Language certainly impacts our interpretation of events. In the UK over the last few days the media have revelled in the soap opera drama of a HUNG parliament. Sounds dramatic, invoking fears of death and villainy. Capital punishment for politicians? Surely not.BALANCED on the other hand seems a much closer reflection of the research I have done recently (see thethinkingtank.co.uk), plus the usual eavesdropping on trains and supermarket queues. It's not very newsworthy, but there seems to be a hunger for reason and reasonableness. After all many of us run our lives that way, balancing a splurge in one direction with a little more discipline in another. It's human nature. We would never have got this far if we didn't know how to live within our means. If left to our own devices.
But it also seems to be human nature to be led astray - from the garden of Eden story to modern day drug and other addictions. Our striving for gratification is a source of energy for progress - and our own undoing.
Ah. If only we could have more balance in our lives. More space to think. More time for new ideas. More resilience to destabilising influences. Does a hung parliament resonate with our own hang ups or a balanced one with our hopes? If it's broke, we could always try and fix it. Maybe this is a reminder.
