From JB to JP , the circle has turned

My begginnings were of the humble nature at the very least. I grew up in a place in Liverpool called Norris Green and the one thing the neighbourhood had in common inthe 70's and 80's was poverty. So it was no surprise when the odd dodgy tv was wheeled into houses and silence was maintained. (strangely as a child I was told it had fell of the back of a lorry and I remember my wonder at how the thing was still in tact, it was only later I understood it as a general term for getting things dishonestly) I remember my uncle worked at the docks and was referred to as Batman, not because he was a super hero but that he never left the gates without Robin (something) So whilst as a child I was not dishonest, I saw how certain parts of the community saw it as a way to survive a pretty awful set of cards they percieved as given to them. Well I decided to re-deal my own cards and try to look for a different path and sadly and with a heavy heart I have to say the leaving of Liverpool was an important part of this. My travels have taken me to Spain, Yugoslavia (Pre 1990) and Dubai amongst other places. I have seen the value of ambition and work but on my return to Liverpool I see the values of integrity and hard work are very much in evidence alongside an element of the community looking to cut corners. Well now on the 31st of March I find myself being interviewed for a position as a magistrate or Justice of the peace. A chance to finally come face to face with the text from my past and face it from the other side of the fence. Where I must no longer turn my head the other way but take a moralistic view and make judgements on the people I thought were just scraping around after being deliberately left in the bottom of the barrell. It is a fight betwen what I was, what I have become and what I aspire to achieve. Yet I know the boy from Liverpool was taken out, but the Liverpool in the boy still has its resonance within me. It might make me a better JP or as an old friend from Norris Green once said ' you dont wanna be mixin with those ponces lah' and sadly that is what I have become a middle class ponce, which even more sadly sits kindly upon my shoulders, allows me to wear blinkers and affords me the luxury of never looking back. See you on the bench.