I offered earlier (here) to share my theory about how I let Hastings & St Leonards down in 2010 in the run up to the 5th October fire. Many of us probably did something that impacted on which building caught fire that night; it's just that the links between our actions and those of some identified (yet anonymous) youths from St Leonards are not so easy to see.
I was nervous about posting this video, and the reactions I've got have justified those nerves. Am I too far out on a limb here in what I'm communicating with the community I've chosen to move into as a result of the 5th October fire?
Some would say that when I say something that doesn't go down well, I should stop digging a hole for myself:
I suggest that the best I can do is carry on in my imperfect way (my AKA is 'The Imperfect Idealist') doing all I can to share.
(My other alias is 'Lend-It-All Man':
Having worked part-time on sharing initiatives since summer 2007, when I co-founded a 'transition group' in my local area, my work has been recognised by environmental and business innovation think tanks i.e.on the importance of sharing, and the innovations that will make it happen.
Now my recommendation is that people use www.streetbank.com and that Hastings/St Leonards (where resources are scarcer than many other places) becomes a model of sharing for the rest of the UK.
Anyhow, here's the video I offered in December; I'm keen to hear what events you connect together as the deeper story of this sea-side town getting to this place of pier destruction:
Other pages on this blog:I was nervous about posting this video, and the reactions I've got have justified those nerves. Am I too far out on a limb here in what I'm communicating with the community I've chosen to move into as a result of the 5th October fire?
Some would say that when I say something that doesn't go down well, I should stop digging a hole for myself:
(My other alias is 'Lend-It-All Man':
Having worked part-time on sharing initiatives since summer 2007, when I co-founded a 'transition group' in my local area, my work has been recognised by environmental and business innovation think tanks i.e.on the importance of sharing, and the innovations that will make it happen.
Now my recommendation is that people use www.streetbank.com and that Hastings/St Leonards (where resources are scarcer than many other places) becomes a model of sharing for the rest of the UK.
Anyhow, here's the video I offered in December; I'm keen to hear what events you connect together as the deeper story of this sea-side town getting to this place of pier destruction:
Home
Mediation Support at Southwater Community Centre
Action for Happiness -A Good Week
Paul C -AKA Lend-It-All Man
Why Move to Hastings?
3 comments:
I think many will listen to this video, make a huff noise and simply shrug your words off as if you are just a dreamer with no connection to reality. I think those people should take more time to seriously consider your words, however.
In my opinion, the pier fire was a consequence of neglect and negligence. Neglect is something that happens or becomes active wherever disconnection rears its head. Disconnection is caused by the break down of social contact and the erosion of communication between people.
The people who burnt down Hastings Pier did so because NOBODY did enough to prevent them from doing so. It is easy to purely blame those in authority but by doing so we are in effect yet again disconnecting ourselves from what has happened and refusing to accept that if more people took active roles in society then things like the pier disaster would happen far less frequently.
I think to suggest that the lack of sharing of beach huts was a contributor to the fire is perhaps over simplfying things but the basis of what you say certainly has merit.
Those who burnt the pier were only on the pier in the first place because they felt that no one cared one way or the other about the place. Their own feeling of disconnection to life and to the people of their town enhanced that belief. They, like the rest of us, have had a rude awakening...
So if this was an accidental fire, it happened on a pier rather than in a small, yet also valued beachhut or other amenity lent to young people to hang-out relatively safely.
I've received comments that people in Hastings/St Leonards do share beach huts. This is sharing with people known to them. A convent nearby I'm told, goes out of it's way to provide it's two beach-huts for use by 'socially deprived' families/groups. This is where the challenge is; how to get to a culture of sharing with strangers, building trust and dealing with problems earlier. What would our local life be like if we created the kind of world in which youth were lent beach-huts rather than taking their behaviour into a place where even bigger problems are created. (Youth is not a problem, our disconnection from hearing their needs and being creative with strategies that get everyone's needs met is the problem).
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