Dear LPG,

I have recently had a thought that completely overturned a very basic principle that I learned to live by all those years ago when I was at school.  Back then, taking pride in everything you do was really important, and that applied especially when thinking about academic achievement.

I was one of many post-war children, born when victory was still very significant.  I remember those years representing a time when my parents’ generation really appreciated what we so nearly lost, fought for and won back.  There was so much work to be done and the general feeling for the future was that the British survivors of the preceding few years needed to get on with what had to be done.  The national priority then was our need to make our somewhat battered Britain great again.  We needed to appreciate each and every achievement although, with so much to be done, wasting too much time acknowledging our triumphs was frowned upon.

But now, having arrived at the end of our working careers we can let life get us down a little if we are not careful.  Perhaps now is the time to take life in its stride and to compensate for all those years of denial.  In my opinion It is time, as we become a little slower and less active, to take that step back that was so frowned upon when we were young.  When our thoughts begin to get us down a little, we can now look back on those times when our lives were the need to ‘get on’ stopped us taking a big step back and appreciating all the things that we have and have yet to achieve. 

It can be one of the few new pre-occupations that elevate life when negative thoughts enter your head.  After all, I challenge any member of the Lewisham public, or the public anywhere else in our world for that matter, who has attained the age of sixty-five years to have not done many really special things during their lifetime

JA, Ladywell