Soap box
Here’s a thought, no one in all human history has ever achieved anything solely through their own efforts. No one. Ever. Anything. Chuck Yeager was the first man (officially) through the sound
barrier, but the thinking, the research, the technology, largely British, culled from the Miles 52 project, was not his. Fleming may have identified penicillin, and I’m damn glad he did, because I’d be dead if he hadn’t, but it took the investment and efforts of large pharmaceutical companies to bring its life saving properties to human kind. Lenin may have had a few new thoughts, but it took an army to bring down the Tzars. Sure his thinking inspired many and still does, but his thinking didn’t achieve change. He had to communicate his thoughts to inspire others and then, it was their muscle, sweat and blood that achieved change. Alexander the Great was, I am told, a great leader, but the clue is in the title, leader, he didn’t win all those scraps by himself; he had a great big army of committed men ready to do his bidding. Genghis Kahn didn’t conquer
Maximus looks at getting involved
I further suspect that those affected by the lack of running water were far more resourceful and community spirited than we were being led to believe but, and it’s a big but, we do seem to live in a world where because so much is done for us, we stop trying ourselves, and when something goes a little bit wrong, we look for someone to blame. But what has all this got to do with motorcycling or more
importantly the Motorcycle Action Group? Simply this, however hard Nich, Paddy, Louisa and Julie work, however hard the stalwart fundraisers and rally organisers work, the real power for change through MAG, lies with you, dear reader. Nich and the team can communicate ideas and inspire, but they need your ‘muscle’ to effect change. ‘But what can I do’ some may ask? I’ve paid my £25, I read the ROAD, I go to a rally or two, I sometimes go to the local group meeting and I may even go to the AGC next year, what more do you want? This, dear reader, this. Play a more active role in the campaigns – how? If you haven’t already done so then sign up to
a bomb on your head is a crisis, an earthquake can lead to a crisis and the fact there is a program called X-factor is just a bloody disgrace
the known world on his own and Columbus may have discovered America but he sure as heck didn’t build the boat that got him there. While you’re thinking about that, let me offer something else. On the radio yesterday I heard two news stories that got me thinking. The first concerned a commemorative event to celebrate the work of the fire service during the blitz. The organisers wanted to pay tribute to the courage of the firemen, many of them volunteers, some of whom gave their lives to save others and protect London at its time of greatest need. The next story concerned the ‘crisis’ in Northern Ireland when 36,000 homes were without water. The reporter interviewed some of the locals affected by the ‘crisis’. One of those interviewed brought home the enormity of the ‘crisis’ by telling listener’s that she had not been able to wash as often as she would like and had had to use ‘baby wipes’ to stay clean. I immediately sold my house and gave all my money to the ‘crisis’ relief fund, (I hope you will too). Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to poke fun at the inconvenience suffered by those without water but I was struck by two things: One, the fact the word ‘crisis’ had been used. It was not a crisis, at
best it was bloody inconvenient, a bomb on your head is a crisis, an earthquake can lead to a crisis and the fact there is a program called X- factor is just a bloody disgrace. Two, the tone of the article seemed to suggest that everyone was looking for someone else to make it better and for someone else to blame. Now I know that there is not much news between Christmas and the New Year, wot with Parliament being closed an’ all and; I suspect that the BBC were trying to milk the story for all it was worth.
email mailing lists and when an email comes through, read it and if needs be, ACT. For example, the recent survey regarding roadside MOT’s for bikes. Did you know about it? If you did, did you take part in the survey? In the old days we needed meetings for information to be
disseminated. Today that need is addressed through different means, largely the internet. We still need meetings but those meetings need to serve a different purpose (this will be the subject of my next rant), but let’s stick with information. In a world where we have events reported to us in real time we, if we
wish to be effective need to be wired into that information grid and we need to play an active role. Thank you, really. Thank you for paying your £25, for reading the
ROAD and for attending MAG fund raising rallies. Thank you for attending your local group meetings and I hope to see you at the AGC, but please, please, get involved online, sign up to the RAV and campaign mailing lists and if you’re not online, you can discover a whole new world for as little as £30. It’s only by working together every time we’re faced with a crisis, just like those fire fighters did, that MAG will ever achieve its full potential. Oh and an update on the ‘crisis’, well in the time it’s taken me to
write this, they have re-connected 33400 homes and downgraded the situation to ‘chaos’. Mmmm.
http://www.mag-uk.org/en/news and choose the mailing lists you’d
like to be on. Maximus
82 The ROAD
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84