I’ve sat on my thoughts about this for some time, and have just recently gotten around to writing them down. This blog is after all a cathartic / therapeutic exercise, and in this instance I’d like to know what people think…
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In a previous post on this blog, I bid my rugby playing career a fond farewell. I remained keen to contribute to the senior side of the club however, despite hanging up my playing boots.
It’s lovely seeing kids enjoy something. Laughing and playing, with all of the innocence of youth etc. That joy ratchets up a notch or three when it’s your own kids, and you witness first hand their enjoyment of an activity or whatever it may be. So, imagine then the dismay, when something that has brought an immense amount of pleasure for a number of reasons over a number of years starts having the opposite effect. Very simply…I see my lad doing something reluctantly that he used to do without question and full of joy, and that makes me sad and want to know why.
In my previous post about parental pride, I spoke about my daughter Natasha and her passing all her GCSEs, and about how that got her into her intended college course at SGS Filton:
A week after her older sister achieved 4 fine passes in her A-Levels that saw her secure a place at her chosen university, Thursday 24th August was GCSE results day for Natasha, my 16 year old daughter.
So today (17th August 2017) is A-Level results day in the UK. Thousands of 17 / 18 year olds up and down the country are getting their A-Level results and for some of them, their futures depend on them for University places. I’m just concerned with one of those kids however, and that’s my eldest, Charlotte.
We all have things that occupy our time in a number of ways; work, family, hobby and a variety of obligations. A key skill is learning to manage and balance them!
A bit of a vent…
If judging oneself or anyone else to have “gone wrong”, what is the yardstick being used and who set the standards being measured against? After all, one person’s “wrong” is another’s “not bad”, much like political opinion. Some would have us do something in a particular way that others regard (either in method or outcome) as anathema to them. A quote from the film “Twelve Monkeys”, often used, adjusted and (incorrectly) attributed to a variety of people is “There is no right or wrong, there is only popular opinion”. Contentious maybe, but I think there is something to it. This is not about judgement of others however, but more about judgement of oneself. Therefore some discussion of the standards being measured against and how they were acquired, when coming to the conclusion of having “gone wrong”, is merited.