Going Live – Jane the Alchemist
I met an ageing Maori woman at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds in New Zealand a few years ago. We were sitting on a bench at the spot where her ancestors were conned into giving away New Zealand to the British Crown. Now that was an impressive land grab!
She was wrapped in a warm overcoat. She thought I was strange because I was wearing summer clothes and spoke with a funny accent. I told her I lived in England, as if that explained all eccentricities of dress and speech. She thought for a moment and said, “I have seen your Antiques Road Show on TV. You live in an old country with worn out furniture.” Not far from the truth I thought.
I told her I was from Ireland. When we sorted out the confusion about it being cold all year in a country covered in snow I explained that she was thinking of Iceland. Puzzled, she then asked me, “Where is this Ireland of yours?”
Could it be that there was even one person in the world who did not know of Ireland?
Why would the whole world know of two small islands off the north-western coast of Europe, itself a continent among others and tucked out of sight and hearing of most of the world? Realising I was from two tiny islands on the edge of a large continent that is only a small part of the globe was a mind-widening experience.
Travel does that to you. It makes you realise your place of birth and where you live is not up there with the most critical places on the globe.
Tim Peake said that on their first passes around the earth the newly arrived space station astronauts picked out their own countries. A few more turns and they pointed to continents and after a while they saw only the earth. Fred Olsen Cruises might not create that effect but can make your realise some places are quite far away and the people living there do not worry about the place you come from.
For the same effect, try boarding a plane at Heathrow and stepping off it twelve hours later in another country in a far-flung part of the globe where the people do not regard their country as ‘far-flung’. Experience what it is like not to be part of the majority in a place where you do not influence what happens. Would that all the inhabitants of the world could have that experience early in life and develop the humility, respect and broad perspectives that travel gives.
I recently found a surrogate for travel that does a great job on mind blowing, changing perspective and developing more humility without leaving the house. Jane Cull persuaded me to go online by offering to build this website.
I rehearsed all the reasons why it would be a waste of time. I complained that the web feeds narcissism, provides a cloak of anonymity to trolls, lurkers, stalkers and self-serving egotists.
She agreed that the web can support such idiots and wondered which of these categories I aspired to join!
Then she opened my eyes to the wider arena the web gives me to pursue and to proclaim my interests and insights on education, schools, justice, writing, ageing and to expand and share my love for life, humour and people. It is like being in my own space station circling the world.
Jane gave me the opportunity to speak up for what I believe in, except now the audience is not restricted by the size of the hall or the limited number of people who are available to come together or by my ability to travel to where the audience is at the time of day or night that they are prepared to listen as a group.
There are no boundaries to where I can go.
The only benchmarks are to speak the truth, demonstrate the validity of my viewpoint and display a willingness to learn as I share.
I am talking and listening to the world. That is true alchemy.
I have been interviewed on radio in towns and cities across the United States. I have had conversations with programme presenters across Canadian Provinces. I am linked up with organisations and individuals in Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales that I cannot reach easily. I am in contact with people in Hong Kong, Japan, Philippines, Nigeria, Egypt, Australia, New Zealand and China.
All that in only three months and I am only getting into my stride.
In that time I have been amazed at how much more I know about new cultures and places. I have been touched by the efforts and opportunities for changing the world pursued by many people in different countries. I have met characters it is a privilege to know and had conversations with individuals of different nationalities who listen with respect, disagree with deference and generously share their enthusiasm and passion for life. I have been moved by those who argue for justice and harmony and who are keen to listen to what I have to say.
Tim Peake is not the only one looking through the porthole of his space station seeing the world instead of the tiny place from where he once lifted off.
I tip my visor to Jane the Alchemist.
