I spent much of yesterday afternoon and early evening at the funeral and then wake of my old friend John who died last month. John had been a passionate unpaid trade union representative, after which he carried out a great deal of voluntary work for Bristol Rovers Supporters Club and latterly was a commentator for hospital radio. He never sought praise nor reward because he was a doer. Where others talked about stuff, he got out there and did stuff. No awards for John, but then there rarely are for ordinary people doing extraordinary things. There are plenty of awards for the less than ordinary people for doing less than ordinary things, though. How else can you explain the former MP Michael Gove landing a peerage?
Give us to be elevated to the House of Lords, apparently, for the following reasons:
- At age 16 he passed an examination to join an elite private school
- Went to Oxford University
- Joined the Conservative party
- Wrote for right wing newspapers, especially the Daily Telegraph
- Became an MP
- As education secretary he all but destroyed the education system
- He helped bring about Brexit which has been a disaster for the UK with not a single benefit
- He’s now the editor of The Spectator, the house newspaper of the hard right in the UK
I wouldn’t say this mediocre CV is worthy of a British Empire Medal (BEM), never mind a job for life in the House of Lords. After all, for the vast bulk of his life he was just doing his job and in his case not particularly well. I wasn’t always good at the work I did so maybe I’m due at least an MBE, although it is entirely possible that as a working class lad from a suburb of Bristol the award system doesn’t apply to me?
Mind you, I do not want some kind of award. I had a working life that spanned well over 40 years and for the last three years I have volunteered at a local food bank (have I ever mentioned this on here?) which makes me nothing special. If I’d been part of the Oxbridge clique things could have been so different.
I know so many people who do good things simply because they like to do good things. People who volunteer for things, raise money for good causes and sometimes people who simply do extraordinary things, like saving lives. If you look at life that way, every GP, every doctor and nurse, every volunteer worker, every fundraiser, absolutely everyone who make the world a better place should get something. But Buck House and Windsor Castle wouldn’t have room for all these people. You have to draw the line somewhere, right? Let’s give the big gongs to hear today, gone tomorrow politicians who are perhaps having favours returned, as in the you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours world in which we live.
Some might say, well you have to have some kind of rewards system. How else can you recognise people’s exceptional efforts? Well you don’t have to have a rewards system. If you are a volunteer – and the clue is in the word volunteer – you do so because it’s what you want to do. If you do job, well or otherwise, it’s likely because you want to be doing it. At our little food bank, few if any of our volunteers turn up for ‘Thanks to our great volunteers’ celebration days. We are nothing special and neither is Michael Gove.
My friend John was not unique in being a doer. The world is full of them. It’s what they do, it’s who they are. Some do more good than others, that’s just the nature of these things. But surely there is something deeper than this going on?
I don’t even want praise for what I do, not for anything I choose to do. I wouldn’t do something I absolutely hated, even if it was A Good Thing. If I was offered a paid role at something I desperately wanted to do, you don’t think I’d say thanks but no thanks, do you?
Good people do good things because that’s what good people do. Let’s scrap this shitty honours system for everyone. Not just sleazy politicians but everyone. Anyone who really wants an honour doesn’t actually deserve one, do they? People’s love and respect means so much more.
