There was a boy
The news was reporting that Boko Haram were using young boys and girls as suicide bombers.
Like paedophiles they groom their innocent children victims, feeding them lies.
They point to the people who they claim are evil. These people believe differently. They are heretics, apostates and loathed by god. They are thoroughly loathsome. The Koran states that the unbelievers should be killed.
Allah demands that they should be punished for their crimes of belief.
They were required to do Allah’s will.
They would open their eyes in paradise.
They are not trusted with the button.
The man in the shadows presses the button, watches the outcome, and smiles as the nails and bolts fly among the organs, tissues and limbs.
There was a boy
There was a young boy
With a bomb
Strapped to his chest.
In the shadows
Stands a man
With a button.
All because of what
Is believed
And why?
They are waiting
For the innocents
To gather.
Hate and lies
Prejudice
And fury.
All in the pressing of a button.
Opher 14.4.2016
I am a writer who deploys passion. I believe I am highly original. People who have read my books have left glowing reviews.
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11.
Sam was my dog. An Old English Sheepdog – a border collie – very bright, cantankerous, loyal, loving and crazy – one of the family.
I had him for sixteen years. He was so fit he could run for ever and sometimes he would even do as he was told.
Then Sam became ill. He started becoming very thin and lost energy. I took him to the vets who diagnosed an advanced tumour, liver malfunction and kidney failure. He was inoperable and terminal. The vet gave him some drugs to deal with some of the symptoms and told me to bring him in when the time was right.
How do you judge that? I found myself looking at him and wondering. He still seemed OK. He’d sleep a lot. His walks were now slow walks. Where once he would be bounding through fields and up hills now it was a slow amble round the block with frequent stops.
Yet there were good days and bad days. Some days I’d carry him back from the end of a walk and think – it’s going to be tomorrow. But then the next day he’d be up with tail wagging.
I had told myself all along that if I had a dog I had to be prepared to have t put down when the time came. If I was not up to do that then I would not have one.
The time had come.
Sam had enjoyed Christmas. The family had come home and he’d loved seeing them all. It had perked him up. But after Christmas he had become listless and was painfully thin. He could hardly stand up.
I made the decision and booked the vet.
I let Sam out that morning into the back garden. I went to get him and he wasn’t there. He had broken out. I could not believe it. He did not have the energy. He had managed to dig under and break through the fence and get out. He used to do that when he was younger but had not done it for a long while – now, today of all days.
I knew he could not have gone far. He was too weak. His days of spending the whole night running free over the fields were behind him.
But I could not find him no matter how hard I searched. He could not manage to walk round the block but suddenly he had found the energy to not only break out but run away over the fields. I searched all day. I was afraid that he’d crawled off somewhere to die.
Eventually I received a phone call. Someone had caught him and passed him over to the RSPCA. I went up the back lane and there he was standing with an RSPCA woman. He was pleased to see me and wagged his tail hard. But I could see that he knew he’d been naughty.
The next day I took him in. They kept him overnight to see if a drip might perk him up. It didn’t. He was too weak. The vet agreed that the time was right. Sam was pleased to see me but he could not even stand. I held him and stroked him while the vet injected him. I looked in his eyes and watched as the drugs took hold. My eyes were full of tears. He died.
With tears streaming down my face I carried him out to the car, took him home and buried him in the garden. We said a few words of farewell.
He’s still there. He’s in the garden and he’s in my memory. He’s still one of my family and I miss him.
Death is not kind.
Here are a few of my books. They are available on Amazon in both paperback and on kindle.
Anecdotes – paperback just £6.95 Kindle – just £1.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited
More Anecdotes – paperback just £7.29 Kindle – just £2.12 or free on Kindle Unlimited
My other books are also available. There is some unique to suit most tastes if you like something thought provoking and alternative.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1459501044&sr=1-2-ent
7.
Karma.
I would love to believe in Karma. It is perfect.
We atone for all our wrong-doings. We are reborn and suffer because of the bad things we have done in the past. We have lessons to learn.
Our bad Karma means we have to suffer.
We can atone by creating good Karma – doing good deeds and making amends for past mistakes.
What a great idea. What a great driving force for doing good.
Isn’t it great to think that all those evil fuckers who torture, rape and slaughter will get paid back in the next life. Their bad Karma will mean that they will get tortured, raped and slaughtered. They won’t get away with it.
Karma is about balance. Everything balances out – the good and the bad. It is a very moral concept.
Life has a purpose. We have to work out our Karma and learn lessons so that we can progress.
The idea of Karma is very satisfying. Unfortunately it sounds much too human a concept for me.
Here are a few of my books. They are available on Amazon in both paperback and on kindle.
Anecdotes – paperback just £6.95 Kindle – just £1.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited
More Anecdotes – paperback just £7.29 Kindle – just £2.12 or free on Kindle Unlimited
My other books are also available. There is some unique to suit most tastes if you like something thought provoking and alternative.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1459501044&sr=1-2-ent
I have just completed my latest epic – Journey to the end of the world. Thanks Dave for the spur!
It is the story, with photos, of my voyage to South America.
Ushuaia was called the End of the world. That’s what I chose for the title.
It looks good. It is a kind of travel book with added environmental and social overtones. It is a document of our trip but I think it has wider appeal.
I’ve just completed the addition of the photos.
I will now rewrite a second draft, then it is down to the editing and it will be out.
I’ll keep you posted!
Here are a few of my books. They are available on Amazon in both paperback and on kindle.
Anecdotes – paperback just £6.95 Kindle – just £1.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited
More Anecdotes – paperback just £7.29 Kindle – just £2.12 or free on Kindle Unlimited
My other books are also available. There is some unique to suit most tastes if you like something thought provoking and alternative.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1459501044&sr=1-2-ent
3.
So how would I like to die?
Peaceably in my sleep like my grandfather – not screaming and terrified like his passengers.
Well yes. I would prefer to die peaceably in my sleep without any long drawn out illness. I do not relish pain or the fear that comes from having to confront the end of everything. I’ve watched people going through the process of dying. It is not pleasant but perhaps it is worse for the spectators?
Heart failure is the best – at around three in the morning just after completing a pleasant set of dreams. The heart stops and the oxygen supply dries up – the brain shuts down. The various other tissues and organs follow suit in order of their oxygen requirements. I think the skin is the last to go – days later. That’s why you have to shave corpses.
Here are a few of my books. They are available on Amazon in both paperback and on kindle.
Anecdotes – paperback just £6.95 Kindle – just £1.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited
More Anecdotes – paperback just £7.29 Kindle – just £2.12 or free on Kindle Unlimited
My other books are also available. There is some unique to suit most tastes if you like something thought provoking and alternative.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1459501044&sr=1-2-ent
1.
I am sixty six and three quarters. I have lived two thirds of a century. I don’t want to die but realistically I know that the probability is that I will do sometime in the next twenty years, in all likelihood a lot sooner than that.
Presently, apart from the aches and pains and limitations of age, I am fit, healthy and still have my mind. There is nothing wrong with me. I am merely dying by degrees. We call it ageing.
Death is biologically programmed. It is not necessary. We are coded to die. It is in our genes. We have to get out of the way so that there is food and space for our offspring. We are past reproductive age and hence superfluous.
We do not like to think or talk about death. We ignore it and prefer to pretend it isn’t going to happen.
It is.
As Dylan said – ‘he not busy being born is busy dying’.
I am dying.
Unions – A boon or a bust?
I am a union man.
Yesterday I ate dinner with a man who despised unions. I listened to what he was saying and he was right but he was wrong.
There is no doubt in my mind that we need strong unions and that unions have played an immense part in bringing in social justice, health and safety and fair wages. Without them we would be held to ransom by the bosses. We would not be in the position we are now.
Our freedoms and quality of life has been well fought for.
But like all systems the unions have evolved into nonsense. Some of their practices are not only stupid but detrimental to their own members’ long-term interests.
The case for unions is simple – without proper power working conditions and wages are not protected. Corners are cut and profit is the only factor. Workers are units to be exploited. Profit is god. Unions have fought for rights of women, minorities and the disabled. They have ensured good working practice and fair wages. These were not freely given. They had to be fought for. I believe that without good unions they would be eroded. They are also there to prevent injustices against employees. People cannot be unfairly dismissed or abused. They are not alone. They have the union behind them.
The case against is powerful though.
Unions fight for their own members. It has meant that some workers are exceptionally well paid while others are exceptionally badly paid. Instead of all working people supporting one another we have the powerful unions who can cause chaos using that to their advantage while the other unions whose ability to disrupt is less get shafted. Underground train drivers will earn twice the salary of a nurse.
There is no fairness in the pay structures.
Some unions are prepared to disrupt and cause chaos to gain unreasonable rewards for their members.
There are Luddite practices where unions oppose new practices and technology on the grounds that it puts their members out of work. They negotiated silly agreements, such as in the printing press, where workers who were responsible for print setting, now replaced by computer technology, have to be employed but have no work and sit and play cards all day. They should have been retrained and reassigned.
There are restrictive practices where various trades have to sit around and wait for a plumber, electrician or builder to arrive to do their bit because nobody dare encroach into some other union man’s area.
There are the over-officious union representatives who do everything by book and oppose all change on principle.
What we need are good partnerships between management and unions. Germany seems to have a good system – partnership and representation.
Here are a few of my books. They are available on Amazon in both paperback and on kindle.
Anecdotes – paperback just £6.95 Kindle – just £1.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited
More Anecdotes – paperback just £7.29 Kindle – just £2.12 or free on Kindle Unlimited
My other books are also available. There is some unique to suit most tastes if you like something thought provoking and alternative.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1459501044&sr=1-2-ent
I have just completed my first draft of my latest book. I have decided, following Dave Kingsbury’s encouragement, to write up the tale of my voyage to South America. It was an outstanding experience, full of fun, adventure and thought provoking observation. I think it makes for an interesting read.
I have called it :-
The voyage to the end of the world –
Treasures of South America on the Marco Polo in 2016
I’m now selecting the photos to go in it. I have lots of decisions to make. I want to put lots of the colour photos in but if I do it as a large book with colour it will bump the price up. I always keep my cut to around a £1 but production costs take the bulk of the cost.
A normal size black and white would lose the impact of the photos but would be cheaper. What do you think?
Meanwhile –
Here are a few of my books. They are available on Amazon in both paperback and on kindle.
Anecdotes – paperback just £6.95 Kindle – just £1.99 or free on Kindle Unlimited
More Anecdotes – paperback just £7.29 Kindle – just £2.12 or free on Kindle Unlimited
My other books are also available. There is some unique to suit most tastes if you like something thought provoking and alternative.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opher-Goodwin/e/B00MSHUX6Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1459501044&sr=1-2-ent
