A Place to Stand

Then let us pray that come it may,
(As come it will for a' that,)
That Sense and Worth, o'er a' the earth,
Shall bear the gree, an' a' that.
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.

Bearing in mind that brotherhood is not the same as common government, nor should it be, we have come a long way in those 250 years. Birth or hereditary aristocracy is no longer treated as denoting worth (except in North Korea & among Kennedy's & the Labour cabinet): & that as a society we do care about wehat happens to people in Palestine, Congo or Yugoslavia (even if most of what we are told is still lies to promote the agenda of those in charge).

For the first time Man to Man the world o'er ordinary people can talk together, as I am doing now. Indeed the time is plainly coming when it will be more than merely this world.

We may despair of this or that war, or the inanities of people who get elected, or even more importantly than any individual, the hysterical scares (warming, anti-nuclear, Ludditry, foreign conspiracies) & ignorance promoted by our mass media but we have clearly advanced a very long way & the future is easier to see than in Burns' time.

Full listing of Burns' poems.