tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post2552046823299435476..comments2024-01-23T18:21:17.066+00:00Comments on Surroundings: StAnza 7 - Alastair Reid, Scotland, Fire, and CalvinismRobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17046788730174617923noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16166950.post-32730224377697462602007-03-25T17:42:00.000+01:002007-03-25T17:42:00.000+01:00I really enjoyed this post, and I agree with your ...I really enjoyed this post, and I agree with your take on things.<BR/>I think we've changed for many reasons, we're a more mixed society - though still much less so than England, and some of our long-standing divisions have started to come down, gosh we're even tackling sectarianism publically these days.<BR/><BR/>I'd like us to be more mature politically, eg not returning pan Labour administrations at local authority, Scottish Executive and UK level by virtue of habit but because they actually deserve it -which at present I actually doubt.<BR/><BR/>I'd like to see us more honest about our history, I heard a great quote from a Scots academic the other day about how we like our history simple and inaccurate. If we could understand where we came from we might have a better sense of where we were going. <BR/><BR/>Confidence comes from ability to know yourself warts and all, so being hard headed about life is no bad thing, provided it is combined with an open, generous and honest heart.<BR/><BR/><BR/>I agree that 24 hour shopping and<BR/>super lattes <BR/>don't make us a better society.<BR/><BR/>The best example of Scots I saw recently is the Lewis couple working Zambia, a doctor and an airlne executive, <BR/>who have taken in thirty street children and are raising them with their own two daughters.<BR/><BR/><BR/>We're celebrating 50 years of the new Europe today,and 200 years since the abolition of slavery, <BR/>let's hope Scotland can continue to look out to the rest of the world, without losing the best of our inherited values and ideals.apprenticehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13784785172285984036noreply@blogger.com