THE TYRANNY OF CONFORMITY...

Well I`m nor sure whether John Stuart Mill had me in mind when he wrote that but he could well have done.   Let me explain.

Last night was supposed to be the last time when people went out from their houses and applauded for ten minutes in recognition of the `key workers` - especially those in the NHS - who are `working tirelessly` to see us through the current crisis.  It was noticeably quieter when I was out taking Dudley for his evening walkies last night although I suspect there were a few pockets of resistance who had got used to the Thursday evening ritual and couldn`t bring themselves to stop.   Fair enough.  Good for them.

Now let me be clear.   I have the utmost respect for our key workers and, like everyone else, I am seriously grateful for the contribution they all make to help `society` manage and keep going during this pandemic.  But - there`s always a but with me I`m afraid - when the clapping all started all those weeks ago it occurred to me then that it might become something of a futile gesture for the simple reason that the recipients of the applause would not be able to hear it and were too busy at work anyway;   and therefore probably the main reason for the massed clapping was to enable the clappers to feel better about themselves for doing it.   Fair enough.  Good for them.

But I declined as gracefully as I could to take part in it.   I didn`t feel the need to join in for I have always directly expressed my thanks to those to whom I have been grateful for helping me.   For example, over the last couple of years my ageing eyes have had a lot of attention - entropion followed by successive cataract operations, all of which constituted  life changing improvements to my quality of life.  On each occasion I personally thanked the NHS staff for the excellence of the service I had been fortunate to receive.  I didn`t feel the need to venture into other means of expressing my appreciation.

So, during the last few Thursday evenings, I suspect that I may have been looked upon with sceptical eyes as to why I was not taking part.  Some people may have interpreted it as arrogance, ignorance, being curmudgeonly, weird, anti-social or even eccentric.  It was, of course, none of those things - just another example of my penchant for resisting the tyranny of conformity - but if any of those criticisms might have been anywhere close to the truth, I will settle for eccentricity.   I have always fancied being a bit eccentric.  It rather suits me and I think John Stuart Mill got it right when he said what he did.