When you’re a kid you believe the strangest things. I’m not just talking about the tooth fairy or the Easter bunny (both of which sound slightly terrifying to adult ears), I’m talking about little things like crusts put hairs on your chest or that watch too much TV will make your eyes go square.
A common experience as an adult is realising that you have continued to believe one of these bizarre and silly things for far too long. This happened to me the other day when I realised that the long school summer holiday is not so that children can help bring in the harvest. Frankly, this was an illogical thing to believe in the first place. The harvest famously happens around harvest festival time, which is the autumn.
In fact, August has been a period for pilgrimage and holiday for hundreds of years, long before we had a state education system. Perhaps because the weather is, theoretically, nicer in August.
For many people the summer holiday is one of the highlights of their year. Even people who love their jobs, can take great pleasure in a change of scenery, eating some different food, sleeping in a different bed and not doing paid work.
On a deeper level, many people want a feeling of escapism, of shedding both the physical and also mental burdens of day to day life.
At 999 Club we work with many people who have a deep desire to escape from the harshness of life living on the streets or from traumatic memories. The tragic irony is that some of the ways of finding an escape can themselves create additional stresses and strains. People who have looked to alcohol or drugs to control their feelings and as a means of escape, can end up having to fight to control this dependency. And that becomes another thing they need to escape from.
The good news is that there are many ways for people to find an escape. People who are currently experiencing homelessness can find and sustain a home. People who have had traumatic childhoods can find calm and peaceful enjoyment. 999 Club is a place where these changes can start and where they can continue.
On that optimistic note, I will leaving you, hoping that you find your own sense of escapism this summer.