Only one of two can truly make me blue!

Double Vision with Charlie Adley

I remember the advice of Joël Francois, a gentleman and Martial Arts master based in Galway.  “We must be like a cane of bamboo, Charlie. When times are hard and the wind blows, we must be flexible and bend, so that when times are good we can be strong and upright.”  We hapless proles, we have no choice.

We’re used to bending.

Down here in life’s lower echelons, we learn pretty quickly that if we refuse to bend we’re either chopped down in our prime or snap, crackle and pop our way to an early demise.

Left to our own devices, we’d very possibly prosper, but inevitably and regrettably we have leaders. They demand we bend this way and that. If we could look them in the eye, our backs would be straight and our visions clear, but that doesn’t happen.

Instead, we’re forced to accept them, whether they were our choice or not. In return we expect that these supposedly superior souls will display, at the very least, the same intelligence, sensitivity and vigour that we possess ourselves.

Right now I’m busted up inside, because I’m just back from London, where I felt a deep dark gaping hole where leadership should be.

It’s a messy farce.

A majority of the major players are at worst only mildly incompetent, at best gifted and inspired, yet somehow, day after week after month after year, they fail to show any flexibility.

They stick to what they believe is best for their vested interests, refusing to follow their leader, who in turn offers only one game plan; one tactic; one way of making things work.

Then again, I suppose it’s my choice to be a Chelsea fan.

What’s that?

You thought I was going on about the House of Commons?

To read Charlie’s column in full please see this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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