I went up to London after work last night to start rehearsing for a performance of Mahler's 2nd symphony in February. The music is so beautiful. You can listen below.
Before I got there, I had to take a bus in Reading to the station to get on a London-bound train. This short bus trip is always a trial. Shouting kids and obnoxious people are usually the order of the day.
Last night, a woman was sitting in the front having a shouting conversation with a man a few seats back. She was eating a bag of cookies -- she demolished the entire bag while I was there but didn't refrain from talking the whole time with her mouth full of food. Her friend told her he goes to his grandmother's house most days.
"How ya get that money then?" she enquired.
"Savin's."
"What savin's? You don't got no money."
"I use my dole money." (this is a term for British welfare)
"Where's your sister been lately?"
"She's in prison."
"What for?"
"Shopliftin'."
"Who else has been banged up?" (Brit-speak for thrown into jail)
Then they went on to talk about many of their friends who have recently gone to jail -- they spoke as if people going to jail was just a normal occurrence in their social set. Their eyes were vacant, their chat was shallow -- it was depressing. And the woman had a baby carriage in front of her so she's already reproduced.
But later that evening I was cheered up by singing these words by Mahler (well, we are learning to do them in German but here's the translation):
O believe, my heart, O believe:
Nothing to you is lost!
Yours is, yes yours, is what you desired
Yours, what you have loved
What you have fought for!
O believe,
You were not born for nothing!
Have not for nothing, lived, suffered!
I like these words much better than the words I heard on the bus ride. I'm glad I held on for them last night.
6 comments:
Socialism enables this sort of life. Enjoy it while you can. There is, of course, a final solution to it- tried before and rejected, but perhaps if it were pursued in a kindler, gentler fashion...
Yes, Marty, I know the solution of which you speak -- EDUCATION! let's get these people a decent education.
(I know that's not what you were thinking of....)
We had our home in Bracknell redeveloped before we moved out. The builder's son eventually managed to spend some time in jail. His father's a decent bloke, though ineffective, and he hoped the jail term would be a short sharp shock.
It did something. It made the boy learn (again, coz I know his primary teacher, and she taught him fine) to read and write! And it made him want to learn a trade.
Even better than that he spent time in a cell with local friend and had a great time. No need to think about working, or food, or paying for lodgings. It was an open prison in Brighton and the kids there had a blast.
I had been rather hoping he ended up picking up someone's soap in the showers and had found the experience not to his taste, but no. He had a holiday and a bit of schooling. He's a nice lad, but a fool.
Unfortunately some people just dont want to get educated, they are content to live with little and have to be provided with menial jobs either by capitalists who exploit the uneducated masses or by socialists who exploit the educated middle class (to provide sustenance and jobs for the uneducates masses, think Transportation Security Officers).
The final solution I was thinking of was not education, as you correctly surmised (are you a psychic?) Elizabeth; it has come in many forms, the most popular and long lasting the prevention of births among the masses.
I don't, however, support the final solution, I think there must be a better way, perhaps by allowing the educated middle class to keep more (by more I mean all) of their wages so they can build up the capital to start small farms and businesses and employ those who just want to labor for others and drink beer and f**k.
Where is this performance and by whom?
Casey Ann, it's a performance by the Philharmonia Chorus and Orchestra in the Royal Festival Hall on London's Southbank. I've never sung Mahler before and am loving it. It's so beautiful and I sing the music to myself all day.
In April, I'm singing Beethoven's 9th with the Philharmonia for Charles Mackerras' last concert before he retires. We are going on tour in Spain for a few days doing the same concert in different locations. I am so excited.
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