As they say democracy is not the easy option, democracy is hard and demands that we never stop working at it to keep it and improve it.

Fascism, communism, one party states, religious dictatorships, fundamentalist states be they Muslim, Christian or Jewish or blind ethnic governments are easy, yes easy!
What is difficult, is listening to people you don’t agree with, tolerating thoughts and ideas you are diametrically opposed to reading articles by those you feel should not be given a platform and having to see people, you feel should be locked up, demonstrate on the streets. That is difficult that is challenging and that is what gives democracy its edge.

I met a man and what a tale he had to tell. He was an older, if not wiser, man than most, but the story of his life over the last twenty years was remarkable, an adventure that was to my mind extraordinary and if anyone had told me such a tale 20 years ago I would not have believed them.

This man had travelled, he had journeyed through continents and over thirty countries and he had seen poverty and pompous wealth at first hand. He had made fortunes and lost them, smiled and made them all over again.

He had loved beautiful women and been loved back and now in his mature years he had found the perfect partner. He had made friends and lost many, yet kept all those that mattered, he had children he would die for and parents that would die for him.

His life’s journey had taken him from a proud and principled working class background, to a position he never dreamt of. Yet he knew his position, his place in life and his people, he knew where he was from and where he was going. A man who saw more wealth in wonder and the love of life, than in mere money. A man with a love for simplicity and comfort over the collection of material objects.

This man told me about a country that he loved and a people confused by their own capacity. He had seen fear, hatred and division crumble in the face of honesty, compassion and forgiveness.