When Angela's Ashes came out in 1996, I remember telling my mum that I had read the book. But I was thirty-three and still filled with the piss and vinegar of youth. So, at that time, I was insulated from much human tragedy by my age, the colour of my skin, and my gender. I remember I said something flippant to her about the book. I can't recall what it was. But, it was probably a funny, cynical and cruel observation that I was want to make when young, and I thought I was wise. My mum's only response to my remark was, "That was your dad's life, except there was less love in it."
Despite knowing the history of my dad's early life, I did not understand how true my mum's words were until I became my father's caregiver and comrade in his Last Stand Project, from 2009 to 2018. It was only after my mother died and then my brother and it was just me, and my dad did the penny begin to drop -about how horrible his youth had been. But no matter how painful those memories were for my dad he insisted on talking about those long-ago days. He didn't talk about them because he liked the sound of his own voice or wanted to be the top dog in a conversation. No, my dad was a humble man who was happier in his own company and own thoughts. My dad spoke about those times because he was appalled by the similarities to his childhood he saw on his visits to 21st century Barnsley, Bradford or Halifax when he was an old man in his 90s. There he saw the same shades of despair in the faces of young people created by austerity and out of control capitalism that he had known as a boy.
I urge you to listen to my dad recount his Christmas in 1930. It was a devastating holiday for him, his family and millions of unemployed people in Britain and the world. Sadly, our capitalistic societies that favour the top 5% of income earners over everyone else are dooming us to a brutal return to the harsh world of the 1930s. If we don't act soon, like the climate crisis, there will be no turning back for our society. So please listen to my dad's words, and act upon them with whatever means you have to stop our regression to the 1930s that were unforgiving and brutal to almost everyone but the rich.
Share this post