In her own words.

I have a book, “Australian Volunteers at work – 101 stories” sponsored by Volunteering Australia, published in 2000. Magucha’s story as a volunteer is one of those recorded.

This what she said and which I have transposed:- 

“It feels like home”.

I’m Portuguese, born in Mocambique. I also lived in Angola for many years, but because of all the troubles and the war, we left and ended up in Rhodesia, which today is called Zimbabwe, where I met my husband. From Zimbabwe we came to Australia as refugees in 1982, when my son was eight years old and my daughter one year old. 

I worked in the Fremantle Hospital for ten years as a pantry maid. In those days it was for the children’s future which counted rather that a career for myself. During this time I developed a kidney deficiency. My kidneys actually stopped working, and in 1993 I received a transplant. I had to give up work a year later as the work was too heavy.

But when I went home I thought ‘I don’t like this’. The children were at school, everyone had a life, and I didn’t. I found out that the Fremantle Women’s Community Health Centre needed help, so I began volunteering. I did a lot of translations including pamphlets for Portuguese ladies about breast examination and pap smears. It was all about preventative medicine. I was then asked to join the committee of the Centre and I became the secretary for four years. I help where needed – for instance fundraising and general administrative help. I love being here – it feels like home.

Because of my interest in preventative work we invited Portuguese women to come to the Centre, feel comfortable, and become part of the group. There are a large number of Portuguese women in Fremantle. The group meets every Wednesday and we have a ball! The women who come to the group hardly used to go out before. They lived a restricted life, dedicated very much to children and grandchildren. I tell them nothing is wrong with having a bit of fun. Sometimes we go out for a cup of coffee or lunch. They do things like embroidery, knitting, sewing – whatever can be sold at the annual fete, and the money raised goes to the crèche. We started meeting only one day a month, and now we meet every week.

The women give each other support and tell each other little secrets, how to do this and when to do certain things. Some of the women have health problems. Many worked very hard before they came to Australia, and are now suffering the consequences. Apart from the fun side, there is still serious stuff going on – talk of going to doctors, about prevention of disease, pap smears, breast examination and diet.

It is six years since I had my kidney transplant, but now I’m back to square one because I’m rejecting the transplant. So I’m on a waiting list for another kidney. I could be three years. Apart from that, I feel fine!

                                                            ---///---

NB. Magucha was, with love and great generosity, given a kidney by her younger brother, Joao-Miguel, who came out to Perth for the transplant operation. That, as far as I can now remember, was in 2003. Anyway it lasted right through until she died in January 2016. 

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

This is a very old tale about the unforeseen consequences of hubris, believing that partial knowledge is adequate and general ineptitude is of no importance. 

Possibly the best known version of this tale is the poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, written in 1797. This tells of a sorcerer’s apprentice who is meant to carry out various tasks while the sorcerer himself is temporarily absent. 

While cleaning, the apprentice becomes tired of carrying pails of water. So he uses his (limited) powers to enchant a broom to carry out the work. 

The trouble begins when the apprentice doesn’t know how to stop the broom. He tries to stop the broom by splitting it in half but the two halves now increase the speed of their activities by carrying in so much water that the room is flooded.

Fortunately the sorcerer returns and breaks the spell. 

The moral of the story is that only masters, with the requisite knowledge, should invoke powerful forces.

Goethe’s version is a possible rewrite of a very similar ancient Roman story narrated by Lucian (about 140 CE) that follows a similar theme which emphasises the power of magic or technology turning against the insufficiently wise or knowledgeable person invoking it.  

Now, in today’s world with technology of previously unimaginable power, Man’s moral and ethical capabilities to harness it for the good of the World in general is found to be wanting or so I believe. 

These old tales are worth recalling. I think particularly of the “World’s” response to the inescapable effects of changes to the climate brought about largely through the unfettered use of fossil fuels. 

The use of these fuels are supported because they are “good for the economy”, therefore are to be considered as “good” for all. Especially for the wealthy – the shareholders that invest in the companies that produce or use these fuels. 

It apparently matters not that “science” informs us all that the environment, the “world” that supports all we know, is being damaged at an ever increasing rate.

Ignore the science - it’s all about “money” you see!  

The trouble is that if the environment is damaged further, it will become increasingly difficult for life in general to exist. Only then will it become apparent that without people (and all that supports life on Earth), there will be no money, no companies to invest in and no shareholders demanding ever increasing dividends from evermore profitable companies. 

To me, it is blindingly obvious that PEOPLE and the ENVIRONMENT that supports all Life forms should be the focus of all – not money, however useful this may be in certain circumstances. 

Now, today, we have the COVID19 virus that is roiling the “economies” of all countries and killing thousand of people. The astonishing difference in the response is that “science” is apparently now paramount in informing us how to contend with this devastating outbreak.    

The blatant hypocrisy evident in this about face is extraordinary.

The “economy” is going to suffer you see! Simple.

Illinois ex- Governor Blagojevich

Amended 19 February 2020.

As you will see I wrote this quite a time ago – 10yrs to be exact – but the dear ex-governor has now had his prison sentence commuted by President Trump. I’m staggered. But there we are – a good example of “draining the swamp”?

----///----

Okay!  “The governor of Illinois has been arrested on charges of conspiring to sell Barack Obama's recently vacated US Senate seat.

The news that Illinois Governor Blagojevich was taken into custody complicates the matter of filling the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

Governor Rod Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, were also accused to trying to "induce purge of newspaper editorial writers," critical of him at the Tribune Company, the US attorney's office said in a statement.

"The breadth of corruption laid out in these charges is staggering," US attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said in a statement...” (From ‘The Australian’ web site 10 December 2008).

I know that politics is often considered a ‘dirty’ game and I am no great respecter of politicians, of any persuasion. Just because they hold the positions they do does not mean that I respect them – they have to earn my respect. They can say what they like, it is what they do that counts and which may, or may not, earn my respect.

In this case I am just amazed at the audacity of someone like the governor. Does he (or did he) believe that as governor he is (was) above the law? He is just a man of straw – not worthy of the office of governor. He is just a common felon and a con-man to boot. He fooled the electorate of Illinois into electing him. But what staggers me more than anything is the lack of moral understanding; the lack of the appreciation of values and  that any conception of ethics seems to be totally wanting from his psyche, from his understanding as to what it is to be a human being. Maybe he now has an appreciation of the law of cause and effect!

As governor he is obviously not short of money. He has one of only fifty such positions, so he is already in somewhat rarefied atmosphere in American politics – he is head honcho in the state - he has authority, he has power. Very obviously that was not enough.

He must believe that his sole reason for existence is to make money – and the more the better. Now I am the last person to say that having a desire to make money is wrong, because I like money as much as the next person, but not at any cost. Does this bloke actually LIKE himself? When he looks at himself in his bathroom mirror in the morning when he shaves, what does he see? Can he honestly say to himself, if positions were reversed, “ I would like to be governed by me?”

What also alarms me is the is the possible answer to the question, “Is this what unbridled capitalism breeds?” Laws, no matter how tightly enforced will never cover all human failings. There has to be self regulation (self discipline) there has to be trust; there has to be respect not only for yourself but for others. Laws are essential but unless they are applied and followed from the bottom up (and not just enforced from the top down) anarchy will prevail and the ‘rule of law’ will not be worth the paper it’s printed on. 

I am going to watch this one with great interest. I hope and trust that my respect for politicians generally is not reduced any further and that he gets what he deserves.

And this is something wrote a few days later - also in 2008:-

The latest on the Illinois Governor case is that the Illinois House of Representatives has voted to begin an impeachment inquiry into Governor Rod Blagojevich, who is accused of trying to sell the US Senate seat vacated by president-elect Barack Obama.

The inquiry, approved 113-0, will be placed in the hands of a special committee. 

If it determines that impeachment is warranted, the House would vote on whether to impeach, to be followed by a trial in the state senate.

If convicted at trial the governor could be forced from office.

It seems that no one wants to be seen to ‘like’ this bloke any more!!

Time passes by.

For many reasons, I suppose, I have always been fascinated by the theories and concepts of what actually constitutes “Life”, that essence, that vivifying factor that is present when something is “alive”, but is absent when that same something is now “dead”. 

The thing is – nobody knows!! 

In a book of short stories, “Like the flowing river”, by Paulo Coelho, there is a thought provoking passage, in fact two – from different stories – that I will quote as they appeal to my ideas about Life (with a capital “L”).

In the first quote Coelho was in a forested area on the French side of the Pyrenees, practicing his archery, when a French Colonel, exercising with his troops in the area, recognizes Coelho and admits that he too is a writer – about life matters. Once this Colonel asked children in various schools to write down anything they would like to know about life.

He summarized what the children wanted to know:-

Where do we go after we die?

Why are we afraid of foreigners?

Do Martians and extraterrestrial beings really exist?

Why do accidents happen even to people who believe in God?

What does God mean?

Why are we born if we all die in the end?

How many stars are there in the sky?

Who invented war and happiness?

Does God listen to people who don’t believe in the same (Catholic) God?

Why are there poor people and ill people?

Why did God create mosquitoes and flies?

Why isn’t our guardian angel next to us when we are sad?

Why do we love some people and hate others?

Who named the different colours?

If God is in Heaven and my mother is there too because she died, how come He’s alive? 

All, to my mind, very valid questions! 

Those questions lead me easily to my next quote, also by Coelho, which is actually an abbreviated summary of a passage from Chapter II of the Hindu scripture, the “Bhagavad Gita”:-

“Man is not born, nor does he die. Having come into existence, he will never cease to be, because he is eternal and permanent.

Just as a man discards old clothes and puts on new clothes, so the soul discards the old body and puts on a new one.

But the soul is indestructible, swords cannot pierce it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, the wind cannot dry it. It is beyond the power of all these things.

Since man is always indestructible, he is always victorious (even in his defeats), and that is why he should not mourn.” 

It’s easy to see that I am not a Christian!! Though I do, I think, have a profound belief in a Higher Power. This brings me comfort. 

Now I don’t mourn, but I do grieve. I know that time has passed by – four years actually – since Magucha died, so the grief is not quite so “sharp”. But it is still there as it will always be. I miss her companionship. I miss her as a friend. I also know, deep down, that the essence – her soul, if you like – is out there somewhere. I will never believe that Magucha’s intelligence, her love, her humour, her compassion, have just disappeared into nothing.

So, together with what in written in the Bhagavad Gita, and what others have written, I like to think that life is eternal. That there is a never-ending cycle of birth and death.

To support this here are the first two verses of a poem, “A Creed”, by John Masefield:- 

I hold that when a person dies
      His soul returns again to earth;
Arrayed in some new flesh-disguise
      Another mother gives him birth.
With sturdier limbs and brighter brain
The old soul takes the road again.

Such is my own belief and trust;
      This hand, this hand that holds the pen,
Has many a hundred times been dust
      And turned, as dust, to dust again;
These eyes of mine have blinked and shown
In Thebes, in Troy, in Babylon.

I wonder who?

I’m reposting this as I truly believe that Vladimir Putin is reading from the Nazi “play book”. Using the same language to stir antagonism against Ukraine. 

 

How ironic is that??

I haven’t done this before – but I’m going to post a passage from an infamous book (drawn to my attention by the author Paul Ham – in his book*) and then while I will not exactly hide the originating author of this passage – I will make it difficult to read the name – to try and get round the Facebook “censors”…. They don’t like it when this person’s name is used!! 

Here goes:-

“The art of leadership consists of consolidating the attention of the people against a single adversary and taking care that nothing will split up that attention into sections. The more the militant energies of the people are directed towards one objective the more will new recruits join the movement, attracted by the magnetism of its unified action and thus the striking power will be all the more enhanced. The leader of genius must have the ability to make different opponents appear as if they belonged to the one category …..”

Just for a moment please contemplate on the number of current (Putin?) and/or aspiring leaders who today subscribe to this method of rabble rousing! 

Now work out the original author and the book! 

nekaT morf 60p fo “fpmaK nieM” yb reltiH flodA

* Paul Ham is an Australian author, historian and journalist who has written extensively on WWII.

The Proper Place

There is a wonderful old Hans Christian Andersen story about a magic flute that produced a special tone with an accompanying wind that blew everything back to its proper place. 

That was a very dangerous flute but it burst after the first note was sounded – and I think that was very fortunate for all concerned. 

This old fairy tale has come to mind recently, for some reason, as the fourth anniversary of the death of my wife Magucha arrives – 21^st January. I certainly don’t want to make of this day anything other than another day. But it’s a very special day for me as it was 4 years ago that our relationship irretrievably ended, as all things must end. A relationship that was, looking back, I believe very special in many ways. 

I was very fortunate to have had her as a “mate” in every sense of that word. She would, I believe, have stood by me to “man the battlements” had she been called on to do so. And I can’t think of anything I would not have done for her. I am aware that distance lends enchantment – and she is now four years distant from me – but I still believe that. 

As I mentioned the old fairy tale about the flute that sent everything back to its “proper place” has come to mind. I like to imagine that forty-two years ago, when we first met, we each subconsciously heard the echo of that first note of the magic flute and were blown together by the accompanying wind. That we were now in our proper place. 

Then the end came, the inevitable end that bookends all life. We are born and we will die. 

But then maybe, just maybe, that too is our “proper place”?

I’m going to quote the poet Shelley, from his poem “Adonais” – an elegy written about Keats, after he heard of Keats’ death. I will quote some of this poem, admittedly out of context, remembering that it was written about a man, because I like the sentiments expressed – what follows is from parts of stanzas 38 (XXXVIII), 39 (XXXIX) and 53 (LIII):

“ ….. but the pure spirit shall flow

Back to the burning fountain whence it came,

A portion of the Eternal, which must glow

Through time and change, unquenchably the same, ….”

Also:-

“Peace, peace! he is not dead, he doth not sleep –

He hath awakened from the dream of life –”

Also:-

“Why linger, why turn back, why shrink, my Heart?

Thy hopes are gone before: from all things here

They have departed; thou shouldst now depart!”

Does all this mean that this life is but a small part of the “real Life” and that that place, wherever it is, is the “Proper place”?

It pleases me to think so, that she is now in her “Proper place” – that Magucha has now “awakened from the dream of life”. That she is out of sight and has gone on ahead of me. But that one day I too will be in my "proper place" with her. 

Maybe!!!

E+V+V+M=L

Ethics + Virtues + Values + Morals = Life (and well-being). Why? 

Amended 8 January 2020: 

I know I wrote this many years ago now (maybe I was in a more serious mood!) - but it still holds true - particularly in world at present! 

At least in my mind it does.

---///---

There seems to be some confusion about the terms Ethics, Values, Virtues and Morals. Certainly the terms Ethics and Morals are used indiscriminately and are considered interchangeable as are Virtues and Values. Yet they each have a name and therefore a purpose. 

It is here stated that virtues are at the core of both morality and ethics. Virtues are the qualities people admire and aspire to and define a ‘good person’; the qualities of kindness, compassion, courage, honesty, temperance, humility, integrity and justice. A person cannot be either ethical or moral without also being virtuous. Anyone’s ethical and moral qualities together with their virtue are dependent on their set of values; their beliefs, something that is at the core of their being. Values are not just mannerisms or a set of preferences. They refer to something much deeper and more subtle, to a line that cannot be transgressed. It has been suggested (possibly unkindly) that human beings as a species are neither intelligent nor creative enough to have invented morality, virtues, ethics or values; that these are innate and part of the human psyche.

In a general discussion, however, it is sometimes best to consider each term separately, even though they are interwoven and have a symbiotic relationship. They work together because to be at ease with yourself and to create and  maintain a meaningful balance between the conflicting demands of work (to earn a living); family (love and building and maintaining relationships); time out for one’s self (R and R and to reflect on and assimilate the varied influences that affect your quality of life) they cannot be isolated and used or applied piecemeal. 

Ethics, morals, virtues and values should be considered as facets of the same jewel – a human being who has fulfilled their potential. Each supports the other and somehow the whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts – like the facets cut on a precious stone.

Similarly they cannot be considered as disposable items, to be used and then discarded. Nor are they to be written up only to be kept in a drawer and dusted off when a crisis looms. They need to come from the heart. They need to be practiced daily, to become a habit of excellence. In effect they are the essence of Humanity and what it is to be a good person. And we all want to be considered good – in fact to accuse someone of not being ‘good’ is an affront and taken as an insult. 

So then:

Ethics: the principled treatment of other so as to cause no harm – “treat others as you would like to be treated”. 

Morals: the reasoned ability to distinguish between right and wrong, or positive and negative in relation to the actions, volitions, or character of responsible beings.  

Virtues: the qualities which determine the Moral excellence of a person.

Values: the beliefs which set parameters or limits to a person’s thinking, and which are evidenced only by their actions.

Someone who is ethical has sound values, supported by appropriate virtues and moral precepts - in other words the basis for a good, socially integrated, Life.