Do you vote in political elections?
It’s an article of faith for me that voting is an absolutely essential part of being a citizen of any country. I would happily endorse the Australian approach where the election takes place on a weekend and you are fined if you don’t register a vote. That’s in direct conflict with the approach in the UK and the US where governments are trying to make it ever more difficult to vote in an attempt to fraudulently hold on to power. The type of voter fraud that gave the UK government the excuse of introducing the requirements for voter ID is vanishingly rare. The fact that nearly every type of ID for older voters was acceptable and only passports and driving licences were accepted for younger voters showed that this was a case of voters who as a group vote ‘in the right way’ being helped and voters who as a group vote ‘in the wrong way’ being hindered. The irony is, of course, that older voters are far more likely to vote in elections than younger voters anyway, which is why they are courted by political parties.
All of the above are merely functional issues that either force people to vote or dissuade them from doing so. However, there is no excuse for anyone not voting. If you don’t like the options in front of you, you owe it to previous generations who fought for your right to vote to come along in person or send in a postal vote that is spoiled in some way. In the future, hopefully the near future, there will be a way of harnessing technology to ensure that voters are able to exercise their democratic rights. It is easy to confirm identity with facial recognition and the opportunity for fraud would be far less than the critics would have you believe. In the UK the obvious approach would be to move elections to the weekend rather than continuing to tie it to the 18th century Market Days which is why we vote on a Thursday!! We all know that won’t happen because it won’t be acceptable to some interest group or another.
Anyway, the message here is to just vote even if you feel it’s a waste of time. Exercise your democratic rights. If you don’t you have no right to complain about anything the government does even if it leads to you being treated unfairly.
What gives you direction in life?
We were a couple of weeks away from our second overseas stint in Hong Kong in 2002. To say goodbye to friends we organised a meeting at a local pub with a beer garden and play area. One of those who attended was the Mother of a very good friend of mine at the time. It was very nice to see her, but her son was extremely embarrassed when her first comment on seeing Janet was, ‘I wanted to meet the woman who sorted David out!’ 🤣🤣 She was absolutely right as well. It’s Janet who has given me direction and focus for the best part of 40 years. It’s because of her that I am where I am. I dread to think what a waste my last four decades would have been without her.
Do you have a quote you live your life by or think of often?
I first came across this quote in 1998. At that time it was attributed to Mark Twain but that turned out to be an Internet misattribution. It was actually penned by H Jackson Brown in 1990. In those days people didn’t check things carefully on the Internet unlike now of course 🙄🤔😏 Anyway, I was so taken by the quote when I saw it on a poster that I bought the poster straight away. It reflects the course of my life and the influence of my wife in how I live it. With my job taking us overseas I showed her sights she could never have imagined seeing, but she showed me how to live with courage and risk. If that quote stays in my head it is to remind me of the important things in life that she knows far more instinctively than I do.
What is your favorite holiday? Why is it your favorite?
Last year I went to Salzburg in November. It was the first purely Christmas themed break I had taken since 2007 when we took our daughters to Lapland to see Father Christmas. What both breaks had in common was a sense of magic and wonder that only really happens during the Advent and Christmas seasons, at least for me. A summer holiday is fine although I don’t really enjoy too much heat, but having been a teacher for so long I like the opportunity to explore places at other times of the year. I know that my wife just loves the sun and the heat and I am happy to go along with that, but I never feel like I am in another frame of mind at any other time like I am at Christmas so I really enjoy myself and let the stresses and strains completely drift away. So, I will definitely be having a Festive break again very soon.
Have you ever been camping?
As a scout I went camping a number of times and grew to love it as a teenager. My favourite memory of my time under canvas is a Patrol Leader and Deputy Patrol Leader camp. It was the only time that we didn’t have the scout leaders with us, so we were able to work to our own time scale. Usually, my Dad, who was the Scout Leader, always referred to as Skip, would wake us up earlier than we felt was entirely necessary to prepare breakfast. Interestingly we did wake up at a very similar time, but the tea making and breakfast preparation over an open fire built up with wood was more relaxed than usual.
The whole weekend was a chance for us to use our skills and our experience in a much more laid back atmosphere. We were proud of our troop and of each other’s abilities and we spent the whole weekend in a way that reflected that. We never let our standards drop because they were so ingrained in us and we felt like we would be letting our leaders as well as ourselves down if we did. Over three years we did a lot of camping but that weekend was the best time we ever had. We couldn’t have done it without the training and discipline that Skip and Bosun, the marvellous Jim Taylor, had given us, but we proved to ourselves that we were scouts of the highest quality and we had a set of skills that gelled together perfectly. Well over 40 years later I remember that weekend like it was yesterday and I always feel like it was pretty much perfect.
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 