The broken end

That's what I, as a Call Handler with the Emergency Services will be dealing with.

The broken end of society.

The easy bit will be the physical breakages. RTCs, Road Traffic Collisions to you and me, being an obvious one.

But then there are the emotional breakages. The social breakages. And all the combinations therein.

I sat in last week with a young man. He was quite new. Lovely guy. The sort of young man a father would want his daughter to bring home. You get the idea don't you.

I listened while he took calls. It was great. I followed it all and was able to say to myself, 'I can do this'...........albeit a little slower.

He took a call from a guy who wanted to know when he was next up for bail.

'What is it in relation to?' , asked my companion after establishing the ID of the man.

'Oh, some (insert a crime here) or summat'

He didn't fucking know. Get that...........................hmmm...........actually, he didn't bloody well care. He sounded drugged or drunk and his patience was, shall we say, limited.

His crime list was very long. He got the info and my companion hung up. To start with we rolled our eyes and giggled. But then we talked about people like that. Compassion. That's the word. You get someone who cannot function other than by committing some crime or other. How sad. What a waste.

This man had sounded quite oldish when on the phone. He wasn't. What kind of life is he going to have?

I was gratified that my companion felt like me. Sorrow rather than the 'Throw them all to the wolves' attitude that we get from 'Tabloid Mentality'.

I couldn't operate if I felt that our society was broken. I certainly couldn't do this job. My view is this. Society isn't broken. It is an organism. A living thing. Just like you and me.

And take me..............OK, I know you don't want to but please bear with me.

I am imperfect. Just like society. I am touchy. I overreact. I am get too emotional at times. I can be pompous..............I get 'parent like'..........ask my family and anyone who knows me well.........'You're doing the dad'. I go into huffs. I am overweight. I have blood pressure. I am needy............I cannot understand why anyone would like me......but then I think everyone should!

Have I given up on myself?

Absolutely not.

In my heart of hearts I think I am wonderful.................another fault LOL.

And I think that of society too. It has its faults. It can be impersonal.........and all the rest you can read in the tabloids about.

But ask yourselves this.

Is there any period in the past that you would rather be in? Don't get romantic here. Get real.

Would you, for example, like to go back to the 1950's when crime was much lower? When respect for people was important. When discipline was respected.

.................but when cancer was a killer; when, if female, your best bet was to find a decent guy and have his kids; when it was deemed OK to have soldiers exposed to radiation; when we lived under a serious threat of nuclear conflict; when being gay was illegal................I could go on...........and on............and on.

Name your decade. Name your century.

And then read up on the history.

Being human means trying to make progress, trying to move forward. On the whole we manage to do that in my view.

That's why, again in my view, now is the best time to be alive.

It's also why I look forward to tomorrow; for that is likely to be better.

And more to the point yesterday is gone. I cannot change it. Tomorrow, I might just have some say.......even if it is merely in what I choose to eat LOL.