Torbay weblog davecathy

Ah-Ha me hearties, shiver me timbers. Today was the culmination of a year long series of events and spectacles. Across the length and breadth of Britain, church bells rang out, and the Queen lit the first of a nationwide chain of fiery beacons before dining with her officers in the great cabin of H.M.S. Victory, for today is Trafalgar Day, commemorating one of the most important days in British history. Exactly 200 years ago, Admiral Lord Nelson was killed in a battle where the Royal Navy, outnumbered and outgunned, defeated the combined might of the French and Spanish battle fleets. 'England expects that every man will do his duty.' It was 'The Nelson Touch'.

There was nothing new in this, for we had been defeating both of them for centuries, Remember Henry V. at Agincourt ('Once more unto the breech dear friends, and fill the wall up with our English dead'), or Elizabeth 1. on the Spanish Armada ('I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, yet I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too.'). But Trafalgar was highly significant because it ensured that England was safe from invasion by a continental tyrant, Napoleon Bonaparte.

It is weird how history invariably repeats itself. In 1941, the Battle of Britain ('Never, in the field of human conflict, has so much been owed by so many to so few.') ensured that once again, England was saved from invasion by a continental tyrant, Adolf Hitler.

Even more, the Battle of Trafalgar did not rid us of Napoleon, we and our allies had to go back and finish him off at Waterloo a few years later. The Battle of Britain did not rid us of Hitler, we had to go back with our allies and finish him off a few years later in Germany. Again We did not finish Saddam Hussein off after defeating him in Kuwait, but have had to back with our allies a few years later to Bagdhad, which shows maybe that we are too magnanimous.

After Trafalgar, Britain ruled the waves for 140 years ('Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves. Britons never never never shall be slaves'), and it was only displaced by the U.S. Navy during the Second World War. The story goes that shortly after the U.S. Navy outgrew the Royal Navy, a U.S. ship passed an R.N. ship in mid Atlantic. The U.S. ship signalled "How is the second biggest navy doing?" to which the R.N. ship replied "Fine thank you. How is the second best ?" 

Society has protected and nurtured me, and enabled me to develop my human potential. Thus, I owe a debt of honour to society. For most, having children is sufficient, though that is merely to replace oneself. Bringing those offspring up to be decent people and responsible citizens is a much harder but more worthwhile task.  

 

But for a single person such as myself, repaying my debt to society, justifying my existence, is a much more difficult and complex matter and those selfish souls who do not concern themselves with such things are merely a waste of space, a drain on society. We all take in this world, and we should be prepared to give in at least equal measure.

 

Many would say that their contribution to society is by working most of their lives, but that is erroneous. We supply our labour in exchange for monetary reward. To barter, to exchange, is not to give, so it is merely a neutral state of affairs. Others may claim that by paying their taxes they are contributing to society. Wrong. In return for paying tax, we receive roughly equal benefit; although I pay for the education of other people’s children, I in turn was educated. The armed forces protect me, as do the police and fire brigade, and medical services keep me relatively healthy, and I don’t starve if I am unemployed or unfit for a period.

 

Giving money to charity, buying a ‘Big Issue’ once in a while is good and positive move, but is very often a rich man’s way to ease his conscience. Giving surplus cash is effortless, taking neither time or sacrifice, and it is a recorded fact that the richer one is, the less proportionately one gives to charity.

 

To make a significant and worthwhile contribution to society, one must give of oneself, to the point where it hurts a little, not only money, but your precious time and more than a little emotion, the things of real value.

 

As Kennedy almost said,

Ask not what society can do for you, ask rather what you can do for society.

 

I’d like to try and share with you an everyday experience of my youth that has stayed with me vividly all my life.

I am a cadet on a merchant ship somewhere in the tropics. Most nights, it is part of my duty to spend a couple of relaxing hours as watchman at the bow of the ship.

It is quiet, and I am as far away from the rest of the crew as is possible, and most of them are asleep anyway. The only sound is the swish of the bow wave breaking through the water some forty or fifty feet below. There is a gentle warm breeze caused by the progress of the ship, but highly refreshing after the heat of the day; a time for reflection and quiet thoughts. My only duty is to ring the ships bell if I see the lights of a ship appear, one ring for starboard, 2 for port, 3 for dead ahead, but that is unlikely, as there may not be another ship for hundreds of miles.

If I peep over the bow, I look down into the water, full of sparkling phosphorescence, sometimes flashing like myriad miniature pinpricks, caused by microscopic life. Impossibly close in front of the white bow wave swim a couple of luminous dolphins, weaving rapidly to and fro. Somehow, they transmit their feeling of joy and exuberance to me, and my cares evaporate.

Though the night is dark and moonless, it is far from black. I can see maybe 20 miles in all directions to the dark line of the horizon, but above it is the most wondrous and beautiful sight in the world, for the sky is filled with a hundred times as many stars as can be seen on land. There is not a square inch of the sky that does not contain stars, a few bright and coldly brilliant, but many thousands more of a softer and warmer light, sometimes white, but others with subtle hints of yellow, red, orange, and blue. Whole galaxies of stars apparently drift like mist over the heavens. My constant reaction over the years was simply to be continually awestruck at the unimaginable vastness of the universe, which is infinitely greater than my comprehension. At first, there was always a feeling of loneliness, of total insignificance, of being lost in space, which puts ones silly problems and cares in context. But soon, the feeling alters, and rather than be adrift in a sea of emptiness, the heavens change from being untouchably far away into a close, warm, dark velvet blanket of security that wraps around you, bringing a feeling of womb-like utter safeness and comfort. I feel an integral part of nature; I belong, and have a right to be here, and that whatever my future holds, long or short, it will be in accordance with nature, and I shall always exist in one form or another, a feeling I have never lost.