Some twenty years ago I was part of a short play
competition. In that competition there was a new play called the ‘Adjudicators’
it was about the process of entering a one-act play competition. There was a
line in the play, which read, "Just because everybody laughed, it doesn't
mean it was funny."
It took me a long time to really understand the
profound meaning this seemingly throw away line had. I mean in fairness, if
everyone laughs at a joke or a piece of humour surely that would mean it was
funny? Or if every child after finishing school goes on to University, that
must be a good thing for their future? Or if a large minority decides that an
ethnic group should be eliminated, then it's okay for the majority to get in
line, even if it is in order to save their own life.
I am not suggesting that everything that a large group
of people does is wrong; in fact many times it is a good barometer. What I am
suggesting is that to follow the crowd blindly, might end in falling off the
edge of the cliff, pulled along by the power of the group, albeit a badly lead misdirected group.
For some time now the industrial era has been slowing
down, faster than we realised as it turns out. We no longer make anything in
this country. We no longer have an Empire where the sun does not set. We no
longer manufacture and export automobiles, we no longer manufacture cottons
from our northern mills all over the world and we no longer have the worlds
leading education system.
What we have is an opportunity, an opportunity to
once again change the direction we are going in, an opportunity to say that we
no longer lead the world in manufacturing and power and that we have chosen to
take a different path instead. What we have is an opportunity to lead because we can.
We have swapped the industrial revolution for a new
revolution; in fact we are in the midst of two revolutions going on side by
side. The Communication and Service revolutions. The challenge is to accept
that we no longer are a nation that makes things, rather a nation of Service
and Communication.
There is a gulf however, which divides those of us who
have embraced these revolutions and those of us who are hanging desperately to
the past. We use excuses such as 'Our forefathers made things which made this
nation great and we must do the same' or 'Even though we know that smoking is bad
for us and in fact, kills us, we cannot close down the factories that make
cigarettes because we would lose jobs and then what would we do? How would we
pay our bills and anyway, my parents worked in that factory, shouldn't I?
It is easy to see why we are scared of letting go. We
have been told for so long that if we got a good Education we would then be
able to get a good job, settle down, buy a house, get married, have 2.5
children and, if you like animals, get a dog. For so long we have been told
where and when to laugh and told that the reason is because everyone else
laughed so the joke, then must be funny. Get a job because everyone else has, so it
must be right. Go to university and study English or Math, because everyone
else has, therefore studying Art or Dance or Drama must be bad by default.
The problem is, the past is just that, the past. It
has gone. It is in the past and with it, has gone all of the things that would
have guaranteed success. Now what?
