Don’t pin your hopes on the lottery.

 Subject: Don’t pin your hopes on the lottery.

Reading historical facts to gain perspective I was immeasurably struck by the war time famine's in India, the most recent, during the second world war when 3,000,000 people starved to death and even worse, at the end of the the 19th century beginning of the 20th century when 19,000,000 people died through hunger. It makes the Holocaust (6 million), Hiroshima (104,000) the Irish potato famine (1 million) and Gaza pail into a sort of second tier insignificance. Only the losses of life on the Second World Wars eastern front (20 million) can match the sheer enormity of the size of these losses but in the west we know little or nothing of these catastrophes inflicted as they were on the local population.

Our mind set has been changed radically by the Web and its ability to communicate facts on the ground almost instantly ( abet misaligned by deliberate false information) so we can’t claim to ignore the theme and one wonders how we will manage the stories as they roll in from the famine due to global warming. Images of Gaza but multiplied {(X) 10,000/100,000 times}, bodies and scavengers combing the rubble of humane habitation which the influx of immigrant people will not be denied by the Rwandan make believe, ‘Mad Max’ at our very door.

Read your history as the ‘Far Right’ gain significant strength in Europe which became the tinderbox for fascism 100 years ago as people desperate to have enough to pay the food bills were willing to pay another cost to deny the financiers. History repeats itself.

Of course I will be long gone and it will be the reality of our grandchildren to sort out, as I’m sure they will. I was born at an inappropriate time just as Hitlers war machine was rolling out across Europe and as I got into my stride the greatest reforming government was unveiling  the concept of social cohesion through more equitable government.

My mom and dad weren’t daunted by ration books or austerity or even the thought of invasion they did, as we all do in moments of adversity, they got on with what they had and didn’t build castles in the sky.

Consumerism for its own sake is a dreadful philosophy we have so much more than ‘things’. We are born with sensitivities that can unlock a heaven here on earth, not in a parable fuelled religious hinterland. Our ability to foster in our minds the practicality of life, not its day out to Disney Land. A walk across the moor whilst you can, or down on the beach, helping someone across the road, a pleasant interaction in the supermarket leaves a consolation mark which the isolation in an exclusive resort can rarely attain.

Look and you shall find is as good a piece of advice as I can give. Always be realistic and don’t pin your hopes on the lottery.