Hi Futureworkers,
Although my success rate in getting letters printed in the Financial Times
is now down to a lamentable 25%, I'm hoping to raise it to 40% with the
following.
Ponder on your mortality indeed!
<<<<<
Sir,
As someone who has been diagnosed with prostate cancer recently, I turned
to Michael Prowse's article ("Why death should lead to a better life", FT
Weekend 18/19 November) with more than usual interest. Indeed, I am already
actively pondering on my personal mortality as Prowse enjoins us all to do.
However, he seems to have a grudge against those who, like Rupert Murdoch,
have amassed great wealth and power. There was a rather nasty element of
Schadenfreude in Prowse's article when he reminds us (as if we didn't know)
that Rupert Murdoch will one day die without being able to take a single
share certificate with him. To take Prowse's article to a logical
conclusion, he seems to suggest that there's not much point in living at
all�because we are all going to die anyway.
I write as someone without much power or wealth, but I don't begrudge
Murdoch one iota of his. What I am envious about is that he has been able
to play a fascinating game of life. Although I myself find life and the
universe fascinating, I feel somewhat short-changed in comparison with
Murdoch. But, on the other hand, I have had a fabulously interesting life
compared with the lottery ticket that most individuals have drawn in the
poorest countries of the world.
Finally, I'm very bothered about Michael Prowse's conclusion�that, as
individuals, we should invest our time and energy in strengthening those
social and cultural institutions that will outlast us. Surely, mankind has
only been able to progress by the overturning of institutions! All such
become outdated and, indeed, dangerous, in time. It is the undue longevity
and intractability of many of our present-day institutions that is our
greatest danger. The world is in constant change. We cannot preserve
civilisations in aspic.
Keith Hudson
>>>>
___________________________________________________________________
Keith Hudson, General Editor, Calus, www.calus.org
6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England
Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727;
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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