Who's A Good Girl?

Hello, and welcome back to the scribblings of my inner brain. Sorry about the long interim again, real life keeps getting in the way of my opinion.
Don't you hate when that happens?

My ponderings today have all been along the lines of what it means to be good. Not in the massively deep way that leads to an argument with Mackers and a degree in philosophy, but in the simple way that most of us aim to fulfil from time to time. Looking at things from a Christian perspective, there are certain things that people of my religion are encouraged to do. Similarly, there are aspects of life that society tries to instigate as "good", although whether this is the case or not is a debate for another time.

You could never say that I am a perfect Christian. I have never scorned a gay man, I often eat bacon and other forms of pork, I wear mixed fibre clothing and sometimes (on a more serious note) I forget to pray, or put other things before church attendance. But does that make me a fundamentally bad Christian, or even a bad person?

I would say no.

I still try to live by the main principles of my faith; I love my neighbour as myself, I try to put other people's concerns before my own, more often than not I respect my parents, and I have never coveted anyone's oxen.
OK, I know the last one is a little ridiculous, but my point still stands.

Trying to be a good person is not difficult. It doesn't mean you have to do everything right all the time, nobody can do that. For me, it just means that sometimes you have to think about what is best for others first, and whether you would be happy receiving the treatment you're dishing out. You don't have to be religious to be good either; in the same way that claiming a faith doesn't automatically make you a pillar of society. It really is as simple as offering to put together the PowerPoint for a class project. Or asking your friends if they want anything when you go to the shops. Nobody is asking you to move the moon for them.

Just remember that: "A Brownie Guide puts others before herself and does a good turn every day". And if a seven-year-old girl can do that, why can't I?

My Meandering Brain

OK, this is hardly surprising for regular readers of my blog, but that last post seemed to go off at somewhat of a tangent. The post was meant to be about how everything is slowly sorting itself out in my life, not about how my life is complete now that I have a boyfriend and a job.

I'd like to take this opportunity to say that just because I am now receiving a slightly higher income than 0p per month this does not mean that my life is now perfect. Furthermore, I am not suggesting that I or anyone else needs a job to be happy. Some work can make you happy and part of what makes my job so enjoyable is the people there (hence the huge tangent.) All I meant was that it is one less thing for me to worry about now and therefore one less thing to write about.

Likewise the boyfriend situation. Miss MacNeill and Sophie R,  if you are reading this I am not saying that a significant other is important for making one feel happy, merely that it's one less thing that I can moan about to all and sundry.

My real point was meant to be that things are finally picking up in my life where they have previously been points for me to complain incessantly about and that this might, in the long run, hail the end of my wonderful (under appreciated) blog. Even my weird and wonderful Uni crisis has sorted itself out; I am now going to study German at Nottingham, not what I originally planned, but I think it's the right choice. As My Grandad and Dad often say, everything happens for a reason.

Anyway, as you can see, this post is more accurate and on topic than my last post. Why does this always happen? And so, dear readers, I must be going now as the Land of Nod awaits. Much love and that x

A Quick Thought On Margaret Thatcher

If Margaret Thatcher had been a man, people would have been much more supportive of her work.

Obviously, I am not saying that everything she did was perfect (she ruined education and declared a war we probably didn't need to fight, but do we ever need to fight any war?) and I don't claim to know all about 1980s politics, in the same way I don't really know about modern politics.

My point is just that a lot of things that Maggie did which were right, or at least for the right reasons, were understated. Had she been a man, they would've been more highly regarded, a bit more like Winston Churchill is. I mean, he made some mistakes (quite a lot, if you look at it) but also did some things right and we remember him as one of the greatest political figures of our history. Well, a lot of people do at least.

Don't worry friends, I've not gone completely off my rocker, I still disagree with everything that the Tories do/say and, when the revolution finally comes, I'll be close behind Miss MacNeill in the line for the Tory Fox Hunt.

What my point is here, really, is that sexism is still rampant in our society; even at the highest level when a strong, independent woman manages to defeat all the chauvinistic men around her and actually ends up running the country. And, had Margaret Thatcher been a man, people would be more supportive of the good she did and more willing to overlook the lesser of the evil things she did.

Rest in Peace Maggie.

And I apologise for sounding so much like Miss MacNeill in this blog post (except that I'm pretty sure she'd never say anything positive about Mrs Thatcher.)