The young boy fantasized about having his own club,
somewhere he could gather with like-minded souls, talk about things he now
knows are social justice, equality, fairness, peace and altruism, but the idea
vanished like smoke.
Even then, in his naïve and youthful way, he could see there
was no place for such an alliance as the world, it seemed, was driven by
division and littered by other clubs that proffered similar values, but rarely,
if ever, practiced them.
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| Charles Mackay discusses madness and delusions. |
The club, he imagined, would have its own quarters remote
from the influence of what he saw was a troubled and divided society, and its
supporters would be clearly recognizable because of a distinct garment they
wore.
Its totem, his youthful mind had decided, would be tangible,
something he could physically experience; something palpable from the existing
world and not an imaginary thing whose force rested upon faith that defied
reason and drew its strength from illusion.
His idea dissolved as maturity advanced and in listening
with intent to the “responsible men”, he became, throughout his teenage years
embedded in the status quo to march in lockstep with the very people whom he
instinctively suspected, but who, at the time, appeared to have a clear view of
the future.
As it turns out, no one, not even the responsible men, could
see or imagine what was going to happen and so their efforts combined with the
peculiar and eccentric behaviour of the bizarre “clubs” that proliferated like
weeds, did little but distort life.
Strangely, one of those, which has more than 1.2 billion
club members from all corners of the earth, meets in a club-house remote from
society, wears distinctive and in today’s world inappropriate clothing, conveys
its message through chants, sustains itself though addiction to a litany of
myths, recently announced the arrival of a new leader by pumping white smoke
from the club-house chimney.
The young boy understood the importance of his idea, but the
fearing people would laugh at his immature utopianism, abandoned his dream only
to be seduced by the magic promised by the responsible men.
Youth, they say, is wasted on the young, but once imbedded
the ideals remain and although mislaid for a time and confused by modern life,
those foundational values of justice, equality, fairness, peace and altruism have
recovered.
The white smoke from the club-house chimney might have
signalled a new leader, but it was also a timely reminder that the ideals of
youth; ideals about tangible public goods, have more value than is to be
realized through adherence to a myth.
Nineteenth century author, Charles Mackay, wrote about Extraordinary
Delusions and the Madness of Crowds and watching that rising smoke confirmed,
for me, the Scotsman’s views.
