LP XXIV--Not Quite, but Almost

Margaret Thatcher remains a perplexing enigma and controversial figure in London. When I get an opportunity to have a conversation with a Londoner, I try to steer the subject toward the person's thoughts about the conservative leadership that took place during her time as Prime Minister. Nearly everybody has a strong opinion ranging from "dictator" to "brilliant" to "greatest figure in our history" to "horrible woman, almost destroyed England".

I enjoy walking the streets of London, stopping in the shops, looking around, drinking some coffee, and watching the people. Shopping is a joyful experience of simply looking without worrying about a salesperson trying to entice me to buy the item. It is illegal for shop owners to use pressure to the buyer, and if it happens, buyers are encouraged to contact the police and make a report. As a consumer, I love this law and feel completely at ease to buy or not to buy (Hamlet?) at will. As an American, how often have we felt the discomfort and even guilt at shopping with no intention to purchase? Are we, as consumers in the United States, misleading the owners and the salesperson with our deception? Perhaps so. But in a strange sort of way, I also feel a little unimportant without the attention and pressure in a store. I enjoy the anonymity of shopping completely at ease, but I, ironically, miss being valued by the salesperson.

For a Londoner who prefers the status quo, the amazing public transportation system, the free museums, the non-stop cultural experiences, the emphases on fine arts, and the amazing world of royalty, cathedrals, heritage, and knowledge, Margaret Thatcher is the enemy due to her policies of encouraging independence and individual development. An acquaintance told me that she nearly destroyed the country through competitiveness and lack of respect for unions and for the system. He said he is contented and enjoys his life and has no need for anything more.

I am glad that England has a no tolerance policy for discrimination, for bigotry, for harsh judgment against a person for his or her race, religion, creed, or any number of complexities that form the human being. With this idea, everyone is equal and safe without any fear of ugliness or rude behavior or discrimination for being different. People respect and follow the laws and recognize the penalty for breaking them. It makes for a pleasant social world and protection for all kinds of people.

Under Marget Thatcher and the Conservative government the people were encouraged to strive for more, to work hard, to be entrepreneurial, to seek out new ways to help yourself and your family. As one bus driver said to me, "When she was Prime Minister, I had a chance to improve, to grow, to become rich. But that chance is almost gone now." Conservative government utilizes policy and decentralizes power in order to empower the people, to give them tools that will allow them to reach beyond their immediate world and grow to new heights. But the process is painful, and it implies a level of discontent that may or may not exist.

In the United States, I get weary of the pushy salespeople, I get tired of the constant pressure from so many sources, I am sick of the bigotry, the discrimination, the ugliness, and the vying for power that occurs so often by so many. And yet, maybe to an extent, perhaps sadly or perhaps a byproduct of our culture, America does provide opportunity for advancement. It makes for a difficult world, a world with limited fine arts, without supported museums, without the safety of no pressuring salespeople, and a world that continues to discriminate in spite of the constant legislation against it. Sometimes it is a world, not just a winter, of discontent. But maybe ours is a world for the frontier mentality of building a new cabin and planting crops for the future, a world for the spirit of human growth and finding your own pathway.

Today in London I visited Notting Hill to see the location of the film by the same name. Hungry, I stopped in a bakery and was immediately excited to see a large loaf of San Francisco Sourdough bread. When a lady came over to help me, I pointed to the bread that I wanted and she quizzically looked at it and mentioned it was more sour than most breads. But I said I was born in San Francisco and it sounded good to me. She smiled, sliced the loaf and sent me on my way. Making my way home on the bus and then the tube, I ate the loaf with zeal. With a great deal of discipline, I did not eat the entire San Francisco Sourdough bread, but I came pretty close. Politics aside, and I continue to maintain that balance between conservative and liberal is probably the best approach, I sure do like the bread in London especially when it is titled for a city in the United States where I was born.