Awe, onions & a sense of pride

In the space of eleven months my life has turned from fine but mostly mundane, to lovely. Delightful, even.  I could never have imagined the first night I braved going along to Stockton Town Choir, that I would come to this now; wonderful friends, a real sense of belonging, and a need to help others and be the best version of me that I can.

Today I had the privilege of working with Matty and some of the kids from Matty's Bistro. When I say privilege I say it knowing that it doesn't come close to expressing how I feel right at this moment.  In our world now we take what we can. I'm generalising, and I know that it's not the case everywhere we turn, but if we're completely honest with ourselves we'll all admit to loving a freebie. I know I do! Very rarely do we have the opportunity to step into someone else's world and appreciate how some of the perks we're lucky to have in our lives come about.

Over the last few months I've come to realise that I want to help people. Most of the time I don't know how, but little by little opportunities arise and chances are taken, and I find myself in absolute awe of the people who work tirelessly to make other people's lives better. These are people who do so much for others that it becomes a way of life. It's not a one-off. It's not a flash in the pan. It's just what they do because they want to help.

Well, today I helped and it felt, and still feels bloody marvellous. Where Mike McGrother is a force of nature working like a Trojan and passionately shouting from the rooftops about his beloved town, Matty Brown is a silent worker bee, flying here there and everywhere, working quietly in the background and with a calm poise that the Dalai Lama would be proud of.

My privilege of working with Matty and those fabulous kids today is not understated. Where Matty works to give them skills to take with them into new working lives, that could never happen were it not for the enthusiasm and dedication of the young people who just want to make their own lives that bit better. Our young people are so often criticised for being wasters; lazy scroungers who expect everything for nothing, and yet tonight I watched some of these young people working harder than I see most adults achieve, and it's not their living. It's their training, their chance to make a positive change in their lives. And by hell, they're going for it!

I hope beyond hope that these opportunities don't disappear. I hope that funding doesn't dry up and that the people who can help to keep such things running don't turn their backs. I hope more and more people learn to have faith in the youngsters who are unfortunately labelled as no good for no other reason than society has been taught to believe that that's what they are, and so often by a media who doesn't take the time to discover who they are at all. I can tell you now that I won't look at any of these kids in such a bad light again. Instead I will open up enough to see the potential in them and the drive they have deep down inside to make their lives better and their futures brighter.

I salute the dedication of these young adults, and I sit here in awe of the power of one person who just wants to help.

Today was indeed a privilege, but it was also an inspiration. One person really can make a difference.