The people who keep us alive drive taxis, stock shelves, serve us a smoothie, etc [see photo].
I was reminded [as I strolled around London] last weekend that "its the people stupid" who keep us alive and allow us to thrive. Most of these people work as an extension of a mass-production system [Five Guys employees, London Underground] and as such they kept us fed, moving, housed, etc. London is run by a semi-automated set of systems that have clearly boosted the efficacy, and efficiency, of the city since my last visit. However the cost of this efficacy, and efficiency, is the loss of the soul of London. Why is this so? It is so because the soul of the city comes from "the people, stupid".
Yeah... "its the people" who make our lives better [not the false alarm that goes off at midnight and forces us to pile into the hotel lobby in our nightwear]... "its the people" who produce the human smiles that lift your spirits [not the emoji that you might use more than talking to real people, just saying]... And so on and so on...
London demonstrates that "its the people" who keep the system working... "its the people" who keep us grounded... "its the people" in the fish-and-chip shop who serve our real needs not those imposters in Westminster or Buckingham Palace... "its the people" who make life on Earth tolerable... "its the people" you work with who give your work-life both purpose and meaning ... "its the people" who have the talents to fill The Tate Gallery [modern] with works of art that shock, intrigue, titillate, and perhaps even offend us... "its the people" who remind us that life is not all virtual [ZOOM calls] and indeed the real version of your life is what keeps us all sane [a hamburger and beer at a pop-up stall]... "its the people, stupid"...
Richard.
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