Flt. Lieut. Peter Guy Scotchmer next to his damaged Typhoon after returning from an attack on an E-boat.

Today, we read and hear not only about wars in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, and of impending wars, but of riots and the threats of riots in many countries. Everywhere we hear speeches of not only the end of the world, but the end of freedom, and of increasing hate and intolerance for everyone and everything else. We are bombarded with bad news. There is too much debt, too many immigrants, not enough hard work, no justice, etc…. Views are dramatically polarized and opposite, and there is no middle ground. These are not good times. And woe be to he or she who disagrees with the popular obsession of the month!

Back in the 3rd century AD, times were not that different than today. At this time Christianity was growing rapidly, and it was greatly feared. It was considered a new religion, and an unauthorized divergence of Judaism. Judaism was understood and generally tolerated. Christianity was not. Under the persecutions of the Emperors Decius and Valerian, many were executed for denying the divinity of Roman emperors. A Bishop of Berber descent, St. Cyprian of New Carthage, incorporated metaphors in his teachings. One such parable was of people arguing over the best way to fish in a pond. Each claimed that their way to fish was superior to others, shouting and stamping in the shallow water. Their stamping disturbed the silt in water, ensuring than no one could catch any fish. St. Cyprian suggested modesty, tolerance and patience.  He suggested extreme actions will only disturb the mud and achieve nothing. He was executed for his pacifism.

We aren’t all martyrs like St. Cyprian. On occasion, you do have to stand up and fight for what you believe in. As a child, I asked my father what he did in the war.  I have notes of his laconic reply:

“I was supposed to be married on February 19th, 1944, but I went to France on the 29th of January, and didn’t get back until after half-way through the next year. I spent a couple of months outside Paris, after a few weeks in Normandy, and an aborted trip to Spain. After that I took some train trips in Germany and stayed there another year or so.  Took off a bit of weight, too.”

That is insouciance. Insouciance is from the Latin, indifference, via French, ‘sans souci’, without a worry. It has a light-hearted, positive edge to its meaning. It is not quite the same as nonchalance, which is a relaxed state of no cares, akin to ‘no worries’. It is not the foolhardy optimism of Candide’s Pangloss. Someone with insouciance has a jaunty, chipper, and self-assured air in the face of adversity. My Dad had such an attitude; you get on with what has to be done – but you are not an extremist, and keeping a sense of humour maintains a sense of proportion and perspective, permitting humility and the recognition of irony. 

My Dad, of course, had been in the Royal Air Force, shot down aircraft, attacked aerodromes, etc., and had, eventually, been shot down himself, evading capture, only to be caught and ill-treated by the Gestapo, ending up as a guest of the Luftwaffe in Stalag Luft IIIB, the prison camp of the Great Escape. When I asked him about the photograph at the top of this article, he told me he “hit a tree.” I found out later he had been returning from a ‘rhubarb’ (a  mission to strafe and rocket ground targets) to his base at Warmwell in Dorset, and crossed the French coast only to be annoyed by an E-boat (see below) that opened fire with its twin Bofors 40mm and its 37mm cannon at him – and kept firing, too, when he was only interested in getting home. He climbed, banked and rolled into the turn to return, opening fire with his cannon, and “boom”, perhaps a mine on the deck exploded, damaging his own craft with flying debris. Luckily, he made it home for tea and a cigarette (the groundcrew, called ‘urks’ as a term of endearment, would insert a lit cigarette in his mouth before he had even switched off the engine). Meanwhile, he left the boat still and quiet in the water;  some did not return to their loved ones. War is cruel. It is about killing. But Dad had stood up for what he believed in, risked his life, and made light about it all afterwards.  

An E-boat, (Schnellboot, or S-boot in German, of the Kriegsmarine)

Surely more insouciance is what we need today? When doing nothing is insufficient, and where action must be taken, do it. As Sir Winston Churchill said, “In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity, In Peace: Good Will.”  

Now you say your Dad’s story is great, but it only works as the war is over and the good guys won. What do we do about the war in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, the absurd ‘woke’ culture of Kamala Harris, or the buffoonish thuggery of Trump, the cost of living, the rise in unemployment, illegal immigration, terrorism, drug addiction, sexual confusion about ‘gender’, the cost of housing or university, the ballooning deficit, ‘climate change’…?

Ah, that is why you need the ironic perspective and insouciance. For every issue, you must listen, consider the alternatives, ask questions, debate, ponder, decide, and then act. But YOU think and act. You don’t just adopt what the popular view is without the analysis. Yes, it is work. Let’s take the war in the Ukraine. What is truly important? Are the LIVES of innocents important to you? What price do you put upon the lives of Ukrainians? Is it a good thing that America’s and Russia’s wishes take precedence over the families of unimportant people trying to live their everyday lives in peace? Do you really think it is likely the Ukraine is ever going to return to 1990? Why are these people dying, their homes and everything they have – even the language they are allowed to speak, and the Church they can worship in – should be destroyed and changed by proxy and power-hungry elites, often in foreign countries? Those that seek to have power and control over you will not want you to critically analyze their long-term agenda. They would rather you think of candidates’ hair colour and clothing than ask intelligent questions about alternatives. I think you will agree that the all the lives lost, and the destruction rendered in WWI, were not worth the price of a sole terrorist killing the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand. Likewise, intelligent analysis will suggest a peaceful solution to the Ukraine war, with its concomitant reduction of killing, is better for more people than the selfish profits of bomb manufacturers. Or maybe we have the debate, and the majority want profits and enjoy killing more people! But I doubt it. Note how few of the warmongers mention the death and maiming of humans…  Why is it that – men especially – talk about wars and battles and few of them talk of the loss of families, loves, lives, homes, destroyed? Warmongers are not nice people.  

Let’s at least debate and analyze the situation. And YOU develop YOUR opinion. Today our leaders hector at us, decide for us, overwhelm us with their prejudices. Instead, let’s avoid the extreme views in the media, that already assume they know what you think, and approach the subject with insouciance. Insouciance will permit doubt – that sneaky ‘sober second thought’ – sneak into the discussion. Maybe there is another side to consider. Maybe we do have to fight Hitler – but not all Germans are bad. The INDIVIDUAL is paramount – not those trying to control your pocketbook. All issues need YOUR independent analysis. ALL the issues of the day require this effort. You must never believe the propaganda stirring the mud, which only reduces discussion and clear decisions. 

To continue the metaphor, you can bracket insouciance and the ironic stance. You can make a connection between the detachment of irony, (often the result of the

contemplation of two opposed realities, or ways of looking at life or a situation, which creates a stance that implies a thoughtful concentration on the differences, without appearing to take sides at the time) and the implied detachment of insouciance. In this way, the courage to ignore the cacophony of the distortions, lies and deceitful agenda around us all, and to do what is right and moral, independently of what is being forced upon us, is easier to grasp. Of course, this is still not easy, and more often than not, the hero pays the price. But such a person is the Genuine Hero – and that is what is needed today. 

Politicians – and those unseen actors behind the curtain that control them – would much rather have you stamping your feet in the mud – as they decide your destiny for you. It’s more for them. They don’t want you to think critically.

Think, and develop the habit of relying upon insouciance to cushion yourself against fear incited by impressionable and irresponsible prophets of what they claim is of impending apocalypse….

Contributed by Nigel Scotchmer