Siyaya

From the native tongue of Zimbabwe, Siyaya means 'on the move' and is the name of a music band from that country.  Originally known as NASA (Nostalgic Actors and Singers Alliance), the group was founded in 1989 and renamed themselves Siyaya during their tenth anniversary.

Dedicated to bringing the voices of the people of Africa to the rest of the world, they reinterpret the ancient tales, music and dance of their country so that the rest of the world will be interested in listening to them.  They also tackle the social issues of the modern world and therefore start people thinking about them as well.

The track that jumped up and bite me off their Futhi-Njalo album is 'We Want Peace', which starts with these words:

"Nine million people take to the streets,

All against the war,

All for peace.

What do we do?

We go to war.

A war wanted by our leaders

And not needed by our people."

 

 

Part of the song then revolves around the names of the countries that have been raked by war, be that international or civil, within our life time and it is frighteningly long - "Indeed an endless list".  And for what?  What gain has all these wars brought to the people, the common soldiers and their families?  What improvement has the mass graves and marble headstones brought to their countries?  Has any war benefited the people who actually slogged through the mud and the blood?

 

It seems to me that whenever the elites order us to fight, it is the common man who goes out to die and the common man's family who follows him into oblivion, not the elites who do the ordering.  Why is it that we call barbarians the people who's elites are willing to fight alongside their men?  Why are they considered less than civilised when their leaders are willing to take the same risks that they people do?

 

It has been said that 'vox populi, vox del' (the voice of the people is the voice of God).  If that is so then consider this - in 1995, the countries of Southeast Asia spent $435 billion on military expenditure.  Not because the people demanded it, you understand; how many peasants do you know who've started a war?

 

It strikes me that if no war has benefited the common man and no war was started by the common man then surely that means the basic idea of civilisation is flawed.  The basic idea of civilisation has been put forward as this - that mankind is a warlike, aggressive creature who requires constant control and domination by a ruling elite for his own good.  Take away its leaders and society would degenerate into a chaotic nightmare of bloodshed and destruction.  But if no war has benefited the common man and no war has been started by the common man then perhaps that basic idea is only what our leaders want us to believe.  After all, if we didn't believe it they wouldn't have a job, would they?

Beneath the Cap

Just seen this publication by Custom Press Publication.  'Beneath the Cap' by Andrew Rae is according to one of the reviewers "the closest any civilian is going to get to putting one that cap with pride, tightening your gun belt, strapping on the bullet proof vest and walking where you fear to tread for the next thirteen hours."

An exploration of the horrors our modern police force are expected to deal with and the black humour that develops to deal with it, 'Beneath the Cap' also explores the public's perception of the emergency and armed forces special brand of humour - 'unfeeling, uncaring and inhuman'.  It also tackles the problem of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and the fact that even some in the medical profession are not convinced that it actually exists.

Having come from a service family I fully understand the black humour that abounds among the members of this profession, whether they be armed or emergency.  Though I have not served myself (due to my disability I do not react well under pressure and that is not a good thing when someone's life may depend on you) four members of my living family have served and so did two of my known ancestors.

It has been remarked by many that the greater majority of children of service families mature faster than most.  Having been a service child I think it is because we absorb, almost by osmosis, the adult issues and coping mechanisms that are been lived out around us.  Just as our parents have to copy with the fact that a family member may not return home at the end of the day (last year there were over a hundred attacks on members of the ambulance service alone) so do we.  We have to cope with the knowledge of the very real possibility that we may lose a parent or a close relative before we have a chance to say good by.

As such we learn to say sorry a lot quicker than most (we may not have to chance to if we don't) and we also learn that if we laugh at our fears, if we make jokes about them, then we can still function and live, instead of screaming about them, which just results in a trip with the men in white coats.

I have to admit that I was surprised though that even some of the medical profession disbelieve in the existence of PTS Syndrome.  Besides the psychological effects of fear (which could be doubted, after all we barely know our own minds how are we to know another's?) there is the physical effect of adrenaline on the human body.  I wonder if it has been forgotten in recent times that it has been proven that adrenaline is, to all intents and purposes, a poison.  Adrenaline suppresses the appetite, the immunity system and puts a tremendous strain on the cardiovascular system.  In a body that is not in ideal surroundings (since when do emergencies take place in ideal surroundings?) it leaves the body open to infection but nobody truly knows what an overdose of adrenaline would do to the human body.

It would be interesting to know what the adrenaline levels of the soldiers who suffered 'shell shock' were during the First World War.  Is the 'madness' of shell shock the result of adrenaline poisoning?  Now there is a more useful study than some of the modern ones - measuring the correlation between adrenaline level and post traumatic stress syndrome.

The is also the known scientific fact that every time the human body is subjected to the concussion force of an explosion strong enough to shake you, even if it is not strong enough to do any other damage, it rips apart some of the connections within the brain.  Discovered in studies of bomb disposal teams, it has been found that over time these cellular tears in the brain add up to the lost of memories.  It may be all your memories up unto your fifth birthday, or the memory of the colour of your hair, or maybe the day you asked your wife to marry you or watched your children take their first steps.

What is worse, because you are in an emergency situation when this damage takes place, you have to focus on what is happening and push any personal thoughts out of your head so the first time you notice the loss of memory is when you finally get home.  Then you realise that there are gaps in your memory, gaps that you can't refill and that you can't even remember happening.  Can any body imagine how scary that must be?  To suddenly realise that your memory is falling apart and you can't even work out why.  I would be absolutely terrified, suddenly realising that I no longer have full control of my own head.

Is it any wonder that service humour is black?  If the enemy doesn't get you, your own brain might fall apart on you and some of the doctors who are meant to be helping you won't even believe that it is happening.  Can anybody think of something scarier than that?

The Good Samaritan

The tale of the Good Samaritan.  It's one that we all know, after all it has rather entered the English language to mean those who stretch out their hands to help those in need.  If you are anything like me then several of your teachers in Primary School probably read it to you and told you that it was the ideal of what it meant to be a good person; someone who helps others no matter what the danger.  But there is a side to the tale that is often swept uunder a rug.

When Jesus first told that story the relationship between Jews and Samaritans could not have been much more hostile.  The Samaritans were seen as the result of what happened when some of the Jews, who were left behind when one of their conqueres had carted off most of their people, intermarried with the people their conquerer had sent to Israel to occupy the land.  As such they were seen as half breeds, mongels and any other words that means scum.  In short people who are "not like us".  So when Jesus told that story he was portraying the Samaritans, the people who are "not like us", to be a compassionate, worthy people.  In many ways he was attacking the boundaries that the rulers of the time put up to seperate "us" from "them".

So the tale of the Good Samaritan is not just an illustration of the true ideal of what it means to be a good person, it also an illustration of what needs to be done when ever you mean a boundary that seperates "us" from "them" - find a way to cross it.  The easiest way to do this?  Help someone in need even if they are of a different colour, creed, religion or sexuality from you.

After all, if Jesus came to start his ministery a new in this era who would he go to?  The rich, the healthy, the good looking and the heterosexual?  Or would he go to the poor, the disabled, the ugly and the homosexuals?  Would he go, in short, to the outcaste of society?  Considering it was the outcaste, the "sinners", that he went to last time?  You don't have to believe he was the Son of God to consider the standard of behaviour he set to be a good one, if not the easy one.

If you had to stand and justify your life to yourself, which would you prefer to say?  "I did what was easy" or "I did what was right"?

Permissive Walkways

I'm not entirely sure why it has taken me this long to get down to writing this blog.  It's possible that I've had a touch of the PTS syndrome and I just haven't realised it.

Some months ago I started walking the family dog, Sheba, down the route known as the Wensum Way.  This route had recently been updated with new signs and since part of it runs from the village to the river and Sheba is a lover of water she can jump in, I decided to explore.  The first few weeks were great with us being able to go further each time we walked it.  Then came the day there were cows in the field by the river.

All the signs along the route merely state 'dogs must be kept on leads where there is live stock' so I assume that it must be a herd of cows that were used to people an their dogs.  What I didn't realise until I was crossing the end of the field opposite them is that you can't see the all white horns on an all white cow until you are at the right angle to them.  At that point I started being nervous.  What made me outright afraid is when I realised that they have calves with them.

For those of you who don't know, one of the best ways to get yourself killed on a farm is to take a dog into a field with a cow and her calf.  At that point I started praying really hard.  What made my prayers really desperate was when I realised that the cow closed to me wasn't a cow, it was the blasted bull!  Most people have said 'you should have gone back' but to do that I would have either had to turn my back on them to turn round (not a good idea) or I would have had to have turn myself and the dog to face them (even worse idea as that is the move of a predator and would have threatened them).  So I just kept walking slowly, telling the dog over and over to stay quiet, which thankfully she did.

When we made it up onto the embankment by the river I relaxed a little because I believed that no animal would wanted to come up hill towards a potential predator.  I even let the dog go and have a paddle.  Taking my eye off the herd seems to have been a bad idea though as I looked back to seem one of the (thankfully) uncalved cows coming up the embankment to towards us.

It is weird what the body decides to do under stress because I snapped at her "No!  Go away!"  She stopped and had a look at us so I said " Go on!  Butt off!"  (which could have been a bad thing if she'd taken me literately).  She looked at me as if she was thinking 'that's not the normal response I get' and put her head down to sniff at the dog.  Thankfully, when I started walking along the embankment she didn't follow.

I have rarely been as relieved as I was when I shut that second gate between us and the cows, only to then realise that they were between us and our way home.  I was not going to tempt fate a second time so I had a very long way to walk home.

Once I was home safe I started doing some research because there had been no warning signs about the calves or the bull.  Apparently if it is a permissive walkway then the farmer has no obligation to put up warning signs about his live stock or to put out any notices.  If I had been a city person who had no idea of what to do I could have wound up dead because of one assumption based on the signs saying 'dogs must be kept on a lead around livestock'.  That sign gives the impression that the livestock are fine as long as the dog is on a lead.

I was also told that the farmer is only obliged to put up warns if it is a public footpath but if it is a public footpath then it's not allowed to be a working farm.  However, I know this to be wrong because there are many pubic footpaths in Wales that go along the edge of crop baring fields.  A crop baring field only happens on a working farm.

I have also discovered a detour around the river portion of the Wensum way through the village and I have used it to check on the field by the river.  The cows are still there and I'm beginning to get the distinct impression that they will remain there while the permissive walkway continues to be routed over that land.  So much for paddling in the river during summer.

Can Food Cure Autism?

Seen a very interesting video on the net today.  Featured on an American TV channel it features a doctor who has put forward the theory that there is a close link between the food eaten by and the behaviour of Autistics.  His research is not actually the first of it's kind but it is good to know that it has been on going.  What I also liked was the fact that he out right said that his diet suggestions might not work for all autistics.  This is a good thing because I know from my own experiences that the foods he suggests being removed from the diet would not work on me.  He suggests the removal of cows milk and gluten from the diet because in some autistics the chemicals continued within these foods can have an adverse effect on how the brain reacts to stimulus.  I am perfectly fine with both these foods.

In my case it was an American Health Worker who provided my Mother with the information of what to remove from my diet.  My Mother had known within a few weeks of my birth that I was not a normal child, the major sign being that I would start shrieking when ever anyone picked me up for a cuddle.  However, when she tried to talk to the doctors about it the response was a barely veiled 'you're a first time Mother who doesn't know the first thing about bringing up children, go home and stop being so hysterical'.

It was an American Health Worker who was over here on exchange that actually listened to her and really looked at me but she said herself that she wasn't trained to diagnose and as a visitor to Great Britain she wasn't allowed to refer.  However, there had been a study of the condition in America and she had a huge long list of things to take out of my diet.  Top of the list was citrus fruit or anything that had been contaminated with citrus fruit (e.g. upside down cake).  Even now I have to read every packet of cake because if there is pineapple in it I must not eat it for the safety of those around me.

If I do eat pineapple it is like something shoves me into the passenger seat of my own body and this violent savage thing takes control.  I can watch what it is doing but I can't control it.  It's almost like being possessed.  In fact one of my friends has said that he's no longer worried about the possibility of a zombie apocalypse.  If it ever happens he's going to find me a couple of axes, pour a pint of pineapple juice down my neck, push me out to deal with them and wait for the sounds of dismemberment to die down.  It sounds funny but it's not very pleasant for me when I have something else controlling how I act.

Second on the list of foods I must avoid is e-numbers, in particular flavour enhancers.  I've never understood the use of them any way.  If your food tasted good enough it wouldn't need a flavour enhancer.

There are a couple of other things on the list and some of them, like chocolate, I seemed to have built a tolerance for (lucky me!).  Others have been added on.

One such one has been Aspartame.  This sweetener has the immediate reaction of throwing my into hyperactivity so I imagine it isn't to good for other Autistics.  It is also a carcinogenic (i.e. causes cancer) because when it is digested by the human body it turns into formaldehyde.  Come off it, would you want to drink the stuff Snape uses to pickle all those little animals in his office?  No?  Then why are you willing to drink it when it is disguised as Aspartame?

Aspartame is used in CokeCola, 'no added sugar' drinks and children's medicines for a start.  Why is it that I get penalised because I have a glitch in my brain?

Ignorance!

It seems that not only does the government want to take climate change off the curriculum the education system is all ready failing to impart the most basic details of ecosystem structure and food chain relationships.  For example, the number of people who sighed the affirmative to a survey about whether the summer would be better without bees.

Has nobody explained to these people that without bees fruit trees to not get pollinated so the fruit does not grow?  Has nobody explained to them that bees pollinate the bushes, shrubs, trees and a myriad of other plants that supply our food either directly or indirectly?  Has nobody explained to them that if these plants don't get pollinated then the food doesn't grow?

Am I the only one who has picked up on the fact that 'plant' and 'planet' are only one letter apart?

Without bees there is no food, no tomorrow and no us!  Do we really want to face a world wide famine where people are reduced to eating their children?  Is that what people really want?

Oh yes, I'm sorry, food doesn't come from plants, I've been reliably informed, it comes for the shops.

Excuse my look of utter horrified amazement.  I thought ignorance like this had died out during the Second World War when the evacuees found out that the milkman doesn't magic the milk into those bottles he leaves on your doorstep, he actually gets it out of a cow.

It seems that our education system needs a greater overhaul than we first thought.  That or more of us need to start growing our own food so that people actually start seeing the connection between the bees and the fruit that then grows.

In fact, thinking of the Second World War, I'm pretty sure it is a German company that is now specialising in bee hives that encourage not the great production of honey but the greater area of pollination.  Their history might be screwed up thanks to one man but as a nation they seem to be much more intent of building something good out of the wreckage.  Is that a pock at the rest of us do you think for sitting on our butts and expecting the world just to give up it's riches forever?

As for those of us who want to start helping out the bees so we have a food supply tomorrow I'd say the best thing we can do is eat local organic, ban pesticides from our own land and plant as many flowers as possible.  Apples trees are a good one because then you receive a little something back for the effort you put in.