DAY 253—REFLECTIONS ON NEW YEAR 2012

Paris

2378 miles –  5,101,001 steps

I stoped off in Paris on my way back to Verdun from Berlin to celebrate New Year with friends and to take some time to reflect on the progress of the Walk as it enters its final stage. It is a mixed picture:

The Olympic Truce – To be an optimist often makes it difficult to face up to the cold facts of reality. I find myself choosing to always dwell on the positive conversations with political and sports leaders about ideas for implementing the Truce, rather than concrete pledges made, because there have been about twenty of the former, but still none of the latter.

Of course 193 countries out of 193 signed up to the Olympic Truce when it was presented at the UN General Assembly on behalf of the British Government in October this year, but then again, they almost always do. After all, what is the cost of putting your name to a harmless Olympic truce resolution; if you don’t comply with it then you won’t be alone, as no one has observed the resolution for twenty years.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, called the 2012 Olympic Truce an “historic opportunity” in the House of Commons in June. However, in foreign policy terms, this is a tiny matter on the “small earthquake in Chile, not many hurt” kind of scale in a time of very great matters – domestic economy, Europe, and the Arab Spring to name but a few.

Still I contend that honouring commitment in small things is a very big thing. When we do what we say, we build trust and trust is a commodity in very short supply in public life and international diplomacy at present.

It is not just the truce, it is what the truce could allow to happen that is the genius of the idea and the underlying intent of the UN resolution. To use the Olympics to broker a cessation of conflict in war-zones in order to allow in humanitarian aid, such as vaccinations and immunisations for women and children, is what the Olympics were originally designed for. They were designed as sport for a purpose and that purpose was peace rather than to secure a better sponsorship deal for the athlete, better corporate hospitality for the sponsors, or to beat the Aussies in the medal table, however laudable the latter aim may be.

Of course, the connecting dots between politician’s intent and political action, are the media. If the media were to think the cause of the truce worth implementing, then they would be able to close the gap between the rhetoric and reality in an instant. The fact that I have single-handedly managed to completely underwhelm the entire membership of the international press corps (with the single exception of ITV’s ‘North East Tonight’) is perhaps the most notable achievement of my 2400-mile walk to date.

This is my fault entirely for being boring or, as one friend put it over dinner, ‘instantly forgettable’, although he later said he couldn’t remember either the conversation or the dinner. If I had the looks of Liam Fox, the wit of Boris Johnson, the elegance of Philip Hammond, and the political intuition of Eric Pickles, it might have been a different story. Instead, I was endowed only with the elegance of Boris, the body of Eric, and the charisma of a former leader of the Liberal Democrat’s whose name escapes me.

I keep getting asked to ‘spice it up’ by getting Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johannson, or Joanna Lumley to come out and join me for part of the walk in order to generate some interest and I keep telling them, I’ve tried and if I tried any harder I would be ‘had up’ for harassment. I’ve even offered myself to Angelina for adoption – well, not quite, Brad felt a bit threatened by the competition – he’s got a point. So, the Walk plods on towards Paris in glorious anonymity consistent with the 2012 Olympic truce itself.

On New Year’s Eve we went to the movies on the Champs Elysees to see ‘New Year’s Eve’, a great all-star ‘feel good’ movie about the preparations for the marking of the New Year in Times Square, New York. In the movie, Times Square is packed with New Year’s revellers awaiting the iconic ball drop to start the countdown to Midnight when the ball stops half way. In the face of the major humiliation and jeers from the crowd Hilary Swank’s character, who is the organising of the event, takes the microphone and says:

“Perhaps the ball is suspended there to remind us before we pop the champagne and celebrate the New Year, to stop and reflect on the year that has gone by. To remember both our triumphs and our missteps, our promises made and broken. The time we opened ourselves up to great adventures or closed ourselves down for fear of getting hurt because that is what New Years is all about – getting another chance. A chance to forgive, to do better, to do more, to give more, to love more. And stop worrying about what if and start embracing what would be”.

Okay it may be sentimental but so is the Olympic Truce. I remember being told that the difference between Americans and the Brits is that the Americans have an infinite capacity for sentimentality and the Brits have an infinite capacity for cynicism. Sentimentality is much underrated. I think 2012 needs us to be a bit more sentimental and less cynical, to trust our hearts a bit more and our heads a bit less, to believe in the best and to rise above the worst. Finally, we need to ensure we keep the light of hope burning even in the darkest of times and above all, whatever our circumstances, to have faith that tomorrow can be better than today if we truly want it to be.

 Happy New Year!