My Jubilee post,' The Power of Unity '

Apologies in advance if you were hoping to avoid the Jubilee, here on my blog. It might not seem the most natural place to mention it, but you will be able to follow my thought process with out too much effort!

This country and the rest of the world too, are going through some of the toughest times that I can recall seeing in my lifetime. In a fairly typical week, we hear about fighting round the world, natural disasters and economic meltdown. People are worried about their futures, and fighting for what they believe in.The media and social media is awash with negative stuff, and sometimes, I wonder if I should even bother getting out of bed, as everything seems so depressing!

However, this Jubilee Weekend and particularly yesterday, showed the world, what we can do, even when everything seems to be going against us, including the weather!! The nation has come together as one, for a common cause. There are four days of celebrations, including many things that I doubt I will see similar in my lifetime.

The incredible flotilla yesterday, was a fantastic piece of organisation, and nothing has been seen of its like for more than 300 years. Despite the absolutely atrocious weather, everyone was laughing and smiling and celebrating what Britain does so well. We have street parties going on throughout the holiday, and they will go on, with or without rain, because that's what we do!

Everywhere you go, there is Union Jack bunting, and flags hanging proudly. People are happy, celebrating together a wonderful achievement by the Queen. Whether you are a royalist or not, the Royal Family, can always succeed in uniting the country in joy and pageantry, for a birth, wedding, anniversary or the like.

In our normal everyday life, people are very quick to voice their opinions, for or against what is happening. We have seen this recently with the government, and its taxation policy. Most of the time the country is divided on our thoughts of solving a problem. Growth v Austerity, Euro/No Euro, More media/less. So many points of view, so many ways of airing your views, we seem to be constantly at odds with each other.

I guess the fact that we live in a democratic country, gives us all the opportunity to say our piece, and it is very rare that we all come together as one. This weekend is one of those times.I have watched like most of you, some of the media coverage of the events, and I was also lucky to attend a celebration bbq, with friends. What struck me was how people had left their everyday troubles behind, even if only temporarily, and wanted to have a good time. Despite the awful weather conditions, we were all determined to enjoy ourselves!

This made me think, about the power that unity brings. Working together for a common cause. Can you imagine, if we were all pulling in the same direction, what we could achieve? Think about office politics, and how difficult your job can be, because people want to be divisive, usually for their own gain.In large organisations, although there is one common policy, people will interpret it differently, and at times, to suit themselves.

 Even in times of illness, the divides start to appear quickly. Everyone has their own ideas about what is right, from diagnosis to treatment. Ultimately, the patient must decide, what is right for them. What is the secret to get everyone working together for the common good?

People seem to come together for a good cause, for example fundraising. Communities can pull together, for example the London riots. These are smaller examples of what happened yesterday. Events like this cross all social, religious and nationality, boundaries, everyone does something to help, and everyone gets something back. A very definite, win- win situation.

What stops us working together more often? Even in charities, there is a competitive edge. Although a lot of charities work in a similar field, sharing information is not always a common practice.The common theme here is the patient. Surely everyone is working to benefit the patient, not themselves or the organisation.

I guess that with events such as we are currently witnessing, there are very few personal agendas, no promotions or pay rises, no pensions to protect, and no egos to massage. Just a common desire to ensure that everything goes as well as possible and that people have a great time. In my personal experience, just to see people smiling is a reward on it's own.

Now here's a thought. Maybe it is a unified event, because the politicians had very little input!  Are you enjoying the Jubilee? Why can't we find this feeling more often?