Where and Why are people dying?

The news should faithfully reflect what is happening in the world. Understandably, it is vital that the public is kept informed of issues facing humanity so that appropriate decisions and actions can be taken. In the recent film “Look up” the storyline involves physicists who are horrified to discover that an astronaut will hit the Earth in five months causing an extinction-level event. However, their attempt to get this vital news out to the general public, when political leaders did not respond, was met by the media with a mixture of ridicule, distraction and mockery. The preferred news feature covered was the on/off romance of a famous young female music star. The movie felt tongue in cheek at times but its statement on political power and the role of media highlighted a growing disconnect between what news we consume and the actual important issues facing us as individuals, communities, or as a global community. 

This disengagement has very real consequences to us all.  Especially when facing global pandemics or global warming or water shortages, pollution, economic collapse, famines or wars.  A report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) concluded that there was overwhelming evidence that the “health of ecosystems on which we and all other species depend is deteriorating more rapidly than ever. We are eroding the very foundations of our economies, livelihoods, food security, health and quality of life worldwide.” 

In fact, it is clear that we are not just putting the security of our own lives in jeopardy as already 1 million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction.  It is not too late to act but there is little evidence that the seriousness of the situation has got through either to the general public or our leaders.  The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released repeated reports that are also frankly frightening from scientists but these have resulted in a minimal response from a distracted, disunited world community.  Why when information is available on the problems facing humanity does the media somehow fail to get across what is important?  Over a century and a half ago the importance of news and the requirements of those who convey the news was spelled out succinctly,

“In this day the mysteries of this earth are unfolded and visible before the eyes, and the pages of swiftly appearing newspapers are indeed the mirror of the world; they display the doings and actions of the different nations; they both illustrate them and cause them to be heard. Newspapers are as a mirror which is endowed with hearing, sight and speech; they are a wonderful phenomenon and a great matter. But it behoveth the writers thereof to be sanctified from the prejudice of egotism and desire and to be adorned with the ornament of equity and justice; they must inquire into matters as much as possible, in order that they may be informed of the real facts, and commit the same to writing.”

Bahá’u’lláh, Bahá’í World Faith, p. 171

It seems clear that invested interests, egos and other agendas have meant that real facts often remain hidden and prevent equity and justice being implemented.  A population that is distracted is also easily manipulated. Take a look at the front page of almost any newspaper, media outlet and be amazed how much of the news is of no worth at all.  Celebrities, scandals, character assassination have become our daily diet alongside tales of murderers, criminals and thieves.  It is not just that real news is so rarely reported it is more that our tastes have become so skewed to the perverse we are not really that interested in anything else.  

So what is real news, worthy of attention?  Well, if people are dying somewhere in the world then surely, we need to hear about that in case something can be done to stop it.  My first investigation turned to available data online for the year 2021 showing how many people died in each country.  However, this is not an accurate comparison as if you have a huge population then it is be expected you would have a larger death toll.  In order to make a proper investigation, you need to calculate the number of deaths per one thousand people per year.  Thankfully someone has already done it.  Here is the link.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/death-rate-by-country

I have to confess the top ten countries surprised me, here they are for 2021

1. Bulgaria (15.433)

2. Ukraine (15.192)

3. Latvia (14.669)

4. Lesotho (14.144)

5. Lithuania (13.737)

6. Serbia (13.194)

7. Croatia (13.17)

8. Romania (13.099)

9. Georgia (12.816)

10. Russia (12.785)

If you read further down the reasons for such high death rates in each country is outlined and makes for depressing reading. It consists of low vaccination rates, poor health systems, alcohol abuse, HIV/AIDS, smoking (e.g. 25% of the population of Croatia smoke), cardiovascular disease, cancer, suicide, road accidents, homicide etc. It also surprised me that Lesotho is the only African country in the top ten countries with high death rates.  Stunning to find out that life expectancy at birth in Lesotho is 56 years for females and 52 years for males.  In Hongkong, the life expectancy is 84.7 for females and 81.8 years for males. This means males in Hongkong will live on average almost 30 years longer than a male in Lesotho! 

What do these facts tell us? Well, it certainly reminds us that equity and justice are not being experienced by a lot of nations.  Another useful resource to look at to see where we are globally is the link below.  Check out how many cigarettes are being smoked worldwide and how much money is being earned from illegal drugs the figures blow one’s mind devastating that there are at present over 785 million of us without access to safe drinking water.

https://www.worldometers.info/

Finally, genocide is often what jumps to mind when you think of deaths worldwide and there is a useful link that monitors genocide worldwide putting areas into either genocide watch, genocide warning or genocide emergency categories depending on how serious the situation is.

https://www.genocidewatch.com/countries-at-risk

This is important because sometimes there are signals of approaching trouble.  In Rwanda in 1994 between 500,000 to 800,000 people were slaughtered in over less than four months (7th April – 5th July) and half a million women were raped. In hindsight it was discovered that from January 1993 to March 1994, a total of 500,000 machetes were imported into Rwanda, statistically one for every three adult Hutus in the country. 

There are studies that allow us to monitor violence worldwide and see where mass killing is happening https://earlywarningproject.ushmm.org/map for 2020/2021.  The early signs seem to have consistent features and these include among other elements,

• Instability: One of the strongest signs of the potential for genocide is large-scale instability (armed conflict, a coup, revolution, or uprising). In these environments, leaders and citizens may be more willing to consider violence to protect themselves and what they value.  

• Ideology: Genocide often happens when leaders believe that some people in the country are inferior or dangerous because of their race, religion, or national or ethnic origin. 

• Discrimination and violence against groups: Where genocide occurs, there usually have been earlier acts of discrimination, persecution, and violence against people who belong to a certain group. 

Make no mistake the people living in the areas highlighted on this map are experiencing very real danger.  If we were experiencing this we would probably try to flee for safety. It is not surprising then that 26.4 million people around the world live as refugees.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has just given a New Year’s Address and in light of all that has been mentioned above, I wanted to start this year with his words not least because the world’s media will probably not be sharing it widely.

“The world welcomes 2022 with our hopes for the future being tested.

By deepening poverty and worsening inequality.

By an unequal distribution of COVID vaccines.

By climate commitments that fall short. 

And by ongoing conflict, division, and misinformation.

These are not just policy tests.

These are moral and real-life tests.

And they are tests that humanity can pass — if we commit to making 2022 a year of recovery for everyone.

Recovery from the pandemic — with a bold plan to vaccinate every person, everywhere.   

Recovery for our economies — with wealthier countries supporting the developing world with financing, investment and debt relief.

Recovery from mistrust and division — with a new emphasis on science, facts and reason.

Recovery from conflicts — with a renewed spirit of dialogue, compromise and reconciliation.

And recovery for our planet — with climate commitments that match the scale and urgency of the crisis.

Moments of great difficulty are also moments of great opportunity.

To come together in solidarity.

To unite behind solutions that can benefit all people.”

Watch your thoughts; they become words. Watch your words; they become actions. Watch your actions; they become habits. Watch your habits; they become character. Watch your character; it becomes your destiny.

Ursula

She kept a home that embraced you with its orderliness and warmth of welcome.  The first day we awoke in a strange country, in her home the table was set with crisp white napkins and silver rings with each of us given a place with bread, cheese, jam tea and coffee.  Her kindness to our entire family from that first day continued over the decades and never stopped or wained.    Still now, a year after she has passed away I pick up a book and find an inscription from her to one of my sons on the flyleaf.  The traits that she exhibited were a methodical and mindful kindness that soothed those around her.

Andrew

He was a huge man who had worked in the cement factory his entire life and lived with the emphysema that resulted from the fine dust that he had breathed in all those years.   When his parents were ill he nursed them until they died.  It was only after this duty was done that he found himself a wife and although both were in their forties by then they were blessed with one son.  My youngest son, when four, made his first-ever friend in Andrew and that was how the rest of us got to meet him.  By then, Andrew was in his retirement and our neighbour in the small clump of houses in the countryside.   Andrew adopted youngsters and became a kind mentor.  It was only at his funeral that we got to meet all these young people who spoke of Andrew’s influence on their lives.  He taught my son how to ride a bicycle, he made us the most wonderful tomato and chilli chutney and cut our grass when we didn’t.  He built a huge greenhouse in their backyard out of scrap windows and designed a Heath Robinson heating system consisting of a huge metal pipe that ran around its perimeter.  He and his wife would be found in this warm womb-like zone with an enormous jigsaw puzzle on a big table.  The place felt serene and calm with a huge tray of tea and biscuits served by kind hands.  Andrew’s traits were many but a mighty concern for all who crossed his path dominated them.

Bemen 

He was characterised by a bubbling sense of humour.  So many times he would start to tell a joke and then he would start to laugh before he could get the punchline out.  All of us loved his laughter so much that somehow you didn’t mind not getting the whole point of the joke.  Instead, you would start to join in with his infectious laughter.  However, the trait that I appreciated so much was not his lovely laughter but the way talking to Bemen about any issue was like being put back on the right railway lines after being lost for days in unknown territory.  He seemed to have an instinct for the justice and injustice of any situation.  He didn’t mind telling you if you happened to be on the wrong side of an issue but his good nature made that feel like gently being nudged back on track again.  

Granda

I loved both my grandparents so I could write about either but here I’ll mention just Granda Jimmy.  He left primary school after spending a disproportionate amount of time chewing little bits of paper in his mouth before flicking them up to stick on the schoolroom ceiling.  He said the result was a spectacular collection of these little mounds all above their heads.  He could sing and play fiddle and make up songs that were funny and insightful.  Before TV came along he would go around family homes in the countryside and provide entertainment.  As a child, I remember his wonderful greeting.  When you came through the back door of the farmhouse he would get to his feet arms upraised shouting in delight “Boyza, Boyza, Boyza” with a huge smile while eyebrows danced high in his forehead.  He had strange habits.  If you sat next to him at the table having tea he would stir his cup with a spoon and then touch the spoon to the back of your hand to watch you scream from the heat.  Somehow you never resented such treatment from his hand because it felt like a wake-up call.  As if, he knew at times, we all needed to be prodded to come alive and he was the man to do it.  But the best trait he had was his ability to tell a story.  Somehow his tales were fascinating, insightful and yet left you a different person from the one you were before.  They led you on a journey and you knew how far you had come from where you started.  The narrative would be about a simple event like a market or a meeting but it always taught you something about the important things of life.  When cancer stalked him in later years he went into the butcher’s in the local village and the butcher was surprised to see him and said “I heard a rumour you were dead, Jimmy!”  My grandfather retorted, “I heard it too, but I didn’t believe it!”  Shortly before he died in hospital I visited him, surrounded by those who loved him.  I said, I thought he was like one of the old Eskimos that have decided to end their lives by going out to sit on the ice flow.  He answered, “well, don’t follow me out on the ice!”  The horrid clinical hospital room was suddenly cleansed with laughter and love.  I think granda’s trait was difficult to identify. But when he passed away a void was felt, as if something of vital importance had been lost.  How often is it that we recognise the breadth and height of a mighty tree only after it has been felled?  

I am infinitely grateful for all these souls and many others.  For what they either taught me or helped me learn by example.  They ever act as gentle nudges that influence my thoughts, words, actions, habits, character and perhaps even destination.

The Best of my blog - three years review

It has been three years since I started my blog and I have more than 292 postings in that time.  At last I have had a chance to reflect on which ones were the most popular.  Thanks to technology, exactly how many people viewed each blog is clear.  At times that has become an embarrassment as the figures have been depressingly low.  But certain blogs attracted more than usual traffic and I wondered why?  Surely, there is learning to be had there?  So the research is in.  Here are the facts. The links to the individual blog entries are on the left (clicking on those titles wil take you straight to the story).  My conclusions are given below the table.  Hope you enjoy some that you may  have missed the first time around!

Title	date	View count	What was it about
Dragging my entrails behind me	08/01/2014	130	An account of my total humiliation
Unusual Sunbathers	13/12/2013	225	Unusual take on sunbathing - poem
my take on smoking - a gentle approach to encourage stopping	28/11/2013	209	An anti smoking lesson for school that turned stomachs
Raised Eyebrows and Demented in Dubai	20/07/2013	413	Sleepless in airport and losing it
My father was upset about the library being burned	14/01/2013	653	Childhood misunderstandings of everything
So leaders can be killers and often are	03/12/2012	181	Why leaders are usually worse than us
Old age isn’t a battle, old age is a massacre.	28/09/2012	177	Aging is a bitch
Malta and its underground tunnel s	06/09/2012	719	Malta’s amazing tunnels
Torturing flies, cruelty and making sense of it all	26/05/2012	213	Stopping my son being a killer
My Two Minds	20/05/2012	137	Linguists are lucky
Ain’t I a woman? and The Real Good poems	26/04/2012	103	Poems that speak to me but are not by me
Why do Dogs Eat Shit?	22/02/2012	214	Why we eat shit too
Laura Is A Pig and What Can We Do?	22/01/2012	294	me bullying at school
Trison - a story	17/01/2012	103	How to get pay from a boss
Saturday	14/01/2012	101	Beating the beater with art
short story	11/01/2012	179	Getting thrown out with my Dad

Conclusions

1. I have not written anything of real worth this whole year (nothing that got over a 100 page views) all of the above are from years ago. 
2. Accounts of the burning of the Great Library of Alexander and Malta's tunnels were by far the favourites.  Obviously, I should stick to history and cultural accounts?
3. It has earned me an embarrassingly small amount of money (5.03 euros in three years), but boy have I enjoyed it.

Shit House Rats - asking questions

Went to the local charity shop to buy a book.  They have a huge selection.  Mostly holiday reads.  Visitors to Malta bring their reading matter with them.  It’s part of what a holiday is about.  Time to chill in the sun, swim, enjoy the local cuisine and sights.  The novels represent the luxury of free time that is rare commodity today.  Many enjoy their kindle, light compact but a portable library in many ways.  But what do they read?  Well, I’m no expert but having lived quite a few years abroad I’ve noticed some things.  First, I have to confess as far as books go I’m omnivorous.  I’ll consume just about anything.  In my search for input I’ll devour fact or fiction.  I’m not even fussy about it being contemporary.  I’ve read my way through out of date versions of The New Scientist, The Economist and enjoyed it all.  While working at Daresbury synchrotron I read all the material available in the coffee room.  Mostly catalogue on vacuum pumps and machinery but also a complete collection of Asterix cartoons.  While on Rhodes, knowing my hunger for reading materials good friends would deliver black bin liners full of novels left behind by tourists at hotels during summer holidays.  I’d devour all but then be instantly hungry for more.  So here on Malta I noticed a shelf of brand new novels (well new to the charity shop) and I pounced eagerly.  Only to find novels on murder, betrayal, mass killers, drug cartels, military assassination, child killers, child abuse, child abduction, spousal abuse, incest, graphic tales of autopsies, violent cop incidents etc  for the first time in my life I could not find anything to my taste.  I've discovered what people now read on holiday and it’s shit.  We read it and I fear we have become it.  Don’t think for one moment that our TV shows escape this modern slant.  The popular ones all peddle the same violent content with an undercurrent message that everyone is a killer/amoral.  There are no heroes, just villains in various shades of grey.  Speaking of ‘Shades of Grey’ I've never read this particular book but I fear it may trigger my shit alert meter as well.  I actually had a moment of crystal clarity as I stood before shelf upon shelf of novels longing to pick one, anyone.  I took a step back and thought.

“Why do people read all this shit?”

“Why do people watch all this shit?”

Are our lives so smeared with the stuff we are infinitely more comfortable surrounded by it.  My grandfather’s pig shed smelt astonishingly bad.  The odour was like a facial smack when you entered. You couldn't help raising a hand to your nose and face to protect them from the assault.  After 15 minutes in the shed admiring the new piglets you hardly noticed it at all.  That’s how adaptable our senses are.  Most people cannot smell their own B.O.  We have grown accustomed to our own stink.  We cannot really register it.  Like the pig shed our senses have gone into overload and switched off to protect us.  Only something much more foul smelling than we're used to is picked up.  So, I fear our books, newspapers, TV shows, Internet content have noticed our jaded tastes and slowly adapted to grab our attention.  In a world full of shit, it seems only the even more shitty gets our attention.  I could be wrong but I fear I’m not.  There are those who benefit massively from our abundance of shit.  My grandfather called them ‘shit house rats’.  Huge foot-long brutes that thrived on the pig shit that was produced in abundance.  They grew sleek and huge on this diet, a breed apart.  His cats and dogs were nervous of this tougher crew.  My grandfather fought a losing battle with the rats over many years.

Do we become what we devour?

Or are we like the ‘shit house rats’ designed to eat the stuff?

Was it always so?

Have our tastes got worse?

What does it do to our communities?

I don't know the answer to any of the above.  I’m just really concerned that no one is even asking these questions. Perhaps we've all been in the pig shed far too long.

PS  I don't know if it is significant but rats eat faeces, because their digestive system is poor at absorbing nutrients and a second go through the system helps digestion.

PPS pigs will also happily eat the faeces of other animals, this desire to eat faeces is called Coprophagia

PPS Cows are vegetarian by choice but we like to feed them chicken faeces, because it is cheap, this is how (bovine spongiform encephalopathy)- Mad Cow Disease arose.  In US and other places outside UK they will not accept our blood donations because of the prevalence of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), from eating the mad cows.