A Hat Tip to Ronnie Biggs
Its taken a week for me to get my arse into gear to give a quick hat tip to Ronnie Biggs, finally allowed to leave prison to die in dignitiy with his family. Ronnie, as only the young would fail to remember, was one of the Great Train Robbers from Britain back in 1963 – a haul of an equivalent to today’s 40 million pound – convicted and escaped from Wandsworth prison, fled to Australia and set up camp in Brazil where he lived until 2001.
Ronnie surrendered to the British legal system at that point and was returned to incarceration. Perhaps he was homesick, perhaps he underestimated the results. But the British government has until this point been so doggedly bent on avenging the embarrassment of Biggs that they’ve been making an example of the man. So its finally good to see him out of the big house.
Beyond the crime Ronnie Biggs was a legend in my life in many ways… and not for the reason you might think. Yes, when he recorded vocals with the Sex Pistols as a wanted criminal that was pretty cool. But he’s the epitome of someone who got away and made a life for himself (until 2001). His story had a lot in common with Papillon, as a life instruction manual. You define yourself, the world does not define you, neither do the past or your detractors. For example, only ten years ago the government here still had written in my file that I was of below average intelligence with no communication skills. Sorry, but fuck them and their boxes. We all define our lives as an ongoing adventure, its not a retrospective act…
Unless of course you’re a loser junky plugging up at 3am obsessing about conspiracies and invisible messages… then maybe you’re fucked. But for the rest of us, we try to go onto bigger and better things in life because that’s what life is about. That’s one of the life lessons of Ronnie Biggs. That’s one of the repeated lessons of this weblog – you are what you let yourself be so don’t blame anyone else if you’re not willing to try… because nearly everybody has a chance to be better. Somehow, in some way.
Another lesson in life that I take from Ronnie Biggs is that you can’t outrun the law, as romantic as that sounds. The law is vast and pervasive, and individuals are corks on the water. But you can grow beyond the person you were or things you’ve previously done. Its not about regret, remorse or retribution – its about making the most of it from here on in. Ronnie Biggs was the master or reinventing himself.
So, to a gentleman old school crook and his family going through difficult times, I tip my hat. You’ll be missed in my world, Ronnie Biggs. Larger than life. An icon of the generation. A legend.
