There are some other amazing Inca ruins around Peru. The buildings were made without mortar. They interlock – which makes them earthquake resistant! Amazing architecture!
Poetry – Nature
I wrote this one yesterday. It seems to fit with the one before which I wrote five years ago.
Nature
Cauterised, sterilised
Manicured and tamed.
Pulverised, terrified,
Massacred and maimed.
Caged, manacled,
Tied up and chained,
Flattened butchered
Castrated and drained.
Nature in this century
Always on the run.
Treated like the enemy
And tortured for fun.
People in this modern world
Losing their connection.
Senseless and callous
Bereft of all direction.
Opher 13.3.2021
The planet used to be an interconnecting web of different habitats, each different and rich in number and variety. It was a web that we were part of.
That web is now broken up by fields, roads and towns. It no longer connects.
We are no longer part of it.
Nature has become something to be conquered and tamed.
The wildlife is driven back, the swamps drained, the forests cleared and the seas dredged.
The creatures are driven out. Those we find, the remnants, are poisoned, butchered or tormented for fun.
We know longer have purpose. We think we are above everything.
I fear there will be a terrible reckoning
Poetry – On The Run
On the Run
On the run
Through the trees
Down the rivers
To the sea.
On the run
Through the smoke
From the poachers
You and me.
On the run
Without a clue
To all of this
Insanity.
All on the run
On the run
Run
Run
Run.
Opher 14.4.2016
On the Run
I had this image, from a photograph imprinted in my brain, of a poor lemur in Borneo looking utterly bewildered as it stumbled along a fallen tree that had probably, up until that day, been its home. All around it were bonfires of flame and smoke, massive bulldozers and chains, with men in yellow hardhats carrying chainsaws.
In the foreground was gouged red soil, jagged stumps and ripped trees. In the background was pristine jungle.
The image was frozen in time.
I wondered what happened to the petrified creature. Did it stumble back into the jungle? Did one of the brutalised workmen dispatch it?
It was just one more pathetic victim of the inexorable destruction of the forest. It was of no consequence. In the big scheme of things it was of no significance whatsoever. I wanted to shout at it to run, run run………… while it had a chance!
I was much too late. Its fate had already been decided.
All over the planet, in every corner of the world, the trees are falling, the bonfires burning and the creatures are ripped out of existence.
The trouble is that there is fast becoming nowhere for them to run to.
The Corona Diaries – Day 355
Today was the same as other days. I’m stuck in a groundhog day scenario. It was cold, blowy and sunny.
In the morning I stayed in and edited my Harper book. I even read a little and wrote a little. I went for a walk up my hill and fed my adopted horses with carrots.
It’s a repeating pattern.
I did not see any friends. I did not go anywhere. We had no visits from friends or relatives. The only thing remotely different was that i watched the England rugby match.
Tonight we’ll watch a drama or film and tomorrow it starts all over again. Days run into days. It’s a job to know which day of the week it is.
Meanwhile, out in Coronaland the Tories are getting the credit for the hard work of the NHS in carrying out the vaccination programme. If only they had given Track and Trace to the NHS that might have worked too – but I suppose none of their chums would have profited from that!!
I’m looking forward to my second jab in the next four weeks. Can’t wait. I shall feel invincible.
They are talking of a third booster at the end of the summer. That will be to pick up the variants.
I feel sorry for the unvaccinated. As they begin to open up the country those people become more and more vulnerab;le. I’m expecting many deaths and a big surge. We might even have to shut down again.
I wonder how much New Zealand have had to spend on Track and Trace and useless apps? I bet they have spent a fraction of us. £37 billion is going to take the nurses and teachers, the shelf stackers, drivers, garbage collectors and other key workers a long time to pay back. Perhaps they will ask the profiteers and cronies to contribute a quid or two out of the goodness of their hearts. Silly me.
Stay safe – we still have a bumpy ride (that’s what happens when you drive over a pile of dead bodies.)
Violence Against Women! How to deal with it. Some thoughts. There are no easy answers.
First allow me to make some statements from the viewpoint of my beliefs.
All violence is wrong.
Violence against women is abominable and should be eradicated.
Most men are not violent.
The minority who are violent either have reasons for their violence (psychological damage, upbringing, street culture) or are rewarded for their behaviour.
We live in a sexualised society where women are demeaned through pornography (I have nothing against eroticism or graphic sexual imagery – sex is normal – but most pornography depicts women as sluts being bebased and abused).
Sexism is as bad as racism and leads to misogyny.
Women should be free to go where they like, wear what they like and act what they like without fear of violence, rape or murder.
Many men feel the same fear. They too are preyed on by these violent individuals.
Minority groups and gay men are also victimised.
How To Deal with this culture.
The main problem is that this attitude is firmly entrenched in most human societies.
In many parts of the world women are treated as second-class citizens, possessions or chattels. They are controlled by men, made to dress in certain ways, have FGM performed on them, have subservient roles, are kept from power and kept in the home performing menial tasks and producing babies.
Female education is a battle. Equality is a dream.
Even in liberated western countries there is little equality. Our CEOs, Politicians and Religious leaders are predominantly men. Women only recently were given the vote. Their status is still lower than that of men.
We still, as a culture, value macho male decisiveness and posturing over female intellect. Hence we elect macho fools with abusive misogynistic attitudes over sensible women and excuse their sexism and abuse of women. So Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro, Erdogan and Modi are elected.
The performance of these macho men is lamentable – one only has to look at the pandemic and compare the death-rates with that of female leaders such as Jacinda Ardhern.
Yet still we take macho sexist arrogant males over sensible females.
I spent thirty-six years in education, including head of the pastoral system and as headteacher, attemping to eradicate bullying, sexism, racism and macho culture (with great success).
It is not easy and cannot be achieved by tagging on a few lessons into a crowded curriculum. It has to be a pervasive culture.
The trouble is that many boys come from backgrounds and cultures which are sexist and misogynistic. They are brought up without respect for women. Women must be masked, covered up, consigned to cooking, housework and babies, have no power, are segregated and given secondary roles. They already have a negative view of women and do not see them as equal. Many cultures – particularly the Abrahamic ones – Islam, Judaism and Christianity, subjugate women.
Many boys come from streets where if you do not fight and stand up for yourself you become bullied, beaten up and ostracised. Gang culture values macho posturing and misogyny.
Some females encourage misogyny. They call each other sluts. They bully and they deliberately incite violence against other women.
Macho boys are rewarded with respect from their peers for their ripped bodies and violent ways. They gain status from being tough, rough, violent and sexist.
Macho boys are rewarded with sex. It is the tough hardnuts who get the girlfriends and sex while the kind, considerate boys are considered geeks and given low status.
Time and again I have had to deal with violent incidents and watched videos of these tough kids beating someone to a pulp. Very often the incident was incited by a girl and has a bunch of baying girls demanding even greater violence.
Our justice system and policing are sexist. Girls who dress immodestly or get drunk are said to be asking for it and are not taken seriously. Girls who are walking alone at night or going through dangerous areas are considered foolhardy and asking for it. In rape cases, girls who are sexually active are considered almost as if they can’t be raped and it is no big deal.
How to deal with it.
I do not think it is as simple as education or even getting males to take responsibility. Most males do. Most males are victims of this macho culture themselves. They do not support sexism or misogyny but if they stand up against the macho minority they become victimised, labelled as weak and bullied.
So:
- We educate boys not to be macho
- We change cultures that peripheralise or subjugate women
- We bring women into positions of power
- We educate girls not to support macho culture
- We eradicate bullying
- We stop electing macho leaders and start appreciating the ‘softer’ skills
- We eradicate violence
- We strongly penalise bullying in all forms and violence in all forms, racism, sexism and misogyny
- We update our policing and legal systems
- We create real equality
I really do not think this is easy to solve. I think that Trump and Brexit have given power to violent groups of macho fascists, racists and misogynists. It has put back the climate of racial and sexual harmony a few decades. We were making good progress but the condoning of Trump’s misogyny, Johnson’s philandering and the open racism that underlies both leaders is all part of the same problem.
Until we change our culture, systems and voting patterns we are stuck with endemic racism, sexism and misogyny. It comes from both the top and the bottom.
Time for radical change!!
There should be no place for violence against women!!
Today’s Music to keep me SsSssAaaaNnnnNeeee in Isolation – Elvis Costello – My Aim Is True
I like music with bite, meaning, social comment and poetry. Elvis fits the bill for me – always uplifting even when he’s down!
Boris Johnson – Support from the US?????
It sends shivers of disbelief through me every time I catch a glimpse of the man we have voted leader!!
How did that happen??
It’s like putting Benny Hill or Coco the Clown in charge of the place (except they’d probably do a better job).
It is a huge embarrassment to me.
On a day when it was finally revealed that trade has dropped by 40% with the EU and that companies are being strangled to death in red tape we have Johnson trying to cosy up to the USA. The Biden administration has already stated that Brexit was a huge mistake and they prefer to deal with the EU. Not surprising.
I suppose putting a clown in charge is appropriate on our journey towards becoming a third world country.
People in the streets of Cuzco Peru – photos
Peru – around Cuzco – Photos
Poetry – We’re all terminal
We’re all terminal
We’re all terminal.
Each day ends with a little death;
Each morning starts with resurrection.
Our span is fleeting.
A mayfly’s dance upon the water;
A bubble’s iridescent moment.
So while we may
Let us fill the moments with joy
And wonder at the stars above.
For all life is but a moment
That we must fill with love.
Opher 13.4.2016
We’re all terminal
I have been writing these pieces about death but hopefully not in a morbid way. Death is something that waits for us all and there are many views on what will occur. Yet death is a taboo; something we avoid.
I think about death a lot.
I wanted to record a diary of my own thoughts on death and record my own death – quite difficult – particularly the very last bit!
We’ll see how it progresses. If it is soon and sudden it may be a very short book!
But as I was writing this I was listening to the radio. There was an interesting discussion with a lady who had a terminal illness and did not have long to live. She was talking very lucidly about what she was wanting to pack in to what time was left, her priorities, her bucket list, and the interviewer asked if she was finding it difficult to talk about her ensuing death. She said that it wasn’t. She had come to terms with it and that we were all terminal.
The irony is that she will undoubtedly life longer than a small number of the healthy listeners who were tuned in. The difference was that they did not know they were destined to suddenly die.
We go through life and waste our opportunities, take for granted the love, awe and wonder around us, and rarely make full use of our time.
For me, talking about death makes me want to pack more in to the time I have; to not dwell on my aches, pains and limitations (ageing is a bastard) but to focus on what I still can do and make the most of each precious moment.
Death fills me with determination to live.