Martha Saves The World?

You no doubt read, heard, or watched, in the media yesterday, the story of Martha Payne.
A nine year old girl from Lochgilphead in Scotland, who Argyle & Bute Council tried to censor, as she relayed the truth  about School Dinners on her blog. Martha's wonderful Blog.
Well, common sense has prevailed, the council has relented, and Martha has written a new message stating that she will be back with more school dinner reviews on Monday.
Good for Martha, and her Dad, for sticking to their guns!
Boo, to Argyle & Bute Council for acting as bullies!
Although this heartwarming story of a nine year old girl, who aspires to be a journalist, starting a Blog as a writing experiment, while also trying to raise money for a local charity, Mary's Meals, that encountered censure by a bully boy local council, is a pretty incredible story in itself; the real amazing thing is the public support and moral outrage that has been stirred by Martha's story.
Last I looked her the total pageviews counter on her blog was going round in circles between four and five million, unable to cope with the amount of visitors to her page. The comments, today alone number 460, are enough to bring a lump to the throat of a concrete statue. It's an emotive issue, with celebrity chefs, MSPs, politicians, and ex politicians weighing in to get the big bad council to back down.
But the story of Martha and her Blog is almost incidental to the story of Martha's charity cause.
As Martha said on a post, last year she and her friends had raised £70 for a local charity called Mary's Meals. This year, she said she wanted to try and raise enough to help them build a kitchen in Malawi (to provide meals for children), to that end, she started a Just Giving page, linked to her Blog. Donate to Mary's Meals
Martha's target was £7,000.
At present her total stands at £59, 259. 07! A massive 846% of her original target!
The donaters comments range from the near condescending, to the get it up ye Argyle & Bute council, but the majority (of those that leave a comment, a great many donations are anonymous), are warm, giving messages of support to a young girl with a big heart.
What shines out to me more than anything, is that there are good people in the world.
Amidst all the corruption in the media, in politics, even in football, where individuals will crawl over the dead bodies of friends and colleagues, to attain  power, wealth, and status, a simple message from a nine year old girl can move mountains.
I'm a cynic, I admit it!
But even I am moved by this.
I spent most of last night watching the donations climb from a meager (and probably realistic target) £4,000, to the amazing figure of £50,000. The fact that even overnight almost £10,000 more has been added is truly incredible! Of course it will slow down today, maybe even stop, and probably tomorrow Martha's story (and Mary's Meals) will be forgotten, yesterday's news. The media juggernaut steamrollers on.
But, for me, Martha's story, is a truly inspirational moment, an example of selfless idealism, that in this day and age can probably only truly be expressed by a young child. It is a moment of wonder rising for a brief moment from a sinkhole of avarice and greed! I'm glad it has touched so many people, and given us a little bit of hope.
To that end, I hope Martha enjoys her moment in the sun, and is not too overwhelmed by it. I hope she keeps her feet on the ground, and works hard to acheive her dreams, and I hope her Dad (and Mum) continue to shield her from the glare of the spotlight, and the corruption of the media.
More power to you Martha, you are indeed a champion!

Keep Smiling.
David.

P.S.: One last thing. Wouldn't it be nice, if the people that started this whole stooshie actually did something positive for a change? Why don't the Daily Record hire Martha as a child journalist to write a column for their paper? This way, they could send Martha out to Malawi, or any of the other countries where Mary's Meals helps out, to see where her donations end up, and the good they do. This would also keep Mary's meals in the spotlight (as they don't use any of the money raised to advertise themselves). Martha's column could also spotlight other worthy charities. Martha would gain a taste of what journalism is really like. What say you Daily Record?

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

The Clubber. 

"Ur ye dancin'?"

"Ur ye askin'?"

Naw, ah'm no.

The Glaswegian mating ritual commences.

Or mibee not.

Strangely this is not a blog about the nocturnal activities of Scottish teenagers, or even of an extremely social person with Autism.

This was originally conceived as a Blog of Anger & Rage.

A place to rail against the perceived injustices dished out by society, the media, or even the Hand of Fate.

Obviously I must have cooled off (or at least sobered up) in the last five years.

As up until yesterday, I had no inkling that this page ever existed.

So, what to do now?

Use it or lose it?

Well, in my mellow old age I'm not sure I have any need for a place to, metaphorically, bludgeon public figures into submission anymore.

I'm not even sure I have time to write screeds of self-indulgent doggerel about pretty much nothing either.

I suppose I could tell you a story.

Yes, I may do that.

I may start with expanding on the original concept for The Clubber's Page.

Then, at a whim, I may let flights of fancy whisk may where the will.

Yes.

This seems a reasonable starting point.

A fairly loose arrangement.

Let's run with that.

"Mibbe am ur dancin', naw?..."

DJ.