Unselfish deeds are all very noble, but kindness has a rather more practical quality – it helps us survive. Here’s why it’s better to be nice than nasty.
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I have a confession to make. I don’t like being horribly mutilated in a car accident, ending up face down in the gutter with blood pouring out of an eye. Being knocked off a motorbike in the middle of a motorway – with no helmet – doesn’t sound much fun either. And I’d like to keep my bones firmly inside my body, my neck free from whiplash, and my limbs at least vaguely connected.
OK, maybe I’m not alone. But I also don’t like hearing about this in a ‘special’ assembly on a Monday morning that seemed to misunderstand my complaint of dullness and trade it for extremely graphic descriptions of how we would die horribly in a car accident. And all this from a driving school instructor!
Fair enough – it’s a good idea to educate people and make them a bit more cautious on the road. But I’m odd in that I’ve never been gung-ho about driving… I expect I will learn how (prediction – after failing the test at least once) but I’m really, really not excited about the prospect of actually going anywhere. I mean honestly, I’m an introvert, and I live in a city with public transport and things so close you could even walk to them. If it’s dangerous enough to even take out your mobile on the streets of London, do I really want to be driving around congested streets in an expensive hunk of metal, with a huge insurance premium that’ll leave me unable to afford any petrol?
So yeah… I actually walked out of the assembly. Sorry, but I needed some water and fresh air!
Also in my life:
- More4 launched. The Daily Show, on TV, properly. Finally! And I’ve recorded A Very Social Secretary to watch at a later date.
- I got a nice comment from fellow NAGTY member Nathan Wong which led me to a few interesting blogs from his friends like Katy Moe and others. See, I was wrong about Aspire, it is cool!
- I love my hosts. They upgraded the email system today, providing IMAP subfolders for the first time.
- And various other things that happened, from tweaking Alex T’s stylesheets at school to feeling vaguely proud of our country (!) after reading today’s death penalty statement.
And finally, yesterday I was at our neighbour’s Christening which was lovely. There’s a Bar Mitzvah coming up soon in the diary too, just for balance! 
A Clockwork Orange
For those of you who haven’t read it, I’ll summarize – Alex is part of a teenage gang in a future society where crime is out of control. They spend their days beating up men and raping women, and Alex is also a big fan of classical music. Beethoven’s Ninth especially. Eventually he is caught by police and after a few years in prison is ‘cured’ of his violence using a form of brainwashing so that any time he has violent thoughts he feels sick and is unable to do it. By the end, after having been beaten up several times, he tries to commit suicide after being unable to even enjoy his music anymore. Somehow, the suicide attempt (he jumps out of a window) reverses the treatment but over time he matures and decides to ‘grow up’ of his own free will.
(Note – I haven’t seen the film, I hear it’s slightly different.)
I’m a bit of a loss as to what to say. Nearly 2000 people have died in the Pakistan earthquake, while Tropical Storm Stan also has a soaring death toll. Everything else becomes rather irrelevant when you remember how fragile our grip on the planet is.
Having said that – I spent most of today sleeping and buying clothes. And yes, I do love Primark. It’s perfect for me. It just says “I know you don’t like buying clothes, and you don’t care much about fashion, so let’s just get you the stuff you need cheaply and get out of there.” I also doubled the amount of footwear I own by getting a new pair of trainers and ‘proper’ shoes too. See – I think ahead to this year’s certificate evening.
New slogan: “What would Hiten wear?” 
Touch wood, a force-refresh seems to be successful at bringing back Gravatars at the moment. As you probably know they’ve been having problems the past week or two and we’ve all be subject to ugly black or grey boxes, but things seem to be looking up at last.
Talking of weblogs – I heard today through MSN that someone had been attacked on the way to our school (not by another student or anyone they knew, I understand.) It was a nasty shock, and I hope they’re all right. It actually got me wondering how news like this filters through various communication networks. By the time it reaches you, you have no idea how accurate the details are. The truth will normally come out through the school, but that’s days later in an assembly or newsletter if at all.
Wouldn’t it be good for schools to interact with students more online? Could there be a Queens Park weblog? And it doesn’t just have to be for the rare occasions like this – schools are full of bits of information that could be gathered in one place and discussed online. I mean, it’s 2005 and we’re still using School Councils, noticeboards and Friday newsletters? Why can’t I subscribe to an RSS feed of all this? Why isn’t there a podcast of Governors’ meetings? (OK, maybe that is going too far).
School websites at the moment seem to be very static, circa-2000 sites such as this calendar. As usual, I think they’ll catch up, but it could be a while.
Helen on It’s (waiting) time.: “Fabulous news, congratulations to you both! X” Jun 8, 21:51
