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Saturday, March 31, 2018

KEN ASHLEY





KEN ASHLEY

A  TRIBUTE TO A WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING



I am part of a social group of foreign nationals living in and around Pedralba, a pueblo in the Campo north-west of LLiria, Valencia, Spain. We are a group that is always keen to integrate within the Spanish community, and to a large degree we have achieved that, as evidenced by the many Spanish nationals who are impacted as well.

We are all living in the third stage of our lives that is made all the more pleasant in that we get to enjoy the sunshine and the life that is available to us in this part of Spain. However, we are perfectly aware that from time to time we have to draw strength to say goodbye when it is time for one of us to pass. We are now having to draw deep to pay our respect and to express our love for a stalwart who has added so much to our daily lives.

Ken Ashley, a retired fireman, after spending a life in service to others has continued to do that while in retirement. Our Ken was a big man, both in stature and in personality. He lived a responsible life and he was generally thought of as the go-to guy when something needed to get done.

He was possessed of a pleasing singing voice, and together with his guitar he was always there when we needed cheering up. One of the contributions the English language group made to the pueblo was to stage two concerts a year; one at Christmas and one during the summer. The choir was originally led by Nigel, our president at the time and when it became necessary for him to step down Ken took up the baton and did a splendid job.

He could often be seen going walkabout with his friend, Megan, a truly outstanding dog, while wearing his trademark extra large cowboy hat. He was the very image of health and strength and the one person we thought would live forever. However, on Thursday, 29th March he arose from bed and commented to his wife, Heather that he really didn’t feel all that well, and with one gasp he fell down between the bed and the wall, and he was gone.

I like to think that Ken had things to do, people to see, places to go in his next life. I am a staunch believer that what we call death is not the end, but rather simply the moment when we discard our existing body that no longer works as well as it did to exchange it for another new body to start the process all over again. He will think it’s all new, just as he has done every time before when he has lived and “died.” That is possible because our bodies do not have a soul, but rather it is our soul that has a body.

So, Ken, I thank you for everything you did to contribute to my life, and that was much, and I join with everybody else in our group in saluting you for being the wonderful key figure you have been. I have only ever known you to be pleasant and courteous, and I carry with me your mantra: “Hey man, what’s your plan?”

People may ask me how many years did you spend among us in total and I would have to say I have no idea of what your age might have been. My impression is that you were, and will be, “Forever Young!”

KEN ASHLEY, we shall never forget you!

Copyright © 2018

Eugene Carmichael

Tuesday, March 27, 2018

The Scandal of the Charities





The world cannot function without the work that charity organisations like The Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children, and all the others perform. They are there when disaster strikes and they come to the rescue on a timely basis so they are hardly noticed. Were they not there the void that they would leave would be enormous.

A scandal has blown up surrounding certain sex `practices committed by some of the male volunteers who go into areas of death and destruction and admittedly it looks bad. However, upon examination what really happens and is it all that bad?

If you talk to a man who always has a bag packed for immediate departure from his own comfort zone to fly into places that have been struck by a tsunami, a major hurricane, fire, landslide, etc; a man who has seen too much for one man to see, the story he would tell you has a different look entirely.

Take Haiti for example, a place where he has been a couple of times in response to one crisis after another. When the team arrives they find no roads, no shops, no food, no potable drinking water, no shelter, and no nothing except human beings in dire need of help. They roll up their sleeves and dig in bringing invaluable assistance to all who need it.

First water and food followed immediately by throwing up tents for shelter. They have Doctors without Borders to provide medical help; they help with the burial of bodies in an effort to contain the threat to health.

Meanwhile, you are a woman with children and you have lost all that you had which was not much to begin with. You only have the rags on your back and your children who are entirely dependent on you. The volunteers have provided food and water and shelter for your family, now you are thinking of rebuilding your life. You are blessed with being a woman of some modest charms so you will try and market that to acquire some money from this army of men who have come to help.

It’s not just one woman who has this thought, they all do and when the men are faced with so many women who are so desperate for this type of assistance you almost feel like it’s your duty to perform this type of civic service, and not to do so seems churlish.

For those of us not impacted directly because we are worlds apart from what is happening on the ground in such zones it’s easy to see the moral side as judged by our standards, and we miss the point that it is not our men who do the asking, but rather it is the women who do the offering, which is really begging.

I personally can’t think of anything I would less want to do than to put my own health at risk by joining in such unregulated behaviour. I’m sure that some of the men do reluctantly join in because the money they pay the women is put to good use, and after all they actually beg for this type of help; and some of the men actually look forward to this as a mischievous perk that offsets the discomfort they face when in the field. I’m sure that in so far as they are concerned if they are not allowed to give the women what they need someone else can take their place with the charity.

Volunteering overseas in locations that have been hard hit by weather and natural disasters is not the same thing as serving in one’s homeland even if the same type of calamity has happened. We likely have higher standards to uphold so I think we have to reserve judgement country by country.

It would be a shame if any charity that was doing good and appreciated work should stop functioning because we in the more “civilized” countries spoke too hastily.

Whether the men who do assist such poor women through sex are married or in solid relationships at home that would be betrayed by such actions is another subject for another forum.



Copyright © 2018



Eugene Carmichael






Saturday, March 3, 2018

Too late for America




School shootings

 America is the only civilized, at peace country where you have no reasonable expectation of sending your child to school and having the child return home safe and sound without having been shot and killed.

That is a monstrous statement to make, especially as it is true. Only eight weeks and three days have passed and there have been twelve shootings on school grounds.

This is because of one thing: The Gun!

After the obscenity that was Sandy Hook all of America should have seen that the right to bear arms was producing unacceptable results and all guns in private hands should have been voluntarily destroyed. No! The call went out for even more guns and the same old tired excuse that guns don’t kill, people kill was heard yet again. Don’t they yet realize that it is people with guns that kill in mass numbers?  

If I buy a gun and I store it in my house and never touch it then it’s true that the gun will do no harm. However the moment it is removed from its storage space and ammunition inserted into its chamber it becomes a deadly weapon.

The argument is that if everyone was able to carry a concealed weapon then no-one would dare use his because it would assure that person’s destruction. Back in the olden days of The Wild West that’s what they did and apparently it didn’t stop anyone from pulling out his pistol to settle an argument.

The same doctrine covers nuclear armaments where if every country has them no one will dare use their own first as that will bring about Mutually Assured Destruction. That is the MAD doctrine and that too will fail leading to our ultimate destruction.

The stage is set. When everybody is carrying a concealed gun a suicide terrorist or terrorists will attend a Super Bowl game and they will start shooting. Ever notice how quickly people can get involved in a riot? That’s what will happen and a whole stadium will be wiped out while the television cameras continue to run.

After that, who knows?

It’s too late for America. The rest of the world can see it, I’m sorry that America cannot.

Copyright © 2018

Eugene Carmichael