If at all

The last four days I spent in bed.  That rarely happens even when I am struck out by a bug.  But this one was vicious and unrelenting.  I could barely keep my eyes open.  

There is something peaceful in being only semi-conscious and seeing the world with eyes half shut - if at all.  

Go run the numbers...

on the Walking Time Bomb…!

One HUNDRED and FIFTY people had to die because Mr. Lubitz had a bad day.

Do you remember University of Texas?  Or Ohio State?  Mass executions at universities which by now have become a regular occurrence in the US whenever some loner feels low.   In China the preferred targets are preschools.  Among Islamists its girls’ schools apparently. 

Frankly, does anybody notice a pattern?  I am wondering…since everyone seems to be into algorithms these day!!

And don’t get me wrong.  Lubitz, & Co are just the tip of the iceberg. 

Watch out for the guys who make it to the top of a hierarchy.  Time to count in THOUSANDS and MILLIONS!!

 

What is wrong with the male brain one should wonder…!

In comes neuroscience telling us about differential front wiring, the deficiencies in the frontal lobes (does impulse inhibition mean anything to you)  etc. 

Okay, so WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO  ABOUT THAT? 

All you socially adjusted guys out there…let’s start cracking on that one.  Really it's time!

Who Cares...?

Usually it is women who for one reason or another end up with the care for young and old - be it in remunerated positions such as schools, childcare facilities and nursing homes or sadly underpaid (...) at home.

Given that a high percentage of any given population is either quite young or old, one would think that that type of work is regarded a) highly and 2) well paid in order to recruit enough qualified personnel…

The fact, however, is that it is neither. 

Societies generally reward people who work on technology higher than those working with people, disregarding the fact that both may be equally talented and able - just in different areas. 

Why is it that societies value work with objects more than work with people.  It is somewhat of a male domaine, so that may explain it.  Mostly anything men are good at and therefore like to do from running after a ball to reducing the world to a 2D screen - tends to get more attention (and pay) than what women do (so they often try to copy the guys for a share of the pie).

In my years as a mother, raising children of both sexes, and observing both, girls and boys, in their daily interaction, I often wondered how boys - being less verbally gifted and often struck with significant problems adapting to social situations in addition to obvious lacks in attention and concentration - continue to set social agendas.

What makes them so convincing…???

looking nearby

I am back.  I love my house, my garden, my walks, the village.  I do know now what happiness feels like and I know better than to go looking for it.

On distant Shores

I have opened a window to let the air wake us from a long morning engulfed in notes from our recent trip to the Aegean.  More than a journey of many miles it was a journey back in time.  

We stayed near  the old megalopolis of Ephesus - the ancient busy seaport and administrative centre of Asia Minor - and we were almost alone.  It is a good time to travel when the Mediterranean does not lure with balmy warm temperatures, when hotel pools are doused in emerald green and the tour buses are only running once a week.  

We stood alone among pine trees and listened to the wind.  We imagined the ships entering the port after their long and hazardous journey over from a western shore and we shuddered at the thought of the mighty earthquakes that rocked this part of the world in the second century AD.

It is strangely calming to think of disasters of another time...those that came and went.

On Any Given Day...

Curtain opens:

Two guys, middle-aged, slim, engrossed in a conversation.  They are sitting on a big, white sofa at the far end of an open-floor house.  The table is set for breakfast.  It’s 9 o’clock.  

Enter two women.  They are back from buying bread and rolls for breakfast and immediately busy themselves in the kitchen, making coffee, heating milk, getting juice, arranging the cold cuts on a plate, opening jam jars and glasses with yoghurt. 
 
Two girls enter, the younger one joins the women in the kitchen, the older ambles over to the guys on the sofa.  One of them is her father.

“Are you comfortable there?”
“Why?”
“Just wondering.  Mom and Ay sure are working their buts off to get breakfast going.”
“Don’t talk to us like that, Zee.”

Mom sticks her head out of the corner of the kitchen.  It IS an open-floor house and anything going on in the kitchen OR living room is public.

M. “You know Zee is right.  You could join in a bit.”
“We set the table!”
“Well we didn’t spend the morning at the spa either.  What are you...seven?!”

What follows is as sobering as it is normal.  The guys stay seated and pretend nothing happened.  They continue talking and when they finally get up they remain close to the breakfast table.  Awkward but uncompromising.

The women exchange looks and continue their work in the kitchen and around the breakfast table.  After all life must go on.  And it seems to be their job to make it happen.

Funny thing:  This happened on International Woman’s Day .
Fact: It will happen on every other day. 


Curtain opens:

Two women, middle-aged, slim, engrossed in a conversation.  They are sitting on a big, white sofa at the far end of an open-floor house.  The table is set for breakfast.  It’s 9 o’clock.  

Enter two men.  They are back from buying bread and rolls for breakfast and immediately busy themselves in the kitchen, making coffee, heating milk, getting juice, arranging the cold cuts on a plate, opening jam jars and glasses with yoghurt. 
 
Two girls enter, the younger one joins the men in the kitchen, the older ambles over to the women on the sofa.  One of them is her mother

“Are you comfortable there?”
“Why?”
“Just wondering.  Dad and Em sure are working their buts off to get breakfast going.”


You continue....I am sure you have read the script before!