We sometimes laugh at our ‘first world problems’ without actually realising what a privileged society we live in. This speech by 91 year old Harry Smith is an absolute inspiration that really makes you reflect on our recent history, where we’ve come from, the everyday comforts we most often take for granted, and what exactly the public health care system means to us.
'I came into this world in the rough and ready year of 1923...it was a bleak time and it was an uncivilised time...if I close my eyes I can smell the poverty that oozes from the dusty tenement streets of my boyhood...I can remember extreme hunger and my parent’s undying love for me. In my heart I can still feel my Mum and Dad’s desperation as they tried to keep our family safe and healthy in the slum we called home...but the cards were stacked against them because common disease controlled our neighbourhood and snuffed out life like a cold breath on a warm candle’s flame...sadly rampant poverty and no health care were the norm for the Britain of my youth. That injustice galvanised my generation to become after the Second World War the tide that raised all boats...but my heart is also with the people of the present who because of welfare cuts and austerity measures are struggling once more to make ends meet, and who’s futures I fear for. Today we must be vigilant, we must be vocal...my life is your history and we should keep it that way.' Harry Smith
'I came into this world in the rough and ready year of 1923...it was a bleak time and it was an uncivilised time...if I close my eyes I can smell the poverty that oozes from the dusty tenement streets of my boyhood...I can remember extreme hunger and my parent’s undying love for me. In my heart I can still feel my Mum and Dad’s desperation as they tried to keep our family safe and healthy in the slum we called home...but the cards were stacked against them because common disease controlled our neighbourhood and snuffed out life like a cold breath on a warm candle’s flame...sadly rampant poverty and no health care were the norm for the Britain of my youth. That injustice galvanised my generation to become after the Second World War the tide that raised all boats...but my heart is also with the people of the present who because of welfare cuts and austerity measures are struggling once more to make ends meet, and who’s futures I fear for. Today we must be vigilant, we must be vocal...my life is your history and we should keep it that way.' Harry Smith
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