SEEN BUT NOT HEARD ?

There`s something odd going on - and has been for a while now.  Some time ago I had a bit of a dig at Meghan and all her works and I said at the time that there was something not quite right about all that.   And I feel too that there is something not quite right about one Greta Thunberg - the self-appointed 16-year old Swedish `activist.`

Over recent months she has gained a load of publicity for her campaign about climate change - an audience with Westminster politicians, suggestions of a Nobel Prize and general adulation for her alleged spirit and determination to get her message across to what she perceives as a world that isn`t listening to what she has to say.

And now she is apparently embarking on a two week crossing of the Atlantic in a solar powered boat which exists purely without any form of power whatsoever, relying on the elements to make the crossing whilst those on board have to make do without a kitchen and even what is known in nautical terms as `a head` - just a bucket perched in a discreet corner of the deck.  At the end of the journey she is due to address a climate change conference at the UN no less, where  no doubt she will encourage yet more `action` to build on the school strikes which swept the country here a few weeks ago.  

A couple of things strike me as `not quite right` here.  For example, I`m intrigued how she managed to get from Sweden to Plymouth - where her Atlantic voyage began - without at least producing perhaps a smidgen of carbon and how she might get home from America again without using just a morsel of the planet`s resources.  ( I see that in order to get to the solar powered yacht anchored off Plymouth, she had to go via petrol driven dinghy.  Not the most convincing start I guess.)  I didn`t think she looked too happy - very morose, looking a  bit grumpy - hardly inspiring but who can blame her with what lies ahead?

Then there is my old skool bewilderment that someone of her tender years is taken as seriously as she is, to the point whereby she seems to have developed almost  a religious following  with world leaders, opinion formers and such like bending over backwards to be associated with her  mission in life, presumably for fear of being criticised if they do not.   There was a time when 16-year olds tended to content themselves with learning about life, gaining experiences and leaving the troubles of the world for the older generation to sort out.  Not any more it seems.

But in my undying quest to find balance and reason in all things,I`m reminded of a couple of quotes which might provide a little balance to my scepticism - Oscar Hammerstein`s line from `The King and I` -"If you become a teacher, by your pupils you`ll be taught"`  Or even.......

It`s all a bit weird - can`t quite get my head around it all - but something not quite right somewhere?