It's not always right to celebrate

I realise that Margaret Thatcher splits the public opinion of this country but is it really right to celebrate her death with parties?

I was born in 1972 and I guess a Thatcher child being seven when she was elected the first time. Many people remember her from the days before she reached the premier post, when she was education secretary and snatched the milk from the innocent school children. I was one of those children. I remember the milk that we used to get at school. It was invariably warm because it had sat out all morning. I hate warm milk so for me the loss of the milk was no bad thing.

Of course there are many in the country who have genuine reason to dislike some of her policies and because of them loathe her with a passion. Those that lived in the coal mining areas of the country had their livelihoods, homes and communities irrevocably destroyed by the closing of be coal mines and the subsequent strikes and protests. These communities have never really recovered and are still some of the poorest and most deprived areas in the nation. I just watched a gentleman from Sheffield on the TV describing how some 29 years later members of the same families that found themselves on opposite sides of the picket line are still not reconciled, the divisions at the time being so large.

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Others benefited from the policy allowing people the right to buy their council house. As house prices rose through the Thatcher years people in the position to do this did very nicely indeed. And as some people got poorer many got much richer. This was the times of the yuppie generation.

The Iron Lady won a lot of praise for her decision to liberate the Falklands from the Argentinians. This audacious plan to sail a naval fleet to the bottom of the globe was not taken lightly and probably in the face of much political and military resistance. But she took the chance and most people applaud her for it. Most, not all.

She was also instrumental in changing the world, being one of the world leaders credited with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the events that have followed in Europe and perhaps across the world.

I'm not sure whether in the end Margaret Thatcher is a villain or not. But I do know a few things about her. She was a woman who in a male dominated world rose to the top job in the country. She did that from arguably a working class background being the daughter of a greengrocer from Grantham. She was also elected Prime Minister three times which in anyone's measure is pretty impressive, especially as her policies divided the country so much. Even after her resignation the country still elected the next conservative government which suggests to me that the policies she left behind at the time could not have been that distasteful.

She stood up. She took tough decisions. For some these were right and for some these were disastrous. But she still put herself in that position. She worked hard. I admire anyone who is willing to stand up and make the tough decisions because I know that I couldn't. She inspired other women to stand up and make sure their voices are heard in what was and in some areas is still dominated by men.

Eventually how history remembers her is yet to be written. However, this woman has just died. However strongly one thinks of her, her family demand respect. She is a mother and her children have just lost their mum. And people are throwing celebrations and dancing on pictures of their mum. This is not right. People are allowed to think what they think and say what they say, however there is a way of doing this.

I understand the real raw emotion but we can also be respectful and civilised.

 

Posted with Blogsy