I’ve been resting on this bench seat for the last 20 years at the end of my bike ride to Writtle.
I have never ever noticed the plaque on the back of the seat.
Marjorie Jessie Hill
1900 – 1997
This is a worry.
Is the plaque new?
Unlikely, it looks quite weather worn.
Do I only look forwards when I take a seat facing the pond and the ducks?
How could I have missed it?
Today I am sitting on this seat reading Greta Thunberg’s short book on climate change.
She’s the Swedish girl born in 2003 causing quite a stir of late.
The book “No One Is Too Small To Make A Difference” is a collection of her recent speeches around the world telling everyone to wake up about climate change and take it seriously.
Marjorie, 97 when she died in 1997, missed all of this.
No climate change awareness in those days.
Perhaps it wasn’t changing then.
Greta’s point is that nobody is paying attention now.
And they should be.
Now.
Not for us but certainly for future generations.
Like me with the plaque, it’s there but not registering.
The link between my plaque incident and the book was poignant and was not lost on me.
The hairs on the back of my neck bristled as I read the book.
I’m missing the big picture and the small ones too it seems.
I need to keep my eyes open in future.
About the future.
We all do….
As I see it .... 