as his "henchwoman" many would argue "not for the better". It was Reagan and Thatcher’s policies of free markets and deregulation that ultimately brought about the financial time bombs that exploded  three years ago and which are now being paid  for by the people of  Greece, Lloyd's employees, nurses, hospital cleaners and the like. A repeat of the 1930’s fiasco.

Why a heroic statue of Reagan should decorate our capital is beyond me. It is of the same level of obscenity as the statue of Bomber Harris a man responsible for the fire bombing of cities like Dresden. It might be argued by some perverted minds that it was a military and economic imperative but that does not mean it should also be celebrated. We do, indeed, seem to have a strange  value code  for deciding who are our heroes, what we aspire to  and what indeed our values are.

Bill Sparks

By digression, this thought about our warped value system crossed my mind over the weekend and, in a strange way, is related to the unveiling of the Reagan statue. I have just finished reading an account  of the Second World War mission often called "The Cockleshell Heroes" – more on this in my next blog! But sufficient to say that as I reached the end of the account I mused again on our strange set of values. The mission was an attempt (successful) to attack German shipping docked in the French port of Bordeaux in 1942. Churchill estimated that the success of the mission cut short the war by at least six months. It was a daring plan in which twelve marines would paddle kayaks up the River Gironde estuary – a trip of some 90 miles – having been launched from a submarine. They would travel by night and hide by day. It was incredibly dangerous and each man knew there was little chance of safe return. If they did manage it then they were on their own – to escape in any way they could – ideally via Spain. In the end only two returned safely – the rest being executed by the Germans or dying in the attempt.

As those who have read my blogs before will know, I am no military man – in my view all things military show up the cant and hypocrisy of our (and other) nations.  But, to get back to the Cockleshell Heroes, one of the two to return was Bill Sparks -  a humble man -  a corporal in the Royal Marines, a cockney. Bill had volunteered for this "hazardous mission" and luckily returned  home safely. He was awarded the DSM for his heroic efforts. All well and good. Unfortunately at the end of the war his services were no longer required – he became a bus driver, a labourer, and ice cream vendor, a  bus inspector. Occasionally he was asked to return to France where he was hailed as a hero – but not in his own country. After his death his council house in Essex was presented with a 'blue plaque' to commemorate his residence.We sure know how to reward and value our heroes in this country don't we!  In his early sixties ill health forced him to take retirement and soon after the government in its wisdom decided to cut his invalidity pension by £1000. Despite his protests  "nothing could be done". In the end he was forced to sell his medals – luckily (if that is the right word) the purchaser was the Royal Marine Museum who "allowed" Bill to "borrow" them when he took part in veterans’ parades or represented the marines at some military event. Bill was understandably very bitter. To paraphrase the title of a recent Hollywood blockbuster – "No Country for Old Heroes". No statue or pension for Bill. But, hey, don't dwell on the past, clearly Ronald Reagan is a hero – he has a statue to prove it. This morning's Guardian headlined the event by saying "politicians gather to catch a little of Reagan's stardust" - perhaps that was a Freudian slip identifying the reality what our society values and worships today - "stardust". If it is true then these politicians and indeed the Guardian should hang their heads in shame.  Bill Sparks on the other hand wasn't really into "stardust", he   was just a man who volunteered to give up his life and then was forgotten and denied a few pounds in old age. Reagan’s contribution to humanity was that he  almost single headedly destroyed the financial and ethical security of the world -  and he  is now  hailed a hero and has  a statue. Mmmmm........a strange set of values.

Perhaps the sort of statue
we need more of

But back to my first paragraph and the "Grapes of Wrath". Last week my wife and I were watching a couple of hospital "fly on the wall" documentary programmes on TV. Amongst the many sad, happy, sometimes frightening sights two stood out. The first was a young hospital worker describing how her motivation for getting up each morning, knowing that during the day she will face the death of people brought into A & E, she will need to comfort people, take away their pain, comfort relatives and the like, was that she was indeed going to help people during the day.  It’s those basic human instincts again – caring  and loving  and comforting – what Rose of Sharon displays at the end of Steinbeck’s great work. The second was even more pertinent and poignant in my book. A nurse in an intensive care unit for babies who had been born many weeks  or months premature. It would be nice to think that in these circumstances  modern technology  and the love of the parents of the new born child when combined with the expertise and hard work of medical staff ensures a happy outcome.  In reality it is often very different and one problem is that often these new born babies are the babies of single mothers who may have other children at home – so it is not always possible for mum to be available at the hospital for the many weeks or months that some of these tiny babies need to be cared for. There may be many moral, social and practical issues here but in the final analysis the nurse in question, very close to tears, explained how she and her colleagues had to try to give the babies what they most needed  - "cuddles" – surrogate motherhood, because there was no one else there to do it. Rose of Sharon again.

As I said above, when the chips are down it’s not money and technology and economics and balance sheets and Ronald Reagan or George Osborne that will save us – it’s care and love and comfort.

I don’t subscribe to the notion that all nurses or firemen or teachers or carers are heroes or angels – no group or profession can claim that. But everyday people like them do the jobs that we would rather not or that others do not have the time for. The care of the elderly, for example, is a problem to our modern society. People are living longer, families are often separated by many hundreds of miles and as a result care homes and all that go with them are a feature of our lives. Whatever the rights or wrongs or economics of all this we ever more demand that others – the care home worker, the health visitor, the hospital porter, the policeman, the teacher, the foster parent, the social worker, the street cleaner and the like – do the things that we cannot or do  not wish to be bothered with – because we are so busy pursuing our own careers and attending to our own needs. These people who day after day "get us off the hook" for our obligations are, it seems to me, the real heroes.

A statue celebrating
a real hero

Walk through London and you will see great statues reminding us of the great and the good – and sadly the not so good. Bizarrely, pop star Michael Jackson stands outside Fulham Football Club – this would seem to me to be the ultimate affront to what is supposed to be a cultured society - very much on a par with ancient Rome erecting a statue of Caligula. We now have Ronald Reagan. How about a statue of the princesses Beatrice and Eugenie for their contribution to the wealth of the fashion industry – real heroes those girls! Or what about a statue of Rupert Murdoch – he’d fit in well, after all, with his cynical and manipulative use of the media, no-one has had as much influence on democracy as he in recent years. These and others would all be good people to aspire to. “Look at that statue of Bomber Harris, Johnny” a young mother could say to her son. “Grow up like him and you’ll be able to kill thousands”.

But seriously, how about a few statues and some recognition of the people who really matter, who display the basic characteristics of humanity – care and love. Not glamorous or rich or powerful – just ordinary people who do the jobs that need to be done and upon who we rely day after day. Why can’t every street corner, every village centre, every shopping precinct  celebrate the life and contribution of those who really matter - not Ed Miliband or Alan Sugar. Not Prince Charles or Sir Alex Ferguson. Not Kate Middleton or Victoria Beckham. Not the accountant or the entrepreneur. Not the politician or the millionaire. Not the admiral or the  general.   Perhaps a statue of Rose of Sharon might be a timely reminder of what are ultimately the important things in life. And if not that, a nurse, a hospital porter, a mother, a policeman, a fireman, a care worker – whatever. Perhaps that might restore our value system a little, give these people some kind of recognition and remind our children of what is important to value and aspire to - and most important remind ourselves of what it is (or should be) to be human.