14th June 2020

As I get ever older, my hair now iron grey with a Mallen streak, what do I think of my life? I look back over the decades from the 40s to now, but history books only tell one side of the story. Yes, they describe the things that happened in all their gory detail but rarely the mindset of the people who committed them. All over the world, so many people are driven by narrow viewpoints, fuelled and illustrated by the glory-seeking media. Life is never black and white but many-faceted. People’s skins are not black and white but are many-hued, born of diverse ancestries and ethnic makeup. When I look at statues, I don’t see a person but the historical mindset of the people living in that place, at that time and what they had to do to face the challenges present back then. So, what can we do to stop fanning the flames of extremism? A broad education is key, and media/social media controllers/police forces must be trained to give more balanced, apolitical stances of the world to stop the narrow-minded rioting which otherwise ensues from their actions. We are not black or white, divided by race/nationality, but citizens of the world