David Levy – Risk Averse Society – Sep 2025
Having been accepted to train as a Samaritan, I took my time to evaluate the initial selection procedure operating at my local branch. I found that times have surely changed. To be frank, I have been a Samaritan at three branches over three decades in the 20th Century.
What I found during my latest induction was a massive change. The onus is now on the volunteer, rather than the client.
Whenever any potential risk existed the tick box mentality of the trainers opted to protect the volunteer, rather than to engage with the person who contacted the Movement. It appeared to me that they were trying to have a risk-free engagement, and that is not possible in my experience. I am not a 21st Century man and grateful I am not.
What became clear to me is that in order to join I would need to be a team player, and during the time I took to make up my mind I tackled this thorny issue. I decided that, if I stayed, I would be constantly pushing at the boundaries of policy, and I felt that this form of society is not able or ready to handle dissent from within.
Why, you may well ask, do I mention this in an environmental blog?
The answer is that I think the reason why environmental solutions are often resisted, meaning that change happens with the certainty of the Titanic heading for its fate, is explained all too often by the intransigence of the Civil Service, whose echelons of power are those of a clearly crafted club where members have to fit in, and nobody rocks the ship.
I fear for a society embarked on this direction of travel, as we are, and I resent the future it offers because we deserve better.
