This post was written in response to Linda Hill’s weekly stream of consciousness Saturday prompt

This week’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday and Just Jot It January is: “glass.” Use the word “glass,” or find something that’s made of it and use that in your post. Have fun! Here’s my take!

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Of Glass and Pigs

Glass is a wonderful substance which has plenty of useful purposes.

It allows people with poor eyesight the ability to see better and especially read. Imagine how dreadful it would be not to be able to read! Lenses have also been invaluable in the realm of photography, the cinema and television, at least originally.

Glass also protects us from the cold and allows us to look out of our windows and see the world go by from our homes, cars and other vehicles, behind a safe screen.

Glasses can be filled with wine and other types of beverages. I mean it wouldn’t be the same without it. Imagine drinking chardonnay out of a paper or plastic cup, yuk! OK, I’m sure we’ve all done it at some time in our lives, but honestly, it really doesn’t taste the same, does it?

I remember going to a glass factory in Harrow, north London when I was at school Primary School. There we were shown how glass was made. I’m sure we did a huge project afterwards, and I’m ashamed to say I don’t remember a single thing about how glass is made, except that some kind of sandy product and heat was involved in the process, but I’m not even sure about that. What I do remember are the beautiful colours and shapes of some of the glass objects we were shown.

Alas, glass can also have very negative connotations when used metaphorically.

The glass ceiling was originally used (especially in the US) to refer to an invisible or transparent barrier which keeps certain social groups out of mainstream activities or power. The often unvoiced, unspecific or even unspoken prejudices against women, racial and other minorities in general. This theory was especially identified with feminist movements of the 60s and 70s.

According to this theory, these groups were allowed to take part in all levels of social and workplace interaction, but only to a certain level, because the good or top jobs and positions were reserved for the elites or so-called WASPs or white Anglo Saxon protestant men.

We’ve supposedly come a long way since then, and many people will probably argue that this glass ceiling no longer exists. We now live in a democratic and fair society where everyone has equal opportunities.

Well, my opinion is that in our part of the world, the mentioned social groups and minorities have achieved a great deal, but we’re still in process. It’s an ongoing struggle for us, but at least we’ve started our journey.  A look at the news, or a short flight to other hemispheres, will show us that in many parts of the world all people are certainly not equal and do not have the same opportunities.

Orwell’s pig said it all so well in Animal Farm, such a long time ago, in 1945, ‘All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.’

When will there be a full stop the end instead of a comma in that sentence?

By the way, Animal Farm was rejected by many US and UK publishers, before becoming one the most influential novels in the English language, just saying…

Orwell’s 1984 is one of my favourite 20^th century novels. The first time I read it at school, about 1974, 1984 seemed so far away, chronologically and as a possibility, so why does it sometimes seem closer now than it seemed then?

Oh dear, where has glass taken me?

All the way from glasses and lenses to windows and wine, Primary schools outings, feminist literary theory, pigs, and 1984.

Well, enough rambling. Back to work now. I have a novel to finish!