Blindness is not just lack of eyesight.

I wonder if anyone recalls the tale, by H G Wells, about a mountaineer who finds himself in a hidden valley where all the inhabitants inherited a disease that causes all new babies to be born blind. Now after several generations everyone is blind. 

When this mountaineer arrives and tries to explain what sight means no one believes him. He realises that his sight gives him an advantage over the community and attempts to take control. He gets angry when the populace ignore his ideas. In fact they resent it and accuse him of having dangerous ideas and an unhealthy "obsession about sight" and a doctor suggests they remove his eyes that "are greatly distended".

Before this happens he manages to escape and climb his way back out of the valley. 

But I wonder if the moral of the story (as I understand it) - that blindness is not just physical but a mental shortcoming as well; that those who don’t see the world as you do must be guilty of an obsessions or accepting "fake news" as the truth, can be accepted today?

Similarly those with disabilities, real or imagined, are usually considered "inferior" and not worthy to live in the community. 

This seems to be quite a common refrain and not just in the social media "world" but in the political and business spheres as well. 

Pity - but the old saying " there are none so blind as those who will not see" still holds true. Unfortunately. 

One thing leads to another

I know that I have written about this before but to me it is of never ending interest.

 

What started it all? Every effect has a cause. But what? And why? That we can never know – which is why I’m attracted to the Ancient Greek idea of the Fates. Those mysterious "forces" which the Greeks portrayed as three women. Each of the three Fates had a different task, revealed by her name: Clotho spun the thread of life, Lachesis measured its allotted length, and Atropos cut the thread with her shears. 

 

Just to go back a few steps – I studied a Bachelor of Commerce degree at university. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I had been working in the bush as a surveyor’s assistant when a bloke I met suggested that I could better myself by going to university (he must have seen my potential!). So I did.

 

Science and mathematics were not my strong points so I thought Commerce would give me some scope. My employment history at the beginning was more in the managerial area.

 

I met my first wife, Frances Hunt (born in England), an attractive brunette, on a blind date and we hit it off straight away and were married within 3 or 4 months (not sure exactly, now after nearly 50 years). Seven years later I was working at the (then) Rhodesia Herald newspaper, as an Assistant Manager when our African maid phoned to say that, "something is wrong with the Madam. Please come quickly."

 

That I did, and found her unconscious on the bathroom floor – she had started the process that ended in her death four days later. Leaving me a widower with a 4 year old son.

 

Then about a year later, after I had quit the newspaper and started auditing with a well-known accounting firm, I was helping to audit a large department store in (then) Salisbury in (then) Rhodesia when I saw another, attractive but very small brunette. Anyway after nearly two years of persistence on my part Maria Augusta  (Magucha) Bandeira de Lima agreed to marry me. Now Magucha had some quite grave health issues – glomerulonephritis – a serious kidney disease. She was advised that pregnancy was not a good idea because of the strain it would place on her kidneys and the fetus. She persisted and in the hospital just before she was to give birth I was given a form to sign – given the state of her health, in a life or death situation, did I want the mother to survive or the new baby!! That was the hardest decision I’ve ever made.

 

Very fortunately both survived!

 

Then, after a series of both political and personal events we decided to emigrate to Australia.

 

But then going even further back. My parents left South Africa for Rhodesia, in 1950, because they did not like the way the Apartheid regime introduced by the Nationalist government in 1948, was being implemented. 

 

Also Magucha’s parents were more or less driven out of the then Portuguese colony of Angola because of the 1975 revolution in Portugal and the granting of independence to the colonies. So, after a number of incidents, they ended up in Rhodesia in 1976. 

 

There is a confluence of events developing here. 

 

Even further back in time my maternal grandfather Henry Matson, born in New Zealand, as a young man ended up in Demerara, previously a Dutch colony in what is now Guiana. There he learned about the cultivation of sugar cane and the extraction of sugar. Then through a series of events he ended up in Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) in South Africa on a sugar plantation owned by the Acutt family. There he met and married Grace Acutt. My mother, Marjorie Matson was the second of three children.

 

My paternal grandfather (Dugald Campbell Watt) was a Scottish medical doctor who emigrated to South Africa to join his brothers. He became a very well known doctor in Natal. He met and married a girl 19 years younger than he was (he was 38 and she was 19) – Johanna (Annie) Anderson. My father was the younger of two boys born to them.

 

Then naturally, of course, my father, a journalist, met my mother, also a journalist and they married. This is where the "plot thickens". My mother was very ill after the birth of my older brother and very nearly died of septicemia – almost a death sentence in 1936. Dr Campbell Watt’s intervention saved her life. Otherwise I wouldn't be here writing this!!  

 

Then in the natural course of life, Magucha died nearly five years ago from complication brought about by the combination of the significant side effects of the many immunosuppressant drugs she had to take after her kidney transplant. These were too much for her little body to bear.  

 

I know that similar stories abound – everyone has their story. 

 

The Fates played their part (in my case) to perfection. Apparently. 

 

So you see one thing led to another – certainly completely out of my control.

 

Change (and choice) is necessary.

Why is it that many people are so resistant to change or find it so difficult to choose between alternatives? Possibly change, and the consequences that will inevitably arise, may give rise to anxiety or worry and denial with some people. This is strange but understandable and may be a possible reason why we form habits – a predictable pattern of behaviour in a particular circumstance. Habits have the “benefit” of saving one from choosing or having to make decisions and, in addition, from past experience, the results are known to be generally “safe” and non-threatening.

For whatever reason, however, some worriers or anxious people have need to keep at least some semblance of control over events in their life. Change or choosing some alternative is something that cannot be contemplated. Such people like things to be “just so”. Any change takes them out of their comfort zone and introduces new and possibly uncontrollable factors which they cannot abide. Hence the anxiety.

Some cannot abide the thought of changing where they live; want to stay employed for all their working life in the same job – or at least with the same employer; always buy the same make of motor vehicle; always holiday in the same hotel, in the same town or beach resort; always insist on the same “Sunday roast” that they have always had every Sunday and so on and so on - the list is endless.

But reason suggests that this is a fruitless exercise. Nothing remains static – everything changes over time. Sometimes very quickly and sometimes over many years but change is inevitable. Change is not an option – it happens regardless.

Life, at least as we experience it on this Earth, needs change. Without change there would be no learning, no increase in knowledge. Without change there is no growth. Certainly there would be no personal growth without change and the choices we make, good, bad or indifferent.

We change in our lives – from children to adults to old age. Thereafter the greatest change of all and this is not a choice but an inevitability, and is accordingly feared by many – that death comes to us all at some time.

Please talk to me!

What do you do – or what can you do, at work, when your superior cuts you out of the loop of information and limits the control you have over your life? I guess that you would have an argument and then walk out and find another job. But what happens when a country's leader does the equivalent of the same thing?

With all the modern means of communication, why is it that people don’t talk to each other? Governments communicating with their citizens; firms communicating with the workforce, down to an individual level, to let them know what is going on and how they are tracking and the importance of their contribution is vital for harmonious relationships and an individual’s general well being. Yet this is a significant failing with most governments and in many organisations.

To me this is a classic example of any organisations indifference, down-right bad “people management” and very poor communications. It is also an example of the (unfortunately common) attitude that the only thing governments care about is power (and money) and that the only thing firms care about is money – their citizens or staff, their morale, work-life balance, welfare and well-being come a long way second.

I believe that poor communications is at the core of what is happening in the Muslim world at present – the current “popular” uprisings against oppressive regimes. People are getting tired of continually being told what they can and cannot do by an elite class or group who consider themselves better than others and above the law (rule by edict). Part of the problem is that Muslim law and religious practices are so intertwined that the State, religion and the law courts are one and the same.
This leads to massive conflicts of interest. Similar problems were recognised in England over 1000 years ago when the King (John) was forced to step back from actually ruling the country and to agree to the separation of powers – that the State, the Law courts and elected Parliament (the Government) should be independent from each other.

Muslim (Sharia)law does not operate in this way. But I really think that something similar will have to occur in countries where Koranic Law prevails. Currently the Mullahs are both the lawyers and the enforcers of the law – in effect they are the law makers, judges and ‘executioners’ of the law. They are not, however, trained in law – they are trained in the Islamic religion. This is not necessarily the same thing. The Koran, as I understand it, suggests a code of conduct, which if followed should lead to peace and harmony between all peoples. The same applies to Christianity and Judaism – we are all ‘children’ of Abraham after all. The trouble is no one follows the code of conduct – everyone has their own interpretation – just look at the problems between Shia and Sunni Muslims - both followers of the same faith.

I suggest that until there is a separation of powers in the Muslim world these uprising will continue for some time yet. People need some personal control over their lives – an elected parliament gives this element of control. If this separation of powers actually happens then there will be a long overdue renaissance in the Muslim world.

Dangers of using FENAC

Gee! One has to be so careful about what drugs you take and be self aware – know yourself – to see what side effects they may have.

Take my case for instance. I have been taking FENAC, a widely diagnosed anti- inflammatory, for a month or two, to control the pain in my arthritic left shoulder. There are thirty (yes, 30) listed side-effects. The ones that I noticed on myself where a bit of confusion and some disorientation with a change of mood – I felt a bit depressed. So I read the information from the Alphapharm Pty Limited website (the makers of FENAC) and there it was, and I quote, “If you are over 65 years of age, you may have an increased chance of getting side effects. .......

• confusion, disorientation

• change in mood such as feeling depressed, anxious or irritable.”

The Chemist never told me about these side effects – nor did my Doctor. LESSON ONE – never just accept what a doctor or a chemist tells you. Learn to read your body. It is your body so don’t give control over it to some stranger.

So now you know – be warned. I have now thrown away the FENAC tablets I had not used and will now use nothing except possibly some milder substance such as (occasional) use of paracetamol.

More on Injustice

I have written before on this but I want to say some more about injustice. Injustice is a pervasive cancer and a blight on the lives of many and a major impediment to peace in the world. Wherever there is autocratic governance, wherever there is tyranny and terror, wherever there in uncertainty - whatever generates fear - there you will find injustice.

Why and for what?

It is all about “power”. It is all about the “prestige” that accompanies power, and of course it is all about ego. Power gives the impression that the powerful are “better”, are “different” from the rest of society and therefore “deserve” the panoply that goes with the power and the position.

But as the Romans said two thousand years ago “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely”. So power leads to corruption, which cascades down the line to injustice, to uncertainties and because no one knows what to expect next – this leads to fear. And fear gives the “powerful” a greater sense of their power which leads to more injustice, more fear and ultimately to terror and tyranny, in a fairly predictable sequence of events.

Those who are autocratic, those who terrorize and create an atmosphere of fear have the most to lose and they know it – think Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and currently the Burmese Junta and Mugabe (just to name a few). States ruled by terror never last. Those in ‘control’ live increasingly isolated lives for fear that their own lives may be cut down in one way or another - the immutable law of cause and effect will always prevail – they will reap what they sowed. It has always been this way and can be no other. This is justice balancing out the injustice by taking out the instigators of the original injustice – even though it may take a significant period of time – justice will prevail.

The recent tragic events still unfolding in Iran are a case in point. The Iranian ‘Guardian Council’ is there, principally, to ensure that those in power remain there. It is also there to, presumably, keep the Islamic faith intact and pure. But who determines what ‘purity’ means? So to keep themselves safe and to maintain the faith this Guardian Council pays a militia (which is above the law) to kill, maim and create fear – all presumably in the name of God, of Allah the Merciful.

One can only wonder at the mentality of these people and despair.