I dedicate my song today to Mike Skaife who lives in the village of Rillington in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. Mike celebrates his birthday today. Enjoy your special day, Mike, and thank you for being my Facebook friend. Bill.
My song today is ‘I Was Made to Love Her’. This hit single recorded by American soul musician, Stevie Wonder for the Motown’s Tamla label in 1967. The song was written by Stevie Wonder. Released as a single, ‘I Was Made to Love Her’ peaked at Number 2 on the ‘Billboard Pop Singles Chart’ July 1967. The song reached Number 5 in the UK.
When asked in a 1968 interview which of his songs stood out in his mind, Wonder answered " I Was Made to Love Her’ because it's a true song."
In 1967, ‘The Beach Boys’ recorded a version for the R&B/Soul album ‘Wild Honey’. Their cover was sung by the lead guitarist, Carl Wilson.
Today’s post is longer than usual but is as important as any I will write this year. If there is one thing in life that I believe with every breath and bone in my body, it is mankind’s inherent goodness of purpose and capacity to love their brother and their fellow man! Whatever evil is done in today’s world, I truly believe that good deeds are tenfold.
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I know that we all have different life experiences, sometimes of the opposite order. Good experiences can make one person ‘feel loved’ and therefore make them more likely to ‘express love towards another; whereas a person who has ‘never felt loved by another’ is unlikely to ‘express love towards somebody else’.
There are many valid reasons why one person feels loved and loving while another does not, and while this comes down to individual life experience, at its root cause lies the ‘inability to understand’.
Allow me to explain by means of one of my own life experiences which helped me immensely to understand my dislike of certain creatures.
There are some people who love all types of animals and others who would not give them the concern of the day. Fortunately, this latter group of people is in the minority. Most people love animals to varying degrees and were we to examine all the ‘pet polls’ ever done (of which there have been many), we would discover a wide divide between dog lovers and cat lovers.
Before 1995, I most certainly fell on the side of the dog lover, and to tell the truth, I did not have the least liking for cats at all.
I did not know where my dislike of cats came from; all I knew is that I had always had it. And the strange thing was, the more that I grew to love dogs as ‘man’s best friend’ the more my dislike of cats grew.
In truth, I had always wrongly associated cats with the darker and more superstitious side of life, tainting them with an unconscious bias of mine. I had been content to imagine some demonic aspects of them. Cats, in my mind, tended to be owned by gays, or suspicious spinsters living life loneliness and perhaps delving in the power of witchcraft during their idle hours. These feelings stayed with me almost fifty years until a newfound experience of mine(that evolved over 8 years) was to reveal the roots of my long-held prejudice towards this noble feline species of the animal kingdom
In 1989, I was a regular visitor to primary schools in West Yorkshire, where, as one of the country’s leading exponents in Relaxation Training, I would teach 5-11-year-old children to relax. Being so young, it proved difficult getting across the very adult concepts behind relaxation methods without using an easier method. So, I simplified the process to their understanding level through ‘telling them a story which included relaxation principles and methods’. This story was called ‘My Magic Garden’(never published), and it proved so successful that schools began inviting me to address their morning assemblies at an ever-increasing rate.
At the time, it was the ‘in thing’ for any public organisation such as the police to appoint a local policeman to visit primary schools and talk to the children. The aim was twofold: to provide the children with useful and valuable information on safety, besides providing children at an early age in their lives with a positive image of ‘a policeman or policewoman’. The policeman’s message might vary from that of bicycle-riding courses, road safety or to reinforce the ‘Stranger Danger’ message and to advise children ‘Do not accept sweets from strangers or ever get in their car’ unless you are with your parents.
Seeing the success that the police service was having in promoting a ‘positive image’ in their local community, my employers also decided to ‘get in on the act’. They knew that I was performing similar community service through my own regular school visits. They asked me if I would write a book for primary schools in West Yorkshire which dealt with ten themes in all aspects of a young person’s life; some of which they find difficult to emotionally deal with and healthily resolve. My employers said they would pay all costs to publish the book.
Over the following few months I wrote my first book called ‘Everyone and Everything’, which dealt with all those childhood issues that are emotionally disturbing for children to handle. The ten stories covered themes like separation: loss: bereavement: bullying: name-calling: environmental destruction: sexism and racism etc. etc. Each day during November of 1989, I attended a ‘Kirklees Primary School’ and held a story-telling assembly. I even brought along local celebrities like television presenters, lord mayors, and some national celebrities to help the children feel ‘special’. That month was a huge success and approximately 4000 copies of my book were sold, making over £10, 000 for that year’s ‘Children in Need Appeal’.
The success of my first published book created a bandwagon, and before the month was out I would have many charities wanting me to write a book upon a specific theme, to raise money for that charity from book sale profits. The charity concerned would part-fund the published book. My first 15 published books were all fully-funded, and with all the profits going to a designated charity. The books proved so popular with the public (even two princesses; Princess Margaret and Princess Diana) that my writing career was soon firmly established.
I continued to invite celebrities to read in Yorkshire schools, but I moved up a notch in the celebrity category. I changed ‘my invitation to read’ list from local and national celebrities to famous names from the national and international star list. I had national and international stars of stage, screen and stage read for me (over 840 celebrities) within two thousand Yorkshire schools. I have since gone on to have 63 books published and have allowed every penny profit to be given to charitable causes in perpetuity: over £200, 000 between 1990-2003 (two hundred thousand pounds).
They say that every person has a book in them. That is true, but in the life of every author, there is one book that represents their ‘biggest production’; their ‘Lord of the Rings’ so to speak. Their ‘biggest publication’ can take anywhere up to a decade to research, write, and publish. My mammoth work was a trilogy called, ‘The Kilkenny Cat’ which I wrote to do three things.
First, I wanted to raise awareness of the different cultures, beliefs, and way of life in the world, Secondly, I wanted to reduce discrimination and racism between black and white pupils. Thirdly, I wanted to raise much-needed money for thirty-two Jamaican schools in Falmouth. Falmouth was the old slave capital of the world, and its port was used as the main transportation port of slaves between Africa, America, the West Indies, and England.
I decided that a good way of achieving my three aims was by pairing 32 Yorkshire schools with 32 Falmouth schools in a ‘Trans-Atlantic Pen Pal Project.’ This involved me working in liaison with the Jamaican Education Minister for over two years, the Mayor of Falmouth, and other Jamaican education dignitaries. The scheme was immensely successful and raised both awareness of culture and reduced racism between black and white school pupils and raised over £30,000 for Jamaican school resources in the Falmouth area.
It took me between seven and ten years from my research stage to writing and the publication of ‘The Kilkenny Cat Trilogy’. Because most of my books were written for the child reader, I soon learned that it was easier for the child reader to identify with the theme if I made the main character in my book an animal. When I came to write about discrimination between all races and I wanted to conclude my trilogy with the northern racial riots in Bradford and surrounding areas during the 1990s, I thought long and hard about which animal I would choose to represent the issues that I wanted to address. The most obvious creature for my story was a travelling band of gypsy cats, who travelled from Ireland to Jamaica and then to Northern England. During their travels to these three countries, the cats would observe and experiencing bias, racism, and all manner of discrimination wherever they went. I chose Ireland, Jamaica, and England as these three countries had been my main spheres of influence, and having witnessed racism coupled with wide discrimination in all three countries, I used this trio of nations to represent the world.
My main problem was that I did not particularly like cats, and if I ever saw one in my garden, I would immediately shoo it away! Furthermore, I did not know a thing about cats and their feline behaviour. My ignorance of cats and their nature was massive.
Fortunately, among my many contacts was one of the country’s cat experts and a leading cat judge, who assisted me in my research of the many dozens of breed of cats the book covers over five years of dedicated cat research. Followed by almost three years of writing my trilogy, the entire works took me eight years to complete. It is my most comprehensive piece of writing that I ever undertook but it helped me to appreciate one of the most important things about myself I ever learned.
What I discovered about myself during the writing of this trilogy was this. When I started writing my trilogy of ‘The Kilkenny Cat’ I disliked cats immensely, but by the time I had completed my work and had it published eight years later, I liked and respected cats immensely. It took me a while to fathom this Damascene change in me, and to realise why it had come about? My perception of all cats had positively changed from one of ‘dislike’ to ‘love and admiration’ and the only thing I could see which was accountable for such dramatic change was that I now understood cats better than I did before.
In short, my years of research and writing about the nature of cats had led me to become an expert in the way a cat thinks and does things, and why? During my writing of this trilogy of books, I had come to understand their ways, and such understanding had led to me being able to naturally love them!
The same thing was happening about all my views regarding black and white customs also. Even though I had never ‘knowingly’ expressed a racist view since a West Indian surgeon had saved my life after a traffic accident at the age of 11 years, by the end of writing the trilogy, my Trans-Atlantic work with Jamaican children and thirty-two Yorkshire schools of predominantly white pupils, led me to conclude that decades and centuries of racial conditioning cannot be eradicated in the average lifetime of any person, black or white! Racism and unconscious bias are as inbred in us all as is any other trait which has been reinforced over a lifetime (consciously or unconsciously) through our interaction and experiences (by either intention or design).
It was my greater ‘understanding’ of cats which led me ‘to love’ them and their ways, and ‘to respect’ and ‘appreciate’ more their cultural diversity from other pets. I knew that if this process was true of animals, then it was also true where people are concerned. As humans, we naturally find it easier to distrust and to fear that activity, that animal, and that person ‘which we do not understand’. I learned that with greater understanding, fear holds less of a grip and negative influence on our thoughts, our beliefs, and our unconscious biases and prejudicial actions. It is the re-planting of our old thoughts, actions and beliefs in this new soil of humanity and greater understanding, that ‘love of our fellow being’ naturally grows.
Love and peace Bill xxx
My song today is ‘I Was Made to Love Her’. This hit single recorded by American soul musician, Stevie Wonder for the Motown’s Tamla label in 1967. The song was written by Stevie Wonder. Released as a single, ‘I Was Made to Love Her’ peaked at Number 2 on the ‘Billboard Pop Singles Chart’ July 1967. The song reached Number 5 in the UK.
When asked in a 1968 interview which of his songs stood out in his mind, Wonder answered " I Was Made to Love Her’ because it's a true song."
In 1967, ‘The Beach Boys’ recorded a version for the R&B/Soul album ‘Wild Honey’. Their cover was sung by the lead guitarist, Carl Wilson.
Today’s post is longer than usual but is as important as any I will write this year. If there is one thing in life that I believe with every breath and bone in my body, it is mankind’s inherent goodness of purpose and capacity to love their brother and their fellow man! Whatever evil is done in today’s world, I truly believe that good deeds are tenfold.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I know that we all have different life experiences, sometimes of the opposite order. Good experiences can make one person ‘feel loved’ and therefore make them more likely to ‘express love towards another; whereas a person who has ‘never felt loved by another’ is unlikely to ‘express love towards somebody else’.
There are many valid reasons why one person feels loved and loving while another does not, and while this comes down to individual life experience, at its root cause lies the ‘inability to understand’.
Allow me to explain by means of one of my own life experiences which helped me immensely to understand my dislike of certain creatures.
There are some people who love all types of animals and others who would not give them the concern of the day. Fortunately, this latter group of people is in the minority. Most people love animals to varying degrees and were we to examine all the ‘pet polls’ ever done (of which there have been many), we would discover a wide divide between dog lovers and cat lovers.
Before 1995, I most certainly fell on the side of the dog lover, and to tell the truth, I did not have the least liking for cats at all.
I did not know where my dislike of cats came from; all I knew is that I had always had it. And the strange thing was, the more that I grew to love dogs as ‘man’s best friend’ the more my dislike of cats grew.
In truth, I had always wrongly associated cats with the darker and more superstitious side of life, tainting them with an unconscious bias of mine. I had been content to imagine some demonic aspects of them. Cats, in my mind, tended to be owned by gays, or suspicious spinsters living life loneliness and perhaps delving in the power of witchcraft during their idle hours. These feelings stayed with me almost fifty years until a newfound experience of mine(that evolved over 8 years) was to reveal the roots of my long-held prejudice towards this noble feline species of the animal kingdom
In 1989, I was a regular visitor to primary schools in West Yorkshire, where, as one of the country’s leading exponents in Relaxation Training, I would teach 5-11-year-old children to relax. Being so young, it proved difficult getting across the very adult concepts behind relaxation methods without using an easier method. So, I simplified the process to their understanding level through ‘telling them a story which included relaxation principles and methods’. This story was called ‘My Magic Garden’(never published), and it proved so successful that schools began inviting me to address their morning assemblies at an ever-increasing rate.
At the time, it was the ‘in thing’ for any public organisation such as the police to appoint a local policeman to visit primary schools and talk to the children. The aim was twofold: to provide the children with useful and valuable information on safety, besides providing children at an early age in their lives with a positive image of ‘a policeman or policewoman’. The policeman’s message might vary from that of bicycle-riding courses, road safety or to reinforce the ‘Stranger Danger’ message and to advise children ‘Do not accept sweets from strangers or ever get in their car’ unless you are with your parents.
Seeing the success that the police service was having in promoting a ‘positive image’ in their local community, my employers also decided to ‘get in on the act’. They knew that I was performing similar community service through my own regular school visits. They asked me if I would write a book for primary schools in West Yorkshire which dealt with ten themes in all aspects of a young person’s life; some of which they find difficult to emotionally deal with and healthily resolve. My employers said they would pay all costs to publish the book.
Over the following few months I wrote my first book called ‘Everyone and Everything’, which dealt with all those childhood issues that are emotionally disturbing for children to handle. The ten stories covered themes like separation: loss: bereavement: bullying: name-calling: environmental destruction: sexism and racism etc. etc. Each day during November of 1989, I attended a ‘Kirklees Primary School’ and held a story-telling assembly. I even brought along local celebrities like television presenters, lord mayors, and some national celebrities to help the children feel ‘special’. That month was a huge success and approximately 4000 copies of my book were sold, making over £10, 000 for that year’s ‘Children in Need Appeal’.
The success of my first published book created a bandwagon, and before the month was out I would have many charities wanting me to write a book upon a specific theme, to raise money for that charity from book sale profits. The charity concerned would part-fund the published book. My first 15 published books were all fully-funded, and with all the profits going to a designated charity. The books proved so popular with the public (even two princesses; Princess Margaret and Princess Diana) that my writing career was soon firmly established.
I continued to invite celebrities to read in Yorkshire schools, but I moved up a notch in the celebrity category. I changed ‘my invitation to read’ list from local and national celebrities to famous names from the national and international star list. I had national and international stars of stage, screen and stage read for me (over 840 celebrities) within two thousand Yorkshire schools. I have since gone on to have 63 books published and have allowed every penny profit to be given to charitable causes in perpetuity: over £200, 000 between 1990-2003 (two hundred thousand pounds).
They say that every person has a book in them. That is true, but in the life of every author, there is one book that represents their ‘biggest production’; their ‘Lord of the Rings’ so to speak. Their ‘biggest publication’ can take anywhere up to a decade to research, write, and publish. My mammoth work was a trilogy called, ‘The Kilkenny Cat’ which I wrote to do three things.
First, I wanted to raise awareness of the different cultures, beliefs, and way of life in the world, Secondly, I wanted to reduce discrimination and racism between black and white pupils. Thirdly, I wanted to raise much-needed money for thirty-two Jamaican schools in Falmouth. Falmouth was the old slave capital of the world, and its port was used as the main transportation port of slaves between Africa, America, the West Indies, and England.
I decided that a good way of achieving my three aims was by pairing 32 Yorkshire schools with 32 Falmouth schools in a ‘Trans-Atlantic Pen Pal Project.’ This involved me working in liaison with the Jamaican Education Minister for over two years, the Mayor of Falmouth, and other Jamaican education dignitaries. The scheme was immensely successful and raised both awareness of culture and reduced racism between black and white school pupils and raised over £30,000 for Jamaican school resources in the Falmouth area.
It took me between seven and ten years from my research stage to writing and the publication of ‘The Kilkenny Cat Trilogy’. Because most of my books were written for the child reader, I soon learned that it was easier for the child reader to identify with the theme if I made the main character in my book an animal. When I came to write about discrimination between all races and I wanted to conclude my trilogy with the northern racial riots in Bradford and surrounding areas during the 1990s, I thought long and hard about which animal I would choose to represent the issues that I wanted to address. The most obvious creature for my story was a travelling band of gypsy cats, who travelled from Ireland to Jamaica and then to Northern England. During their travels to these three countries, the cats would observe and experiencing bias, racism, and all manner of discrimination wherever they went. I chose Ireland, Jamaica, and England as these three countries had been my main spheres of influence, and having witnessed racism coupled with wide discrimination in all three countries, I used this trio of nations to represent the world.
My main problem was that I did not particularly like cats, and if I ever saw one in my garden, I would immediately shoo it away! Furthermore, I did not know a thing about cats and their feline behaviour. My ignorance of cats and their nature was massive.
Fortunately, among my many contacts was one of the country’s cat experts and a leading cat judge, who assisted me in my research of the many dozens of breed of cats the book covers over five years of dedicated cat research. Followed by almost three years of writing my trilogy, the entire works took me eight years to complete. It is my most comprehensive piece of writing that I ever undertook but it helped me to appreciate one of the most important things about myself I ever learned.
What I discovered about myself during the writing of this trilogy was this. When I started writing my trilogy of ‘The Kilkenny Cat’ I disliked cats immensely, but by the time I had completed my work and had it published eight years later, I liked and respected cats immensely. It took me a while to fathom this Damascene change in me, and to realise why it had come about? My perception of all cats had positively changed from one of ‘dislike’ to ‘love and admiration’ and the only thing I could see which was accountable for such dramatic change was that I now understood cats better than I did before.
In short, my years of research and writing about the nature of cats had led me to become an expert in the way a cat thinks and does things, and why? During my writing of this trilogy of books, I had come to understand their ways, and such understanding had led to me being able to naturally love them!
The same thing was happening about all my views regarding black and white customs also. Even though I had never ‘knowingly’ expressed a racist view since a West Indian surgeon had saved my life after a traffic accident at the age of 11 years, by the end of writing the trilogy, my Trans-Atlantic work with Jamaican children and thirty-two Yorkshire schools of predominantly white pupils, led me to conclude that decades and centuries of racial conditioning cannot be eradicated in the average lifetime of any person, black or white! Racism and unconscious bias are as inbred in us all as is any other trait which has been reinforced over a lifetime (consciously or unconsciously) through our interaction and experiences (by either intention or design).
It was my greater ‘understanding’ of cats which led me ‘to love’ them and their ways, and ‘to respect’ and ‘appreciate’ more their cultural diversity from other pets. I knew that if this process was true of animals, then it was also true where people are concerned. As humans, we naturally find it easier to distrust and to fear that activity, that animal, and that person ‘which we do not understand’. I learned that with greater understanding, fear holds less of a grip and negative influence on our thoughts, our beliefs, and our unconscious biases and prejudicial actions. It is the re-planting of our old thoughts, actions and beliefs in this new soil of humanity and greater understanding, that ‘love of our fellow being’ naturally grows.
Love and peace Bill xxx
