The SNP's Cllr Sarah Fanet's election flyer fell through my letterbox at the weekend, so I've added it to my collection; it, along with Fiona Fawcett's (Cons) and Kate Willis's (Green) which arrived last week as well as Angus MacDonald's (undated) letter of this week, will be the subject of my first full-length Wed-Head** of 2022. I am, however, at least able to confirm one-half of one factual claim made in Ms Fanet's flyer: that she has "engaged with both individuals and community groups," inasmuch as that she has indeed attended online meetings of the community council on which I serve. Please note that I make this statement without endorsement of any candidate; au contraire: there is something less-than-satisfactory about all of their election communications, about which I intend to elaborate next Wednesday - or at least some Wednesday soon. [[ **see my updated <https://draytonmark.substack.com/p/wed-head-i> ]] In the meantime, it is with very mixed feelings that I must report today that Mr Cameron Bauer, a Marylander who settled in Scotland some years ago, is relocating to Glasgow next month. Cameron, a joiner whose last working day at Lochaber Hope's (relatively) new woodworkshop is tomorrow (Thursday 14th April), is one of the most dedicated communitarians I have met in my few years as a community councillor. He will be greatly missed by everyone with whom he has worked or liased or brainstormed. Pleasingly, however, Cameron's handywork will have a long-lasting monument in Fort William, because he and a colleague built that woodworkshop themselves! (It stands to the immediate left - ie west - of the main Lochaber Hope building on Belford Road at Nevis Bank.) Long may it last. Cameron also served on the board of LHA (a voluntary, unpaid position, of course). I've never met Cameron's partner, and their requirement now to relocate is, of course, none of my business. But for myself I will say that, however difficult the decision was, as new(ish) parents presumably seeking to give their child the best possible start in life, they could certainly be forgiven for concluding, sadly, that our locality offers far too few opportunities for youngsters to thrive and to flourish. They'd be right, too. Until we empower our communities Lochaber's adults will continue to betray their offspring, something I have been trying to change for several years - to little or no effect, I hasten to admit. Indeed, in conversation with FITCC's Mark Linfield I have likened the challenge of effecting that change to attempting to turn an oil tanker around merely by having the captain order the crew always to piss off of the same side of the deck. The reason I haven't given up is largely due to one of Cameron Bauer's most exemplary compatriots, whose life and moral example Americans remember and celebrate on the third Monday in January. Loyal readers might recall that I included the specific relevant quotation in my third 'election address' last year:- > Reflecting on "the character of nations and the course of history" in 2014, > Henry Kissinger warned that "each generation will be judged by whether the > greatest, most consequential issues of the human condition have been > faced." > > Our suicide rate here is high even by Scottish standards where, sadly, the > picture is bad enough already. And that's just the tip of an iceberg of > mental health problems we suffer from - just ask your GP. > > Empowered people don't take their own lives. Disempowerment, disagency and > disillusion are, at present, just as great and consequential an "issue of > the human condition" as climate volatility and, to the point, as I see > things it's impossible to imagine our solving the latter without squarely > facing the former. > > Yet people have prevailed in far worse circumstances: Mohandas Gandhi led > the liberation of India, after all. And, speaking in 1956, Dr Martin Luther > King Jr. proclaimed that:- > > "It's not only rights that we are seeking. We not only have the right to be > free, we have a duty to be free. And when you see freedom in sense of duty, > it becomes greater than seeing it in terms of right, your right to be free. > You have a duty to be free." > > I'll let that sink in. > > Council-Tax-payers deserve a Bill of rights, for a start. And public > service vouchers can and should replace the seductive but ultimately > demeaning practice of grant-chasing in service provision, treating symptoms > instead of causes. > > "Huh? What difference will THAT make?" These are deep waters but, by way > of (oblique) answer, here is a quote from Vaclav Havel offering a > psychological diagnosis of what went wrong in pre-1989 Eastern Europe:- > > "The essential aims of life are present naturally in every person. In > everyone there is some longing for humanity's rightful dignity, for moral > integrity, for free expression of being, and for a sense of transcendence > over the world of existences. Yet, at the same time, each person is capable, > to a greater or lesser degree, of coming to terms with living within the > lie. Each person somehow succumbs to a profane trivialization of his or her > inherent humanity and to utilitarianism. In everyone there is some > willingness to merge with the anonymous crowd and to flow comfortably along > with it down the river of pseudo-life. This is much more than a simple > conflict between two identities. It is something far worse. It is a > challenge to the very notion of identity itself." I stand by every word of that, and I hope that loyal readers won't at all mind - even if they had to put up with my ramblings, too - being reminded of some very wise and deep insights from some very wise and insightful deep-thinkers. (Whatever Dr Kissinger's other faults, I surely grant him that much). You might ask: if you stand by every word, why aren't you standing again in the forthcoming HRC election on 5th May. For a start, the only reason I stood last time was because I knew I couldn't possibly win. Rather, I hoped to influence the agenda. I failed. But so, presumably, had Samuel Beckett when he famously said: "Ever tried? Ever failed? No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." I'm trying again. Watch this space.
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