Key Worker Extraordinary

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

We are, hopefully over the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic if, by no means, out of the woods just yet. A reader asks, do I blame China for not being as upfront as it might have been about the initial outbreak in Wuhan? No, I don't.  Humankind invariably loves to play the Blame Game, not least because it distracts attention from any contribution its own shortcomings may have played in ... whatever. Take climate change for example; no Devil or Fate working against us, but our own (rarely unselfish) needs. As for any God's intervening to save us all, a cleric once put to me that "God can save souls, and will if we ask Him, but everything else is down to us." Now, as regular readers know, I don't subscribe to any religion, but these words certainly got me thinking, and I was only about 12 ears-old at the time.] 

Now, I have to confess to occasional mood swings since I began my hormone therapy treatment for prostate cancer. Fortunately, my closest friends are very patient with me and are very supportive.

Funny, isn’t it, about some people? Family, friends, neighbours, work colleagues...Some rally round in a crisis and others run a mile. Not everyone appreciates that love, friendship or just being a good colleague involves teamwork even or perhaps especially when the team comprises of only two. 

Some people are not into a give-and-take scenario. They see something in someone they want and feel entitled - if only by association - to take, take, and take again. They have discovered an offload Channel, but not a two-way one. (Reciprocity is not in their vocabulary.) When it comes to giving something back, they don’t want to know since any relationship has to be on their terms or not at all. For the most part, they are not nasty people in the least (just being human?) and can be good company when life is running smoothly, but are too self-centred and self-absorbed to be anything but takers; being a giver requires too much effort, imposes on their personal space and makes unfair demands on their time. What we see is far less than what we get. (I remember thinking that once on a school visit to a waxworks museum.)

Meanwhile...

Reason not the need,’ cries King Lear in what is considered by many (including me) to be the greatest of Shakespeare’s plays.

It is true that need sets itself above reason in the sense that human nature rarely answers to logic. So when a follower of logic puts to a follower of religion, that he or she might explain what they mean by God, any reply is more likely to pertain to a personal  need than anything reason can attempt to rationalise. Oh, there will be references made to Holy Books and the usual get-out clause about Faith having less to do with reason than trust and/or divine inspiration, but that doesn’t really answer the question. 

As regular readers will know, it has long been my personal belief that religion has far more to do with a person’s need to believe in God than the existence of God as anything other than a metaphorical force behind all that is good in the world as opposed to all that is bad. That isn't to say, I don’t respect that need, I do. Moreover, I can relate to it far more than I can relate to any personified God. I respect all Faiths, too, but can neither enter into any nor would want to because, for me, Belief is not enough. I need to ask questions and keep on asking questions until any answers I may find begin to make some kind of sense rather like pieces in a jigsaw.

You, me, us…we are all parts of the same jigsaw.

If a sense of spirituality inspires me to ask questions, I take it from nature, my mentor in such matters even in childhood where religion offered me nothing no matter what I was told to the contrary or how hard I looked. More often than not, any debate abut existential life forces invariably shapes up along the lines of playing a blame game. At the end of the day, though, humankind has to accept its share o collective as well as personal blame for any natural and/or human forces working against a Here-and-Now playing host to both its natural and human worlds for better, for worse.

This poem is a kenning. 

KEY WORKER EXTRAORDINARY 

I am the curator

of a love-to-hate museum

down our way

where we all come to see

whatever it is we need

to be, smell, do a double-take

on works of art

bent on taking us to task

for our shortcomings

I am the curator

of obscure desires haunting

mind-body-spirit,

inspiring orgasms sublime

just for playing time

at its own game, letting its tides

take the blame,

(any old scapegoat will do)  

for its shortcomings

I am the creator

of a love-to-hate museum

down your way,

harbouring all creativity’s

burning desire

to expose in this or that travesty

of humanity,

as good a reflection as any

of its shortcomings

Call me God, Devil or Fate as may be;

any answers lie at the heart of M-E

Copyright R. N. Taber 2011; 2020

Democracy, the Dark Side

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Update (Oct 14. 2017): I have always believed that Brexit will be good for Britain, but never more so than now as EU leaders procrastinates while blaming the UK for negotiations not progressing as well as they might.  It is clear to many of us that they are afraid the UK just might be on the right road by exiting what is seeming more and more like and organisation unfit for purpose; a great idea in principle, but proving less and less so in practise. If we make a go of Brexit, as I am sure we will in time, the fear is that other countries may follow, especially given the fact that there is increasing unrest and dissatisfaction in other countries whose leaders seem determined to turn a deaf ear; Italy, Greece and Germany to name but three; nor is Freedom of Movement without due border checks in an Age of Terrorism the only issue. Even in the USA, Land of the Free, Congress continues to turn an all but deaf ear to growing demands for at least an appropriate/ common sense amendment to the law relating to a right to bear arms more relevant to the Age of the Pioneer than the modern world.] 

Update (Nov 03, 2015): It would appear that Democracy has just died. The High Court has ruled that Article 50 cannot be invoked without Parliament's approval. Hopefully, the Supreme Court may yet overturn this judgement. A democratic principle is at stake here. Why bother to ask the people what they want if they are going to be ignored? (It was a very high turnout for the referendum.)

My only regret about voting to leave the European Union is leaving myself open to abuse from narrow-minded, arrogant hypocrites who, on the one hand support Human Rights, and on the other have no respect for the rights of every individual to make up their own minds on matters that have a direct bearing on their lives and the lives of family and friends. Whatever happened to the right to disagree?

I resent being called a racist because I voted to leave the E U. Immigration was not the only issue on the political agenda. Besides, most people were voting against a flawed system of immigration over which we had precious little real control while under the thumb of the Brussels parliament. Many people of various ethnic origins who have been living and working here for years are also sick of the political shambles that passes for a European Union. [Yes, of course, EU nationals living and working here should be allowed to stay, not least because they are friends and neighbours, but what is our new PM supposed to say if any among the EU elite try to use Brits living there as bargaining chips during the course of Brexit  negotiations? Let’s face it. It would come as no surprise to anyone should they stoop to such tactics.]

Among a UK majority, I voted for an EEC (European Economic Community) not a United States of Europe.

Some of my friends voted to remain in the European Union and we have hotly debated the issue. However, we all agreed from the start to respect each other’s points of view (despite trying to change it) and - perhaps even more importantly - that we would not let our diverse opinions undermine our friendship. In short, we agreed to accept a majority vote if only because we all support the principles of democracy. Those people crying ‘Foul’ because the vote did not go their way are ignorant scumbags; no less so are those making the vote an excuse to verbally and/or physically abuse ‘foreigners’ living and working in the UK, some of them for years. Those who are calling the vote a disgrace need to look closely at the worse aspects of its aftermath if not their role in it.

No one likes a bad loser. I suspect the vocal albeit significant minority now noisily deploring the E U referendum result by casting aspersions on the opposition, even calling our integrity into question, will find that out for themselves in the fullness of time. Meanwhile, the country needs to pull together and unite not let knee-jerk reactions and activists prevent the UK's future outside the EU taking a positive turn in the longer if not shorter term.

This poem is, yes, another villanelle.

DEMOCRACY, THE DARK SIDE

Come a vote on this or that decision
(why not let us all have a say?)
cue for bad losers to abuse someone

Some losers will wallow in delusion
(pity any scapegoats in their way)
come a vote on this or that decision

Vanity of vanities, the grand illusion
(in the right, deserve to win the day)
cue for bad losers to abuse someone

No assuming immunity to aspersion
(or sitting on the damn fence today)
come a vote on this or that decision

Take the case for a European Union
(grave reservations come what may)
cue for bad losers to abuse someone

Consensus is no call for celebration
(democracy, too, must feel its way);
come a vote on this or that decision,
cue for bad losers to abuse someone

Copyright R. N. Taber 2016

Among Games People Play

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

We see politicians and religious leaders at it all the time, but can any of us say in all honesty that we have never played the blame game?

 AMONG GAMES PEOPLE PLAY

There's a secret game people play,

that rarely stays a secret very long;

before you know it, they'll leak it,

see gossip machines into overdrive

It’s a so-nasty game people play,

that nearly always gets (far) worse

before any signs of getting better

for anyone whose head in its noose

It’s a so-sorry game people play

that must (invariably) end in tears,

 its losers left cut to the quick,

while rare, a ring-leader who cares

It’s a so-lonely game people play,

(needing to be one of an in-crowd)

eager to point invisible fingers

at human kindness going belly-up

It’s a game we all love to deplore,

yet who among us can honestly say 

we've not played gossip machines,

regardless of any risks to overdrive?

It’s the blame game people play,

deemed as good a diversion as any

from errors of their own ways

(masks mistaken for friendly faces)

Copyright R. N. Taber 2011