Thought Provoking Questions - Part 2

This weekend the UK has been battered by a storm given the name Ciara – a nice name for something so bloody awful. As I look out of the window I see very strong winds and rampant rain that is so bad it has disrupted travel and resulted in sports events being called off.

I’m glad I’m inside in a nice warm and cosy house. And because it is Sunday, let’s answer a few questions from Sunday Stealing - some more thought provoking questions.

1. Is it more important to love or be loved?

I think both are important but probably loving is slightly more important in my view, simply because you will never truly know whether you are actually loved or not.

People say “I love you” all the time but do they really mean it? You will never actually know unless you are a mind reader, though I guess their behaviour towards you can sometimes give the game away. If you love somebody it is all in your hands, heart and mind and you know without a shadow of a doubt that the feelings you have are utterly genuine and authentic.

Loving somebody is an incredible feeling.

Actually, thinking about it, I would love to be able to read minds. Imagine how brilliant that would be. I could expose people like Boris Johnson when I knew their true motivations.

2. If you had the chance to go back in time and change one thing would you do it?

I’ve watched movies like “The Butterfly Effect” and decided that changing history would be a dangerous thing to do. Certainly in my life, if I could go back to rectify the mistakes I have made, it would affect my life as it is now and although there have been some ups and downs, I am in a very good place at the moment and I wouldn’t want to risk it.

Give me a time machine, though, and I would set the controls for the future rather than the past. That would be far more interesting.

3. If a doctor gave you five years to live, what would you try to accomplish?

I would try to write a novel, travel the entire world and then write about my experiences and then quite happily march towards my maker with my head held high and my hand held out ready to shake it with him or her and then move onto the next place, if such a place exists.

4. What is the difference between innocence and ignorance?

If you are innocent, you try to learn the things you don’t know.

If you are ignorant you choose to ignore things you don’t know and not to learn even though, deep down, you know you should – like Brexit and the chaos and carnage that will ensue because of it.

5. What is the simplest truth you can express in words?

I am alive and happy.

6. What gives your life meaning?

Mrs PM, my two boys, my one remaining cat, my brain, my music, travelling and writing garbage like the stuff you are reading at the moment.

7. Can there be happiness without sadness?  Pleasure without pain?  Peace without war?

No. The things that make you happy can be taken away and make you sad for example.

8. What’s the one thing you’d like others to remember about you at the end of your life?

I would like to be remembered as a funny, happy and slightly weird guy who was easy to talk to and there for people when required.

9. Is there such a thing as perfect?

Yes – me. Next.

I’m just kidding.

Nobody and nothing is perfect – certainly not me.

10. What do you love most about yourself?

I love the fact that I am quite a clever chap really and that I can make people laugh by being a little strange on occasion. Also, I love the fact that I have a thick skin and enjoy my own self-deprecation.

11. Is it more important to do what you love or to love what you are doing?

It is very important to love what you are doing and, sadly, I am in a position now where I no longer love my career of choice. I used to but after decades of doing battle with complex computer systems, I no longer get the buzz that I used to right at the start.

I think it is equally important to do what you love and I am looking for new directions – not in my career because that will be over in a couple of years when I finally retire. I will find something, of that I am certain.

12. What do you imagine yourself doing ten years from now?

I know for a fact that I will have retired. I would like to have written a couple of books (nor necessarily publishing them), I would like to have travelled to more countries and be fluent in Spanish with a view to improving my French and German too.

13. What small act of kindness were you once shown that you will never forget?

There have been many. For example, my best mate as a kid who drove me around to arrange my dad’s funeral because my mum was in too bad a state to do anything. I was 18 and he patiently sat with me, talked to me and helped me to sort things out with absolutely no questions or complaints.

Mrs PM, of course, shows multiple acts of kindness – too many to mention.

14. To what degree have you controlled the course your life has taken?

I have always been in control. I am a very careful person who will not make rash decisions. I am now deep into planning the next chapter when I retire (in approximately five years depending on circumstances).

15. If you looked into the heart of your enemy, what do you think you would find that is different from what is in your own heart?

I don’t think I have any enemies. If I encounter a toxic person I will generally walk away from them rather than trying to psychoanalyse them and peer into their hearts.