Happy 251st Birthday Mr Burns

Burns day today. Which means some shops are probably doing a good run on the haggis. And whisky!

My favourite Burns has to be "A Man's A Man For A' That", which came about from seeing the last few lines of said song on a plaque at Hillhead tube station nearly every day as I trooped to uni for my last year. They are:

"For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that."


I like the sentiment that everyone is equal, appealing as it does to my lefty, egalitarian view point on life. It hits the spot quite well, especially when you consider all the crap and prejudice that goes on, something I see quite a lot in my voluntary work. It's amazing some of the stuff that gets spouted off these days by the vocal, bigoted, but thankfully small, portions of society. And the best retort comes from a song written over 200 years ago.

As they might say in modern Scots parlance, "Get it up ye!".

The full length of "A Man's A Man For A' That" can be found here.

It also talks about how despite the poverty a person may face, they are still a person, and probably more a man (or woman!) than all the rich folks with their jewels, trinkets and fine wine. Not a bad sentiment at all, and one we seem to have forgotten these days.