What about the Big Society?

Filed under More about blossoming by lily on November 1, 2010 at 10:17 pm {no comments}

For those who don't know the Big Society is an idea put forward by the new UK government that came to power this summer. They say that their aims include supporting co-ops, mutuals, charities and social enterprises and encouraging people to take an active role in their communities. Well that is the positive side of things. The negative is that the government is cutting back on its spending and that will mean that some of the things that were once done with taxpayer's money will no longer be able to be done.

Governments have for a long time supported people who have been able to help them achieve their aims. They have wanted companies to set up factories in different parts of the country so have given grants to encourage them to do so. The have wanted people to provide social housing so have provided assistance to housing associations. Other times they have given tax incentives to people and organisations that help them achieve their aims. For examples some charities do not pay value added tax on certain items. Not only that they have paid some organisations to provide services on their behalf such as support for those who are elderly, mentally ill disabled etc.

We are entering a new era because the government has decided that they cannot afford to spend as much money as they once did but they still want to do something to make sure as many of society's needs are met. They are cutting back on the grants and contracts they once offered. The needs are still there but the government will not pay for them to be met. This is where history makers will be needed more than ever. We need people who can meet the needs within society even though the government is not a willing to help them as it once was. This is not a new idea as during the Victorian era there was an idea known as laissez-faire which basically meant that the government did not get involved in guiding or directing economic or community activities. In this era people were encouraged to take responsibility to set up businesses set up hospitals and generally do things that supported society.

Today we have come to expect others to do things to look after us rather than taking responsibility to look after ourselves. The critics say that letting people do things themselves will mean inferior services because those running them do not have the practical or organisational skills to meet the needs within society. This may be true but how will people learn if they do not practise and make a start. Mistakes can be excellent teachers. Problem is we are often too scared to try in case we make a mistake. We need more people who are willing to make the effort to blossom into people who are able and willing to learn how to do things better. It takes people who are willing to ask and find answers to questions such as

I don't know how to do this. How can I learn to do it?
Who can I find to work with me as I try and change history?
Where can I find the money to help me achieve my goals?

However we need people who are prepared to grow and blossom into all that they can be. People who are willing to take responsibility for solving the problems around them and not wait for the government to do it for them because the government will not be able to do it for them.

Tags: government, learn, money, More about blossoming, responsibility

Whose responsibility is it anyway?

Filed under More about blossoming by lily on October 4, 2010 at 9:00 am {no comments}

We see needs all over the place but whose responsiblity is it to meet those needs. Today in Britain the expectation is that the government in one way or another will meet all the needs of the people. They provide a National Health Service, fund social care so that the weaker members of society are cared for and protected, provide benefits for those who are unable to work for some reason etc etc. Well if the government was not going to meet these needs who else was going to do so? Businesses, social enterprises and charities were not managing to meet all these needs which was why the government originally stepped in. The mixing up of communities in the 1940s lead to some people finding out how the other half lived and there were a number of surprises. People were genuinely concerned and wanted to support those less able than themselves to obtain health care, good food etc. The vision for a world fit for heroes included a health care system available to everyone and other aspects of the Welfare State that we now take for granted.

Now we are finding ourselves in a situation where the government is retreating because it has realised that it quite simply cannot afford to meet all these needs. Now we have organisations that provide health and social care that depend on the government for money via contracts and grants. They are trying to find other ways of surviving. We also have people who have needs and somehow as a society we have to find ways of meeting those needs. This is why we so need to find people who will be history makers and take responsibility to meet those needs. If you have a vision of how you can do something to meet the needs in society you must develop a strategy to put it into action for the sake of those around you. have become so used to being helped and supported that we have forgotten how to stand on our own two feet. if one will not do what God wants he will organise anotehr way of doing the same thing is NHS it will provide an alternative

Tags: government, history maker, More about blossoming, responsibility

Who will help?

Filed under More about blossoming by lily on July 5, 2010 at 8:59 am {no comments}

I have been trying to plan a new project and I knew that I could not do it alone. I needed some helpers. I asked some of the Christians I knew and they were all too busy. I asked some non-Christians and they said that sounds like a good idea when can we start!

I was worried and puzzled. If this is supposed to be an organisation with a Christian bias why are those who are most interested in working with me not Christians. They are simply people with a heart to help other people in the kind of ways that this project is expected to do.

The light dawned when I heard a teacher put a slightly different interpretation on the parable of the kingdom in Matthew 22 than I had heard before. The story goes like this some people were asked to go to a wedding banquet but they had other things that they wanted to do instead. The king then said OK if you won’t come along I will look amongst the homeless and people who are not as well off as you and find some people who will come along. Those that did come were even rewarded coming by being provided with new clothes. In other words, if those who were invited first will not join in with God’s plans then He will go out and find people who will. He will also reward them for joining him.

This helped to explain the situation I had found myself in. It also explains why we have so many organisations that are providing health or social care within our communities. This was once the responsibility of the church. In fact the early forms of social care legislation in the 18th and 19th century were based on the parish system. It became law that those who were in charge of running the parish church also had to hand out money to people who needed it as they had no work. Those who were disabled or ill or too young to work were cared for in the workhouses. Attitudes have changed as at that time it was more unacceptable to be dependent on others and not to be able to work yourself. Today we have a National Health Service and local councils who provide social care for those who struggle because of either health or disability. Being too ill or disabled to work is also less of a stigma so as a nation we are not as unkind to those who cannot work. However during the 20th century the church retreated from providing many of these services and now they are provided by the state.

Problem is we are now beginning to feel the squeeze financially and the government does not have the money to pay for as many of these services as it once did. In fact some would say that the need was so great that it never had enough money to do all that was needed. Now the church has got weaker and who is there left to provide these services. Some faith groups support their members much better than the church does so are they going to expand the services that they provide for their own into the wider community?

God will find a way of providing for people whether it is his first choice of people or his second choice or even his third choice. If those who believe that they are amongst his first choice do not follow him and set up ways of helping others then He will move on and they may find that they regret it. In fact in some ways that is where we are at the moment as people of faith struggle against those who deny them opportunities to display jewellery that reflect their faith or suggest that it is a sacking offence to mention words like God or church during working hours.

The teacher emphasised the idea that God could anyone for his purposes by reminding us that if in the Old Testament He used a donkey to help him achieve what he wanted. In other words if those that He wanted to work with him to fulfill his purposes would not do so then it would not matter who was willing He would use them.

I was sad that this had happened with the project that I am working on. However, I knew that God was in control and that He was teaching me things through this experience.

Tags: government, More about blossoming, responsibility