meandering thoughts.

 A Note written by Hugh Dormer 1943 taken from the Diary.

"Again and again one gets that moment of intuition, that sudden vision of how the old world is falling into chaos around us.  Ideas and principles that have never yet been challenged in the centuries are questioned for the first time by scientific unbelievers:  the traditions of the army, the security of classes and the respect of man for his superiors. the value of religion, the sacredness of the family itself are all violated and derided.  While every thing that he has been brought up to believe in falls around him, man feels that he must strike out alone into the new future and seek out for himself the unprecedented pattern of the adventure of his own life."

The last few days of American politics has wound itself round our screens with all the human drama we are badgered with these days.  The idea that the world always sits on the edge of precipice seems real.  But how many times has this fear been enacted through history.  Hugh Dormer a highly articulate Catholic killed in battle captures his fear for the future in the above quote, almost conservative ideals still spoken today.  People still shy away from the word socialism, though in fact all it means is...

a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Still our countries are divided between capitalism and socialism, either here in Britain and also America.  Some would believe that individual gain is the goal to be achieved whilst others believe in serving the community.  Our country works between these two goals, some would argue not very successfully but we proudly point to the NHS as something we are justly proud of.  The government, led  by the conservatives, have by the terrible forces of the pandemic been made to hand out large amounts of money to the community as lockdowns continue and people cannot work, as indeed has America. The divide ceases to exist?

Polarisation in politics is on the whole a bad thing, the left/right argument just takes us down a road of nastiness and wasted time and space.  When we should be looking to the future and options to overcome present problems and perhaps looking back on past history to see if we have made any moves forward.

Catholicism stands at the back of Hugh Dormer, as it did John Bunting.  Two other writers come to mind Tolkien and Lewis, it would be interesting to actually study deeply this time of two world wars, the gradual progressive changes and the role of religion had on it all....