Just a piece of my mind - an introspection, contemplation and self reflection

Actually I was enjoying a little time with my dogs on the farm recently and put an image in the previous entry, which one of my readers found quite classic in a rather condescending way, as it looked like me a country squire with some land pontificating about equity and social justice. I personally do not believe I should give up on a few luxuries to become a pauper just to talk about sustainability and waste and suggest methods of reordering our lives in order that we can assure a quality of life for future generations.

Just to add salt into the wounds of that particular commentator I am uploading another photo of similar ilk! However I would like to point out that life is all about attitude. That attitude can change daily depending on circumstances and one must try to manage this attitude to keep it from oscillating from an unwavering path.

Another year comes to an end. I have had no transport for most of it being dependent on others for it. I do not have the funds to either buy a vehicle or even have the income to lease one unless I dispose of property, but I have learned to adapt, just as I have learned to live most of this year with crutches and two serious surgeries, pain and discomfort, with little remorse or regret, but with hope and expectation for what the future may hold. It is difficult under the circumstances to keep this frame of mind, when I am dependent on others, and often I have not had help when I needed it and had to make do with this additional disability.

Despite all these setbacks I have lived on my own in an apartment with help that seems to come and go, at whims beyond my control, and been able for most of the year to be gainfully employed in order to cover my expenses, as there are no hidden reserves I can call on despite the general consensus that I have much. The latter due to the attitude to life that I portray, that does not allow the lack of a bank account to affect my spirits or manner of thinking, especially when I am busiest, which is when I am least concerned about personal creature comforts.

It was ironic that I had great expectations for 2011, but the accident put paid to most of that. I hope that I will be able to recoup some of those expectations for 2012 and try and at least get back to where I left 2010, rather than being behind that point at present. My first task when I am able to walk would be to do sufficient exercise to lose the considerable excess weight I had put on by the lack of it.

As we are about to end another year, and think about our resolutions for the next, it is time to think of what might have been, and to make what might be even more pleasurable. Having defied the end of life once by a thread, it has been worth the experience since. I look forward to the next year with equal hope and enthusiasm.

When work is all consuming, one’s own limitations are forgotten

I have now been an invalid for over 10 months, in the sense that I need crutches to get around and am severely limited in what I can do. I also do not have transport, and am dependent on others or cab services to get about. It is strange but now I do not seem to even let it concern me. Today, I left for the office at 8am and got home after 8pm, and was so busy during the day, that I hardly noticed the time passing. Even then I hardly achieved half of what I set out to do, as I was distracted by two University Graduates who needed advice on how to go about getting employment.

I used the opportunity to mine them for all the information about schools, subjects, teachers and prospects as well as the issues within the University system. They made an interesting and valid point about the times we live in. Whilst they said that 16 students in their primary school, had gone onto University, their Primary School is now closed, as the student numbers choosing this school dwindled to the point that the school closed. The buildings still remain, a ghost of its former glory!

A thousand schools have shut these 5 years, and 2000 will close within the next few, due to a lack of students. It makes them uneconomical to run. Just imagine the number of empty closed schools dotting the landscape. The State must make alternative use of these land and buildings, before it becomes derelict, an eyesore and a menace in the neighborhood inhabited by low life. There will be an outcry if the land is sold, but it sure will yield a substantial amount of money for other purposes, especially improving the quality of teaching in the remaining schools.

It was an unusual day in that for the first time in years, I received two calls from ladies the UK, where I lived for many years. One was to enquire after my health only just having heard of my accident and operations, and the other was to ask if I still sold Sri Lankan manufactured Platinum and Diamond rings which I sold in the US many years ago. Her son had wanted to get one to give his girlfriend. An example of an odd occurrences in a day.

I obtained a copy of the latest UNDP Human Development Report and this year’s one is on equity and sustainable development. I would recommend it as an essential read for University Students, as they can get a perspective on life that is absent in Sri Lankan thinking, and such students if they are really undergrad quality should be able to appreciate its views. For those setting out to find their first real job and begin the hard climb up the corporate ladder, this report is likely to give one a rounded perspective on what is important for a good quality of life.

I doubt however if ANY student in the University system in Sri Lanka will study its contents, let alone come out with a critical interpretation of how it should apply in the Sri Lankan context, where it is obvious to me we are hell bent on doing everything that is unsustainable to get our ranking down, instead of up, which is the direction we should go. So no matter what growth rate we have, if our ranking goes down, then it really means we are heading to a worsening quality of life for our citizens instead of a better one.

A weekend-break at home on the range or ranch or whatever

I was fortunate to be able to take some time off this weekend to spend on the farm with the animals, mainly the dogs, but also to see two new additions in the form of new ‘wassi patow’ female calves. There is always great joy at the birth of female calves as when they are artificially inseminated by the local government vet. They are able to used as milk cows, the which is the whole reason for having a herd. This when contrasted with the birth of a male calf, who whatever one does to prevent it ends up one day as eaten flesh! See some of my previous blog posts relating to that inevitability.

The most important task this weekend was to spend some time with the dogs that I spent the least of my time with due to my disability, and whom I have not even named properly. They were called Yakshi and Surakshi, not altogether suitable names, but which came naturally due to their nature of jumping up to bite one’s nose when they were acquired as pups. They are a pair of Rhodesian Ridgeback bitches who hitherto have been brought up together in their own kennel, and not really trained or let out side of their dog runs.

What is unique is the coloring, which I have not seen. It is a ash or fawn hue. Anyway they are now not as aggressive as they used to be and have calmed with age. I just hope the instructions of giving them fresh milk in the mornings along with their meals later that usually include fish will fatten them up. They being very active means that however much they eat at the moment, is not evident in their size.

The other disappointment was that we have not been able to sell any king coconuts for the past month. This is partly due to the wet weather but mainly because a company in Homagama, which used to send staff to pluck and buy from the property at a reasonable price, ostensibly for canning and export is not doing this anymore. Apparently the canning king coconut is no longer being performed for reasons that I can only guess. I always thought that canning takes away the freshness as well as the chemical process used to preserve king coconut water make the whole idea of a natural nutritious drink fade into oblivion. There was a time when I sold about 2000 king coconuts a week from the back of my pickup truck to small timers in Colombo, along Denzil Kobbekaduwa Mawatha, where the Foreign Employment Bureau is located and along Reid Avenue where the Colombo University is located. They have now been banished by the Ghotabaya clean-up campaign and replaced with Coca Cola sales, a typical Americanization by the American Citizen, another example of deeds by the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

in April 2011

When everything is spoon-fed, asking for a small sacrifice arouses anger

One of the lessons I have learnt especially in Sri Lanka, is that if anything is provided sans a sacrifice of some sort, those provisions, sometimes by other people sacrificing and foregoing are lost on the recipients. The latter do not appreciate the sacrifice the giver has suffered, and neither do they appreciate what they have received, often believing it is the duty of the giver to give no matter what.

This hypothesis is even more apparent when one is in Politics, where people demand things in a more brazen manner for future assistance which nevertheless cannot be guaranteed. People want a free lunch and object even to pay 10% of the cost. I believe for one to benefit from something, if one has sacrificed something to receive it, then one is more likely to make an effort to gain from the episode, or protect the object received by way of subsidy. How then can one wean them from total dependency to one where there is a partnership, one where it is 90% from the benefactor and 10% from the sacrifice of the recipient as a minimum?

I was at a local youth meeting yesterday, at which a sports club of young people received some sports goods, and two girls, one of them in the above photograph obtained some financial assistance to carry on her studies. We discussed a future event, which was a two day workshop at a location, where we expect around 200 to come and bond with each other and from it develop a core of young talent that can help the party as well as the local community in some way, promoting both leadership and accountability, along with a training from outside instructors of empowerment, and taking control of their lives. This would be something that is useful to any young person who is embarking on their life journey once they leave school and enter the tough world of the labor market.

I made a suggestion that each candidate contribute 10% which amounts to Rs200 to the program. The benefactor will contribute 90% of the cost of this two day workshop. The howls of anger that a charge would be made was instant! There was no charge in the previous workshop, so a repeat of the same formula was expected. Reason- ‘people will not come as they will not be able to contribute this sum’.

If a young person between the age of 18 and 25 cannot find Rs200 non refundable commitment to confirm their attendance, they do not deserve to get Rs20,000 worth of a leadership training that will cost us about Rs2000 to provide. This money is not from people who do not have a home or electricity. They are not the poorest. They are likely to spend that in a week on phone cards. The food cost saved at home for two days will be higher than this suggested contribution.