My dad would always encourage me to look up when I was a boy, always saying “you are missing so many beautiful buildings and so much history looking at your feet when waking through town” and he was right.
Being
born in and living in Glasgow, I am, like my dad, very proud of this wonderful
city and people. We have had the Commonwealth Games here over the last weeks,
and the atmosphere at the events and in around the city has been amazing.
Travelling
around to do my talks by foot, by bus or by train, you can’t help but
notice so many people from around the world not only here to attend events, but
to truly get to know the history of Glasgow; where we have been, where we are
and where we are going. Everywhere you look, there are people with maps, guide
books, taking photos, learning about the story of Glasgow.
I
was at a bus stop in town this morning, a bus stop I wait at most
days, and from across the street I could see three people with Glasgow
2014 shirts on taking a photo of a small plaque on a building and discussing it
intensely. I have been at this same bus stop so many times but never noticed or
thought to read this plaque, and it made me think of the time taken to find
about Glasgow, its life story, its history, by those people visiting for the
common wealth games and not just what they see.
I
think there are so many lessons to be learnt here. There are so many people
coming to visit this city to attend the Commonwealth Games but this is only
half of the story. They are learning so much about the people, the history, the
buildings, the heartbeat of the games - Glasgow and the people from Glasgow.
It
got me thinking about care – if people took more time to learn about the
people we meet when needing support, advice or care; their life story,
where they have been, where they are and where we can support them to go, then
I think we can truly help people.
One of the things I
try to promote on my tour is the “Getting to Know Me” initiative. This is all
about getting to know the whole person, not just the patient and the illness,
and is the driving motivation behind a new, nationally developed resource
to improve the experiences of vulnerable adults and their carers in acute
hospital settings.
Judging by the
smiles, the excitement and the conversations I have witnessed over the
last week by so many people getting to know Glasgow, and the constant talk of
legacy from major sporting events, getting to know all about everyone we
care for would be a great legacy and I feel would help the smiles of so many
over the last weeks continue for much longer on the faces of people we care
for.
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