To my mom - Happy Birthday!

A happy memory with my brother
and mom!

My dear sweet wonderful Mother, Happy Birthday!


On your special day I want to say not just a happy birthday but a big thank you. All my life you have always been there for me, supported me in all my decisions, good and bad. You know when to simply listen and when to give advice, you even know when it is a bad time to say “I told you so!” 


Through all the hard time, through all the heartache, real and imagined you have been my best friend, my confidant, my shoulder to cry on. Thank you! 




Through all the good times, you have laughed with me, celebrating my achievements as though your own, giving me the strength and confidence to continue with all my endeavors. Yours unshakable belief and faith in me has reassured me every step of the way!

I am so proud and blessed to have you! Enjoy your special day! 
I love you, I miss you!

Do I want a career?

I work hard, I have indeed worked hard for a while now, however I work hard because I want things. These days though I am told that one of those things I want is to work even harder and have a successful career.

Career is defined as the progression and success within one’s professional life/occupation requiring special skills and training. Trust me when I say I have plenty of training in certain areas! But why would I want professional success? I bet many of you think it is a stupid question! Having a successful career ensures that I can live well, enjoy the luxuries of life, but more importantly provide for and support my family. I can ensure that my children go to a good school and in turn get the special skills and training to have a career of their own.

Here is the problem though, a career requires an enormous amount of dedication, of both time, effort and energy as well as a gargantuan sacrifice in your personal and social life. Women are expected to strive towards a career just as much as men, it is the benefit of emancipation (or so we are told). Since the Suffragettes and before women alone or together have been fighting for equal rights, pay, and opportunity. Well we are closer now than we were before, in the west at least.

Moving on with the problem...

From an economic and professional point of view having a career is the way forward. From a purely sociological point of view it is a disaster. Imagine this:

A couple get married, both successful professionals, both would like to have a child. Now which one of them to have this child though? Oh no wait, only the woman can have the child, which would mean a career break. I am not saying that a woman cannot have a child AND a career, there are successful career mothers out there, but lets face it they are few and far between in comparison to men in successful job posts. Childbirth is only but a  fraction of that issue, I am aware. This brings me onto my next question. Who raises the children? Mom and Dad are too busy being successful...so our children are raised in the following logic/social environment :

TV - a bunch of half witted fools pump our children’s heads with happy songs about sugary food and drink and plastic toys that they MUST have. Mom and Dad will buy those due to the guilt they experience from not spending time with their children.

Books - replaced by the TV because mom and dad are too busy/ignorant to read to their children and familiarise them with the stories of their own childhood, which were not just entertaining but contain within them ethical and moral lessons about how to function in society so as not to be labeled a sociopath.

Vacations - Gimmicky theme parks full of more merchandise that mom and dad are taking the kids to because they are guilt ridden with the fact that they rarely spent any time with their kids whatsoever. See a theme anyone?

Education - a monotone, drone, one size fits all affair that dulls the brain and attempts to destroy any ability for creative or individual thought. It also can cost a pretty penny if you want it done in institutions that EXCEL in turning your child into a brainless toffyy nosed moron that will get into Harvard, Oxford or Yale and become the career man you dream him to be. (He may also enjoy wearing peoples ears as a necklace due to the lack of any real parental attention, but hey you have a successful career, it comes with a price!)

Future - Dull and uninspiring, possibly littered with some kind of substance abuse due to a lack of real belonging, and a constant need for validation. BUT they will be a successful career person...

Do I want a career? No, categorically not! I want a life, one full of my children’s faces and laughter. One spent growing old with my husband. A life where I have shared my friends’ happiness and they have shared mine. A want to be a successful human being, NOT a successful career person.

Vulnerable and Strong

I confess, that big stupid grin on my face is fake about 80% of the time. My friends, my real friends, they know it, they know of all the troubles that keep me awake at night. This is more a show of gratitude to them than for me. The last three years have been hard and challenging, but a few people in my life have been there every step of the way. They have seen me in my most vulnerable and broken state and given me the strength to get up and finish what I have started, to achieve my goals, and pursue my dreams.

Many believe that being vulnerable is a weakness; showing vulnerability only opens you up for deep pain and loss. I disagree. It is knowing who you can be vulnerable around, trusting them to take care of you at your most fragile and bring you back to your normal self. It is a lesson I have only learned recently and it has rewarded me with the confirmation that the people I love the strongest care about me in return.

You can gain strength from your weakest moments, but only if you allow the people you love and trust to be there and experience them with you. And if you ever find yourself with a friend that needs your support do not let them down, do not think of yourself at such moments, of the inconvenience it may cause, or the things you might miss out on.

This may seem very cheesy to you, but I am having one of my more empathic moments.It was brought on by a friend who in turn is having a very hard time. I feel powerless to help them in ways that would take their pain and troubles away. All I can do is be there and hope that it is enough.  

So to all my friends, you know who you are, I love you, I am there for you and I thank you!

[Especially you mom!]

Are there any Leaders left

Like everyone with eyes and ears I have been following the different elections in Europe over the last couple of weeks and there is one thing that is very clear: People are Angry! They feel betrayed by their leaders and they are looking for alternatives; and there certainly are alternatives out there for them, but are they really the sort of people that can create the change we feel that we so desperately need. I have to be honest here and say that I have been pretty lost for an answer. I have been looking at all the new movements, all the alternatives and failing to see much difference from one to the next. What am I missing?

Today I was given my missing link. Here I am sat in a Cafe indulging in a coffee and a good conversation when my friend says these simple words: “There are no leaders today, because they have no ideology.” They don't believe in anything? Or at least don’t believe in the promises they are making us, promises that we so hungrily lap up. I know, that is a pretty big statement to make. You look at some of today’s leaders and you think ‘surely Obama, Merkel, even funny man Ed Miliband believe in their policies, and the benefit they will have for society right?’ The thing is I am genuinely not that sure that they do. They exist and function in a system that depends on the exploitation of the masses, the suppression of truth, the destruction of community, identity, belief and hope. A system that is hell bent on turning us into self obsessed little wage-slaves that exist hand to mouth and are blind to life and the beauty of the world we are so eagerly destroying in the name of 'progress'. To believe that such a system is the correct way forward for humanity is pathological. A real leader, a man or woman of conviction, would not be pushing for such a system to continue, a real leader with ideals would stop the cycle of violence, they would not make their people homeless, starve children, cut education budgets, pensions, and healthcare because “If we don't reduce the deficit there will be nothing left for the future.” Our leaders today are the puppets of this system. Manipulated by private interests, greed, and self-importance.    

You are more than welcome to disagree with me, after all that is the beauty of independent thought. Just ask yourself though, do you believe anything that today’s “Leaders” tell you? Do they even look like they believe in the words that are coming out of their mouths? I don’t.  

The Horror of Hate

It has become an everyday occurrence, I turn on the TV and 
there they are, images of children, blackened, bloodied, dead or dying. So many places, so many children, so much hate, such senseless loss. Most people tut, shake their heads, fists, make angry statements. My response is to just shake with disbelief, with pain; seeing the horrors of men’s hate, men’s wars, men’s “justice” I feel such deep sorrow that it drives me to tears and I look away because I cannot bear it.


Watching these images it seems that the more intelligent our weapons become the more violent and barbaric the outcome of their use. Louder still is the shrill wailing of the grieving mothers, the angry threats and curses of the bereaved fathers. And for what? Justice? Freedom? Self-determination? No. Power. Greed. Money. Control. Cowardice! The children dying in Syria for the past year have been dying so that a skinny egotistical selfish little man can retain power. The children dying in Africa for longer than we all care to remember die for the greed of war-lords and transnational corporations looking for a quick profit. The children that died and continue to die in Iraq and Afghanistan died for control over oil, over access to routes used to move goods, to move people.

I cannot even begin to imagine the feeling of losing someone as deeply cherished as your own child, especially in a manner so violent, so cruel. I don’t want to imagine it! But I can see that is not the only life lost, with it is extinguished the life of the parents, leaving them empty, angry, vengeful, looking for their own human justice served in the same violent way. Extending a terror so deep it seems endless.

I know that violence is inherent in nature, human and non-human alike. But this is more than just violence, this is a horror perpetrated by man’s hate, itself created by fear, and blind faith in a nation, a God, or one’s self importance.

My intention in writing this is not to make anyone aware, it is not to bring an issue to light, or to make myself feel better, it is to mourn in my own way. It is not just about the way these children died, it is also about how we choose to remember them. For me the poem below is the best way:

Do not stand at my grave and weep,

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glints on snow,

I am the sun on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circling flight.

I am the soft star-shine at night.

Do not stand at my grace and cry,

I am not there; I did not die.

-Mary Elizabeth Frye

Pondering on Climate Change

Freezing weather in the state of New York

Is the Weather out to get Us?!

It’s a  bizarre sounding question I know, but bear with me a minute here. You see in the world of academia [where I primarily exist these days] there has been this shift of ‘securitization’.The best way to explain what securitization is is by quoting Barry Buzan; making something a security issue means it “is presented as an existential threat, requiring emergency measure and justifying actions outside the normal bounds of political procedure” (Buzan et al, 1998, p. 23). If you or I were labeled a security threat that would mean that all violations to our human rights are acceptable, they can listen to your phone conversation, read your [e-]mail and bust in on you while you are in the shower, arrest you and take you somewhere where not even God himself will find you. How does this relate to the weather you ask? Climate and the way it is changing is being portrayed more and more as a security threat, and after all weather is what you see but climate is what drives is.  

This event is not occurring just in academia. In everyday life the changing climate of our planet is being labeled “dangerous”. It is stages as a threat that needs to be eradicated.But how are we to save mankind for Climate Change? Well I would love to tell you but that is usually a step too far for these beacons of security. All they really do is scream “DANGER, DANGER!”
You don’t believe me? Here is an example:
In a newspaper article Professor Anthony Costello says that:
“Climate change is the biggest threat to human health” that is it a “clear and present danger…that is affecting billions of people!” (The Times Online May 14th 2009, Sam Lister) The article continues in a similar tone telling us how we need to do something now to secure humanity’s future.

Why are we so scared of Climate Change?  

This is why: 

Property Destruction from Sever Storms in the USA

By this stage our heads are SO full of the fear that this monstrous climate change poses that we will gobble up anything that will be fed to us as a solution. We will buy electric cars, recycle, buy organic products, wear hemp and pray to Gaia in the hope that we are saved! 

Now before you label me a climate change sceptic let me make one point PERFECTLY clear! I am NOT disputing that Climate Change carries huge costs to humanity, the pictures above show that only too strongly. I am also NOT disputing that being more responsible with your consumption of transport and other goods as well as recycling is going to make a change. All those are things that we should all do. I am disputing however the use of a language of fear, crisis, insecurity, and panic. It is hardly going to deal with the problem by making people run for the hills, or buy products labeled “environmentally friendly”! With all due respect to  ALL the professors out there, we need a language of awareness and empathy.

I know what you are thinking, oh god not another one of them hippies that is gonna tell me to go hug everyone and it will all be better. Don’t worry although I am an idealist I am a pessimistic one, it balances it all out that way, although this is gonna get heavy from here on! What I mean is knowing what we are doing, and trying to change it out of pure empathy towards the harm those actions have done. And lets face it:

Our actions have caused: Destitution, Hunger, Shame, Pain, Fear, Loss, and Death.

Sever Famine and Overindulgence

So when I say awareness I mean making people aware of how their actions cause the above, but not just that. Making people aware of the simple facts; not just of the dangers that the changing climate poses to us, but our part is creating this danger. Some ugly truths about the highly consumerist, self-centred individualistic nature of many communities need to come out so that we do not have to see pictures as the ones on the right or underneath. This needs to be done in a way that does not point the finger of blame and try and shame us into action. We need to understand WHY we need to change our actions. And here is where the empathy kicks in.

Sever Flooding

We are all despite our many and wonderful differences the same at the core of us. We generally do not want to see people suffering as the mother and child are above. Even though we have do not know these people we feel a deep sadness and an urge to help in any way we can, we empathise, because despite everything else they are like us. Making us aware of the harm our western culture produces in developing and underdeveloped regions will hopefully make that empathic instinct kick in on a larger scale. It will make us understand that we are literally the cause of those starving and dying children, and as members of mankind we have a responsibility to stop it, now!

Our greed, gluttony, consumerism, selfishness, and most and worst of all apathy is slowly choking the life out of our planet and many of the people on it, and our planet will in turn return the favour.

I am going to start the awareness process with the video below. I dare you to watch it and throw out perfectly good food!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjtIl5B1zXI&feature=youtu.be

We only have one Earth please look after it!

 

Pondering on Tesco Profits

Responsibility but to whom?

Every year there is this big hoo-haa over Tesco profits. Mid April comes and we are showered with figures so huge it makes our eyes water and our palms itch! There is a flurry of people swearing off shopping at Tesco for life only to find themselves back in its shops only a week later due to the sheer convenience, low prices, and vast number of shops. I know I have been appalled by the billions the company makes every year. The red blue and white of its shopping bags along with its slogan of “every little helps” infuriates the general public every April when they see that every little piles up to an alful lot!

This year however the run up to the end of year results is a little bit different. There are no predictions of record profits, rising dividends and super bonuses. Instead miles and miles of printing paper has been used to write of Tesco’s “crisis”! Its falling market share to Asda and Sainsbury's, its falling like-for-like sales quarter upon quarter. This sounds like a real disaster, for Tesco at least! Truth is, they are still making profits though!

Here is the problem, the profits are not growing, in fact they have gone down by 10% on last year. Therefore logic [Tesco logic not mine!] dictates profits slump [by 10%] = Crisis. Correct? No, not really, not if put into context, and if it is over a short period of time. So lets put this “crisis of profits” into context shall we! Tesco finds itself between a rock and a hard place. Inflation and growing price of food production means that it has to pay more money to its suppliers, that comes out of its bottom line. Competition from 4 or 5 other supermarkets means that to attract customers in the hard economic times it needs to keep its prices low - basically absorb the rising food costs and inflation -  that also comes out of its bottom line, making the squeeze of profits come from both above and bellow. This makes sense considering we have hit upon hard times. So why people are panicking is maybe not understandable and clear cut?
 
This is why... 


Losing 10% of your profit is a rather big deal to some people, with small and medium businesses that can be the difference between paying wages and not paying wages for a period of time; but when you are Tesco, one of the biggest supermarkets in the world, 10% of £3.8bn a year is not really that much, is it? 10% of £3.8bn is £380m and yes that is A LOT even if you are Tesco. Essentially this can make the difference between paying/raising a dividend, or not. In this case it made the difference between Tesco UK CEO Richard Basher keeping his job or not, and according to Tesco CEO Philip Clarke the answer is very much NOT. But don’t weep for poor Mr. Basher his salary up to date should soften the blow somewhat. Plus you never know he might still get a bonus - after all bankers get bonuses for failing, why shouldn’t supermarket executives?! But I digress!

See there is nothing scarier to a CEO than angry shareholders who can force you to give up your cushy job. And if you are not paying them a dividend, or cutting it, or just simply keeping it the same they get VERY angry! Not to mention that a fall on profits, means a fall on share price, means a smaller payout to all.  So a CEO’s job in this situation  is to raise profit year on year, and raise dividend year on year and well the hell with the rest, there is no space for the rest! This raises the question however, should companies such as Tesco which provide a rather important service - food! - be more concerned with their shareholders, than their clients, and their general responsibility towards the public space they occupy? I personally don't think so, but I doubt Tesco give a monkey’s about what I, or you think!