Tax form evasion and being human

A lazy Sunday. And I am doing anything to avoid doing my tax return. Every year I vow that I will start it in May and every year it gets to January and it is still there, looming like a hungry shadow at the end of the month. I so wish I could blame someone other than myself but whichever way I look the arrows are all pointing at me!  Fortunately today there are towels to be put away, handkerchieves to be folded, cushions to be plumped up....so definitely not enough time to start filling in a tax form!

Last night Ninesh and I watched the long awaited first episodes of series 2 of Borgen.  I don't know why it's so good.  But filling in a tax form definitely pales into insignificance, compared to the huge political and personal problems facing the fictional female Prime Minister of Denmark: what to do about troops in Afghanistan, who to choose as your representative in the European Parliament in Brussels, how to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, who actually are your enemies!  But as I watched I kept thinking that what is most intriguing about it, is the realisation that however much power you have, however huge the impact of your professional decisions, it is the decisions you make in your personal life that are always the hardest and most painful. Sometimes it is hard to remember that our leaders are humans too. We, the public, are quick to criticise and slow to praise.  It is hard to perceive politicians as anything other than the sum of their policies, hard to disassociate them with the latest lies they have had to tell or cuts they have had to make. But at the end of the day, they still have to go home and deal with the daily grind and heart-ache of being a wife or husband or mum or dad. In Borgen ( because it is TV and needs drama maybe  ) there is the heartbreak of divorce and children choosing one parent over another. And maybe in choosing to become  Prime Minister she chose her country over her family but that doesn't stop her crying. And that is the truth. Whether the power and fame some of us achieve is the result of luck, hard work or ( more rarely! ) pure talent, in the end, we define ourselves not by how we are judged by others but by whether we believe the personal  decisions we make are  the right ones. And if they are not, whether we are brave enough to admit we are wrong and try to put them right.

Which is why I am now going to do one of the things on my New Year's Resolution list. I'm going to put on my brand new ( immorally expensive ) running shoes and go for my first ever run. And then, of course, I will log on and start filling in my tax form, although, the kitchen floor  could do with a sweep and the fridge could probably do with a proper clean and there's that cupboard I've been meaning to empty.....