Wordsley, Stourbridge, England: 6 degrees, grey, miserable and rainy.
I’m glad to be back at work after a long Easter bank holiday, as it was a bank holiday in Brazil on Friday and another in England on Monday, which completely disrupted my routine for staying healthy, productive, and earning money.
I faced the same issue in Brazil, where the long bank holiday weekends would completely disrupt the entire class schedule and affect the school’s productivity.
Today was a day focused on maintaining the routine to stay on track. Exercising early in the morning is always beneficial and helps with everything for the rest of the day. While I was outside exercising, I decided to do some gardening and use the weed killer I had bought the day before.
I haven’t done any gardening in at least 40 years, and doing some in the last couple of months has been a revelation for me. After half an hour in the garden, I was back at the computer to post today’s blog, which I was pretty happy about.
Exercise and blog posts before the first class of the day are fundamental. Starting the day well and productively sets the tone for the rest of the day, allowing for effective teaching and preparation of future blog posts for the coming week.
My focus is on maintaining what I already have and building upon it.
I need to expand into YouTube. I realise I have been delaying it for quite some time and must start. I’m currently losing money because I haven’t been producing videos. I also haven’t started or even tested the camera and drone I bought, and that is my priority for the coming weekend.
I have also spoken to my mother about remaining in England. It was a shock; she didn’t like it very much, but at the same time, I think she understood that it was for the best at the moment.
Well, I think and hope she does.
Brazil has reverted to the old Brazil of the PT, the Workers’ Party, from 2002 to 2017. There were scandals almost every day and every week, scandals of corruption, scandals of political favouritism, and scandals of millions, if not billions, of taxpayers’ money being channelled into projects that never materialised. It was a nightmare, inhumane. I’m principally perverse because, as always, the population pays the bill.
The issue this time is that it is worse than before, and the seriousness of each new scandal is much greater and more severe than those in the past. These sociopaths who are currently in power should be imprisoned for life; they are causing irremediable damage to people’s lives and Brazilian society, and it will take generations to heal the consequences of their actions.
One of the questions I ask pupils in the methodology I developed and use in my classes is whether power is a good or bad thing. Seventy per cent of pupils believe power is a good thing, and then they try to justify themselves, saying that in the right hands, it can be beneficial.
I believe that for over ninety per cent of people, power is something they do not understand how to wield or control properly. Once it is in their possession, it becomes something they are reluctant to relinquish, as they increasingly rely on it for action, work, and self-validation.
It’s a deadly drug that can cause chaos for many people if misused!
I only want to have control over myself so that I can act instead of react. Again, most people only know how to react, depending on external circumstances, and are therefore at the mercy of others and their actions.
I, Richard, want to act independently of others’ actions, primarily in relation to myself, my life, and those who are important to me. We must remain humble, recognising that on a larger scale we are merely a speck in time and space.
However, on a micro level, we hold significance, our own importance, making it essential to find our own meaningful path, live our vocation, and keep it within our own universe. We should take care not to negatively impact others, especially those who should not be affected by our actions—an inherently selfish, righteous, and entitled perspective.
I was born and grew up in a democracy. I’m currently living back in England, visiting my mother. Brazil has been my home for over 30 years, and it has now been officially classified as a dictatorship.
Do I really want to go and live in Brazil under a dictatorship, and worse than it was before?
Classes until late! I’m thinking about Greyhounds!!!
In bed by 11:00 p.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
