I am, sometimes, described as being ‘Very British’. It seems to happen, more often, when I am working abroad. Perhaps, I conform to some international ‘Very British’ stereotype. By whatever means I qualify, I must confess to feeling rather proud of the characterization.
Many believe that ‘Being British’ is, actually, a unique outlook on life, engendered by traditional values. Perhaps, I can, better, illustrate the point, with an anecdote from one of our residential management programs. There was a requirement, on the program, for each of the delegates to prepare a short presentation, which would be conducted and reviewed, in general session. The presentations were to be prepared overnight and take place the following morning.
Delegates were not allowed to choose their own subjects. Instead, they, literally, had to pull a random subject ‘out of the hat’. There was a palpable ‘buzz’ in the bar on the evening, before the presentations. Conversation centred on exchanging information on the delegates’ knowledge and experience of the various presentation subjects.
One of the delegates had drawn the subject, ‘Can Capital Punishment, ever, be justified?’ Opinions were divided on the morality and effectiveness, of the ultimate penalty. Although, the majority of the group were against Capital Punishment, there was some level of consensus that, in time of war, espionage might qualify for such an extreme course of action.
A mature member of my tutorial team was a former army officer. The group considered his viewpoint, on the subject, to be of particular relevance and so, naturally, sought his opinion.
His contribution was, as follows:
“I, once, met a member of the ‘Cambridge Five’. (The ‘Cambridge Five’ was a nest of spies, who had all attended Cambridge University). Frankly, I found him to be a particularly ill-mannered fellow. At some level, one might, almost, understand his motive for choosing to pursue his rather devious calling. It is, usually, derived from a strong commitment, however misplaced, to the tenets of some alternative political ideology.
But, there is, never, any excuse for bad manners!”
That’s ‘Being British’
This anecdote makes, absolutely, no contribution to the DNA of any of our Training Packages. I just thought that it might amuse you!