We’ve got to rediscover lost values (From The Northern Echo)

We’ve got to rediscover lost values

10:38am Friday 27th November 2009

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IT’S not often it happens, but this week I read something that stopped me in my tracks. It was an article about a prediction by the great economist John Maynard Keynes.

In 1930, he estimated it would take 100 years for the world’s economy to reach its maximum growth. After that, people would be sufficiently well-off to give up the grind of earning their daily bread. An easy three day week would ensure a comfortable life.

So cheer up, rain-drenched, recession-hit Britain. It’s only 20 years to Utopia. Just hang on in...

It won’t happen, of course. Keynes was too optimistic; and we’re too greedy.

Most of us enjoy a standard of living that people in the Thirties couldn’t imagine. But we’re not content. I think there are two reasons for this. The first is the unforgiving pace of modern life. Technology means we all drive in the fast lane these days. We never have time to stop and enjoy the view.

The second is consumerism. I’m sure there was an advert a few years back about some product that said however much you had, it always left you wanting more. I can’t remember what it was thankfully, which I suppose means I haven’t been entirely brainwashed.

It sums up what consumerism does to you.

Mr Consumer has a demanding job, so he needs two or three expensive holidays a year to unwind. Mrs Consumer has to work fulltime, too, to help pay for the holidays, so they need two cars. The upkeep of the cars means he can’t chuck his job for something lower paid, but less stressful. In fact, the pressure is so bad, he needs an extra holiday this year.

And so it goes on.

Stress gets a lot less publicity than swine flu, but is far more catching. Under stress, you focus or you fold. In my previous job, I saw it lay low colleagues who prided themselves on their mental and physical toughness.

In those days, we didn’t really take stress seriously. We know better now because we appreciate that mental wellbeing is every bit as important to our quality of life as physical health.

But we still fall for it, go for the quick fix that brings us long-term unhappiness. I can think of no better illustration of this than the behaviour of Thierry Henry. He was a national hero for all of five seconds. Now, he’ll go down in sporting history as the man who cheated France into the World Cup finals.

I don’t think Henry is bad. He probably regrets what he did and will do so for the rest of his life. He made an error of judgment in a moment of weakness.

I think his action was instinctive, but it was an instinct born of fear – fear of the failure that was staring at him and his team in the face at the time. Maybe fear above all of what his manager and team-mates might think if he didn’t seize the main chance. He probably believed he would have let his side down if he hadn’t done it. In fact, he did something far worse. He let himself down.

We’re told technology will stop behaviour like Henry’s – putting footballers under 90- minute high-definition surveillance. Cynics might suggest that their off-field antics warrant the cameras trailing them after matches as well.

It isn’t the answer. The only way we’ll stop things like this in sport, politics or life is to give ourselves time to rediscover the values we’ve lost in the breakneck rush to material riches and popular acclaim; values that will ultimately make us happier and healthier.

It might happen one day. But like Keynes’ Utopia, it isn’t just around the corner.

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