"Bastards everywhere!"

My wife and I are on a brief holiday, driving north from Dunedin, NZ, eventually going to Wellington, doing the trip to catch up on two of our children and their families. We are in Christchurch . My back is playing up so I forced myself to go for a walk to see if I could free it up some more. I was walking down the footpath and suddenly realised that there was an elderly man riding a mobility scooter wanting to pass me. He began asking questions as I fell in line with his scooter. I told him I had a sore back and was going for a walk to try to improve things. “How did you hurt your back?” he asked. “Well early last year I was fencing (as in fixing a fence) and in the process overstrained it.” “Fencing!” he said, “Yeah that would do it!” Then he launched into telling me some of his life story. “I’ve been a bloody shearer most of my life. By God, you can do your back in in that game!” I recognised him as one who lived in a caravan at the camp ground we were staying in. As he got faster and faster on his scooter he talked and talked about working on farms in NZ and Australia. I was getting hot just trying to keep up.

Among other things, he talked of industrial clashes between farmers and shearers in both countries, and the evil leadership that there was in the NZ Federated farmers. He said, “There were some bloody nasty bastards in the leadership of the Federated Farmers. How do the nasty ones get to the top? They were bastards!” he repeated. Then he chuckled, “Mind you there were some real nasty bastards leading the shearers in those days too! How does that happen? Where ever you are there are nasty bastards causing problems!” “I guess,” I blurted out, “Those are the people who like to hang on to power!” … I nearly said, “It even happens in Church circles.” But he had talked about “those religious bastards” earlier and I had not admitted that I was a Church Minister. “Yeah you’re right." he said, "Bastards love power whoever they are!”

….. Looking at the world today and the weird things happening, this elderly sheep shearer perhaps sums up the problem… “There are bastards everywhere!” Thankfully that is not the full picture, but just now you begin to wonder?