did you eat my toblerone, cheeky kiddo?
i shall now claim that if you’d asked,
i’d have shared it.
i have a theory that
when it really matters,
we should all be treated as equals,
without bias ill or kind
different but the same

i’m not sure when or how different but the same became the mantra of the poem, but it is a bit of a guiding philosophy for me. life is so unfair. we have different abilities and different needs. but we nearly all have some of the same abilities – most of us can communicate, follow instruction, hopefully we can all appreciate at least some of other fellow humans. perhaps we can’t all love. and we all have some common needs – shelter, nourishment, entertainment. and we need each other. whether we like it or not. we rely on the labour of anonymous millions across the globe, hidden from us by the complexity of multinational supply lines.

i often think of the pandemic – the key workers who were not furloughed and could not work from home. the front line of those who actually make life possible. turns out the world does ok without lawyers and accountants. but we do need nurses, refuse workers, carers and supermarket staff. maybe we should pay them more.