The really big questions

"... And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth..."
Genesis 1:28

Now I'm not saying that this family is anything special - in the scale of things it isn't; we haven't got any presidents or congressmen like the Kennedy's, no film-makers or natural historians like the Attenborough's, no documenters of the minutae of 19th century social niceties like the Bronte's - what's important, however, is that we think we're something special and, that being the case, if we get our skates on and start pro-creating we may well have a majority in a couple of generations so no-one else's opinion will be worth a damn.

Let me put that staggeringly egocentric statement into some kind of context for you. If we start having kids now then in three generations we could conceivably have over a thousand bouncing Bettany boys running amok amidst the great and the good - getting elected to parliament, making epic, moral movies with lovely, snowy beards, using their deep, warm voices to give credibility to big budget wildlife shows - and writing such books that will make readers weep tears of sorrow and joy... or fall asleep - depending on your taste.

Lads - if we look after ourselves and they invent lung transplants and stuff like that then we might even be around to see a Bettany elected President of the Galaxy! As for you Bassfords - well, you never know - you might one day produce offspring that will beat a Bettany at croquet.

Of course, I'm joking - and I was supposed to start this blog with a serious sales pitch so I could get all you guys as enthused about the prospect of a family blog as I am! I'm all too aware that this sort of thing can fall on it's face before it even gets properly up and running, so with that in mind please open your hearts and allow yourselves to be convinced of the merits of getting involved in such an fine endeavour as The Bettany Blog.

I'm sure you will all agree that our reunion over the weekend was a very special time. It gave us the opportunity to relax together and to commune with one another. There were moments which none of us will ever forget - the amazingly collapsing bench for example - but there were also moments when it appeared to me as though time was standing still, when the weekend seemed to stretch interminably ahead of us and all that we were required to do was exist together as a family - we were a single entity, with no other needs or desires save those that we could fulfill for each other and no other life outside the boundaries of the space we shared.

At the end of a full and hearty weekend, one by one or in pairs we left - without any particular pomp or ceremony - and that special feeling faded, that sense of togetherness - of oneness - lingers now only as a sweet taste in our mouths might linger - like mum's apple pie with a chilled glass of verdelho chardonnay - or the memory evoked by a particular sound or smell, the satisfying smack of your croquet ball connecting with your oppenent's, incense drifting through the back door along with singing from the kitchen...

Each time we get together someone always comments that we are different from each other in so many ways - and yet we are all branches that have grown from the same tree and in that sense we are the same. Friends and lovers may come and go but we are committed to each other forever. We define each other. In a very real way we cannot exist without one another. This special relationship we have - combined with the size of our family and the depth of our individual and communal sense of morality - puts us in a pretty unique position to comment on anything and everything.

So, what are the really big questions? Well, what's important to you? I've got a feeling that between us we have pretty much all the bases covered... over the course of the weekend I was involved in or overheard conversations about globalisation, imperialism, immigration, religion, racism, homosexuality, the middle-east, the influence of the media, music and architecture... and that was just the serious stuff! Most of the time we were smiling and laughing and reminiscing about the many happy times we have spent together.

Are we happy right now? That's a pretty big question! The interesting thing is that we will each have a different answer and that's something I'm fascinated by.

I think we are close but we could be much closer. We know each other well enough but we could understand each other better. We support each other but are we really helping each other? Individually we may be weak but as a family we are strong. I think it's time we flexed our collective muscles. We are special. Can we make a difference? To each other? To other people? I think a family blog might be a good way for us to start exploring these ideas - not in any formal way, just as a kind of experiment.

If each of us were to write one blog a month for six months then we would have sixty blogs. If each of your blogs was meaningful and personal in whatever way you want it to be then we would be all be given a unique insight into the lives of our brothers, sisters, parents and children - the life of our family - a thing which is constantly growing, changing and developing like a creature with a life of it's very own.