Macron And The
Secret Of Life
I had proposed to
Steve that we should have a meeting of the English conversation class
at my house, for aperitifs, rather than in the room below the Mairie,
and he agreed. So this evening we did it. It was a success in all
respects, I think. Certainly everybody seemed to enjoy themselves,
some staying for three hours and everybody for at least two. The
food all got eaten (I hate left-overs from aperitif sessions), the
wine supply was seriously diminished and the conversation never
flagged. Most importantly, with a couple of minor lapses, everyone
spoke English all the time. (I had threatened them with Wolof and
Spanish as the only acceptable alternatives to English for the
evening, sure that nobody spoke either.) Two-three hours solid of English was no mean feat for
people who still find speaking English a challenge.. I felt I had to congratulate
everyone. These are people who wanted more in life, but not
financially.
It led me to reflect
on life here. For me it is great; I love the locality, a lot of the
people, the weather, the scenery, the local produce and the village
life in general. But I am retired and can afford to indulge in all
that. For a younger person the scene must be different. Younger
people need to build a life and job opportunites and variety here are
very constrained. Some, it seems, are content to just «get by».
They survive economically on casual employment and are otherwise
content just to enjoy the same good things that I do. But building a
better life must be problematic. With just oneself to take care of
there is little problem but if one wants to raise a family and give
them a better life, how can it be done?
The problem is
probably common in small rural communities across the world. Here it
seems to coalesce into two distinct attitudes among the French to
themselves and, indeed, to their new President. I have French
friends who want things to stay very much as they are, because life
as it is seems good to them. Others decry this, say the French are
just dozing, and laud what they perceive as the anglo-saxon attitude
of «get up and go». Some have commented on how the English
(friends Jo and Steve and I) have invigorated the life of the village
with our English conversation classes, organisation of ad hoc choirs, (English) floral displays and boules playing.
A contributing
factor is certainly the oft-proclaimed north-south divide and from
which you happen to originate; in other
words, the weather. If the outlook is cold, wet and bleak, whatever
you do you are not going to relax outside. Also you need to keep
warm and you need the money to fund that, a considerable incentive to use
initiatve and find paid work. This in turn, I feel, spills over into
social life. Do you just accept what the commune offers for
entertainment and interest or do something to add to it? So what
is the secret for a satisfying life?
These dilemmas come
together in Macron. My French friends seem to be ambivalent about
him. He won the presidency primarily, I think, as the preferable
alternative to Le Pen. What the French seem to find puzzling about
him is that he has impeccable credentials for neither right nor left,
which confounds their love of pure theory. His penchant for
entrepreneurialship appeals to the right but he has socialist
tendencies also. The left accept his socialist claims but deplore
the entrepreneurial side. The big problem for the French, it seems,
is that they can't place him anywhere in theory, neither fowl nor
beast. But maybe, just maybe, that is exactly what France needs for
a better life for its citizens. Whatever the future holds for French
life, to the usual certainties of death and taxes can be added
demonstrations and strikes as Macron attempts to make the changes he
feels are necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment