Aristocratic Vikings

“If I were you...”

This statement is normally accompanied by a severely wagged index finger.

Many times, in various ‘Blogs’ I have mentioned this. It is one of my most hated expressions.

The problem with it is that the person making this admonition is not ‘you’. That person is giving advice based on their needs, their wants and their experiences. It is not related to anything for which you wish.

Since I have admitted to already speaking of this on multiple occasions, why am I bringing it up again now?

Because, dear hearts, it presented itself in stark terms twice on ‘Facebook’. Today.

In one instance a person was advised they should follow a certain course of action.

We all, I am sure, have a Mrs Youshould in your lives. It might be a Mr. Youshould, of course, but, either way, there is always somebody out there who is so bored with their own lives that they feel obliged to control yours.

The sad part about this is that, very often, the effect is rather more subtle than somebody coming along and proffering unwanted words of wisdom.

Sometimes the damage is done at an early age and make no mistake about it, it is damage that lasts and lasts.

Children in rural areas, I cannot speak for those in more urban parts—perhaps they are afflicted in the same manner, are often part of a feudal system that has been handed down to us by the Vikings. Well, alright, they were called ‘Normans' by then.

These people invaded what was then Britain and set up a system of overlords that ruled over the ‘People of the Knife’ (Saxons) with an iron fist.

It is from this racism that we get the likes of Robin Hood and his, possibly less than, Merry Men.

This framework of subjugated fealty develops into what we now have in the United Kingdom, it is the Aristocracy.

These people are our ‘betters’. We are supposed to tug a forelock, or two, when they sweep grandly past us. Our parents and others tell us that they, the Lords and Ladies of the Realm, are better than us; we should cast our eyes down and gaze longingly at the dirt in their presence.

Similarly, when presented with a puzzle we might be told that ‘better people than you have tried to find a cure/solution for that’ leaving you to crawl back into your inferiority.

Forty-odd years ago I was writing an article for a local magazine every month. A cartoon accompanied this. Never missed a month in five years. The article was always sent through the mail in order to reach the editorial office by deadline day. Never missed.

After two years I decided to write a short story for the magazine. Very short. Possibly it was no more than a thousand words (these ‘Blogs’ are generally around eight hundred to a thousand words). After this length of time I can no longer remember what the story was about but, presumably, it would have been stunningly brilliant—as you might expect.

This time I took it to the editorial office personally and put it on the desk of the Officer who was the Editor.

He looked puzzled and then asked me what it was. He never touched it, perhaps he thought he might receive some dire disease from it.

I told him that it was a story. A story for the magazine.

A look of astonishment crossed his face—he looked up at me and said, “I hardly think that a Corporal in the Technical Branch can string together sufficient words to form a cohesive sentence let alone write a story.”

He laughed. At me.

I picked up the story and left.

Such is the arrogance engendered by a class system that makes people born into leadership believe that they are better than their minions. It is what is driven into our heads at an early age. We grow up with certain ideas. Ideas that tell us that we can never be as good as the boy next door or the girl in the pageant.

It is ingrained into us. The subservience, the inferiority, is part of the system that we live in.

It occurs now. People are accustomed to being in debt. Debt is the comfort level for most people.

You can give someone a large sum of money and they will fritter it away until they are back in debt. Of course, it will be your fault because you gave them insufficient funds in the first place!

Debt is comfortable because that is how the children see life from an early age. For them the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’ is normal, it is a natural occurrence.

Traditionally, where I come from, real men get on the bus in the morning with a bag of tools, a lunch pack and a ‘Thermos’ flask to go and do a proper day’s work. They are Tradesmen. Real tradesmen.

I was in the military and now teach people and write stories for a living—in those people’s eyes I am a failure. It doesn’t matter whether I have money or not, I have not succeeded in life.

There is the root of the problem.

That grinding of ideas into children’s heads that there are better people out there. Older people, sometimes, who know better.

You should always take their advice. Woe betide you if you do not do as you are told!

“If I was you...”

Then they become upset if you don’t take their advice.

But advice is like any other gift, you can take it or leave it. You can modify it—do as you wish with it. Once it has left the donor it has nothing to do with that person.

A word of advice on giving advice. Never give advice.

If you give advice and someone accepts it then their World turns to worms it will be your fault.

If I was you I should never give advice.