Monday 21st April, 2008.
As is the modern fashion, I have decided at last that I should start and maintain a Blog, in which I record from time to time, my thoughts and motivations.
I am most active these days as a speaker or lecturer, and happily the demand for my services remains very strong indeed. So what do I talk about?
Well, my audiences rang from late primary, secondary and sixth form students, through teacher seminars, university outreach events, and for corporate bodies of ever persuasion, either internally, or for their motivational and exploratory conferences or for celebration dinners. As a result, over many years of experience, I have by now found something to say on practically every subject under the sun. One thing I am definitely not, and that is a "Yes Man" who will say anything in support of anything, if the price is right. I am very selective in the engagements that I accept.
Indeed I feel that I have build my reputation on being someone who bring his own ideas to an event, to hopefully give a clearer view of what might be possible. Whatever I have said in the past, I would hope that I have never said anything that I did not believe in implicitly.
All this started when I was writing and presenting my TV series (23 in all). In those days, though I sought expert guidance from time to time, the bulk of research and the formulation of all the programmes was done by me, and I had the last word on the content and intended message of every show.
Today I am above all, a supreme optimist. I believe that there is nothing wrong with the modern generation and the majority of students I meet in schools, other than that the curriculum they are taught is on the thin side, to say the least. However, I find the energy and committment of teachers seems stronger than I have ever known. I worry that career opportunities are not explained adequately and that though the kids have a drive and desire to succeed perhaps stronger than ever before, they are very often not sure of which way to go and why, and they seem not to be helped in these directions as adequately as they deserve?
I am also an optimist about the future. I am not naive enough to feel that there are not huge problems facing us in the near future. However, having lived through the most expansive and incredible 60 years of progress, in every aspect of science and technology, and have seen the basic quality of life improve beyond recognition, I have every hope for tomorrow.
Though mankind is causing a great strain on the earth, I truly believe that we not only can, but already are advancing on every front, to reduce that impact. There is a great deal to be done, but I believe most strongly that given it's head, modern and future technology will do everything required to sustain and support the human race, and the vast majority of creatures and habitats, to a commendable degree. In other words, I feel that we will after the first half of the 21st century, be more thrilled with progress through that period, than we are today with regard to the second half of the 20th century.
Why should I believe this? The answers are complex and I will drip feed them onto the blog as time progresses.
But above all, I believe that a guarded optimism should be instilled in every young person, because that is the way, in an ideal world, life should be for all of us. Without confidence in the future, for our ourselves and everyone sharing the world with us, life would be more strain than joy, and that must be avoided at all costs.
Life is something in which we should each make a daily effort to help everyone else smile through.
Cheers for now,
Johnny Ball.