By this Time Next Week

On hind sight the Referendum being held in the United Kingdom on whether to leave or stay is a mistake. No matter what the outcome the other side will be unhappy and claim that a mistake has been made. And what a Mistake it will be!

If the majority are for staying within the EU, then Brussels will be able to say, alright, now shut up and stop complaining!

On the other hand, if it's to leave, no one has any real idea of what that will mean.

The Stay group, which are the political, security and economic interests make a valid point.

The Leave group are more emotive in their concerns. They are sick and tired of being told what they can and cannot do. Brussels imposes rules and dictates upon the British way of life to the extent that traditionalists no longer recognize their own customs and culture. Many of the older Brits are over here in Spain impacting the Spanish way of life to the negative because they have lost the plot back home in Britain. I think that were I in their shoes I might understand what drives their frustration.

We are all living in a changing world, even conservative Britain, but I will be very surprised if the vote favors the biggest change of all. Britain does not generally favor change but it is possible that this time around the populace will vote for a change that no-one has any real idea of what the consequence will mean.

I think it's reasonable to expect a grand turnout of voters on Thursday. I hope all the bars will be closed until after the vote is completed. It would be horrible to be drunk when you voted, only to wake up the next day and realised you did what?

Stay tuned!

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

The Greatest

Today is the 10th day of June, 2016, and the time is 6 pm Spanish time, and High Noon in Louisville, Kentucky in America. Today is the day when The Greatest is being gently and lovingly laid to rest.

I offer the following as my way of saying, Goodbye Champ!

Mohammed Ali has, as he said himself, lived a life of ten men and is larger than life. I must admit that I am not a fan of boxing but even I  have to recognise that he was the best at what he did. He was great in the ring, but he was also great in everyday life.

The greatest thing that he did, in my opinion was done quietly in a conversation with Michael Parkinson, the well respected British talk show host. The interview lasted one hour and this selected excerpt formed part of it.

Michael Parkinson (MP)- When is your first recollection, as a child, of being a second class citizen?

MA: "Second class? Oh no, sixteenth class. They used to always say I was a second class citizen. I would say to my mother: Momma?
How come the Chinese can go where I can't go in America? Englishmen can come and set up a business in white America and do things I can't do. The Puerto Ricans, Hawaiians, just about everybody can do more than black people and are respected.

Oh man, if we were second-class citizens we'd be driving old Cadillacs and living good.

I always asked my mother, how come is everything white? Why is Jesus white with blond hair and blue eyes? Why is the Lord's supper all white men? Why is Santa Claus and Superman white? Why are the angels white; and the Pope white, and Mary. When we die are we going to Heaven?"

She said, of course were going to Heaven.

"Well, what happened to all the black angels?"

The took the pictures:

" I know, they were in the kitchen making the milk and honey."

With that he outlined the crux of the problem of the black tribe. There was nothing wrong with the creation of those symbols for the white tribe, but we black children grew up with nothing of our own to look up to so that we would feel good about ourselves.

So Mohammed Ali followed that up by giving the black tribe a hero that we could believe in. A real one, not one that was fake such as Santa Claus and Superman. He managed to conduct his life throughout without embarrassing his believers.

When he declared himself a conscientious objector to the war in Vietnam we all took a deep breath. However, we must remember that this was America at a time when the struggle for black civil rights was in full swing. Had he gone to Vietnam and been captured, his captors should have slapped him for being there to kill them when back home he did not even have the most basic of human rights.

In fact, there were apparently cases of black men in uniform being killed on the streets of America simply for wearing the uniform of the armed forces. Was he right? Absolutely! On this day there will be many who denounced him at the time for his stand, but who now see clearly what a giant the man was.

Unfortunately, there was only one Mohammed Ali. That was so that he would stand tall above all others as one to be emulated but probably never to be equalled.

I say, on this day, to you personally Mohammed Ali, I thank you so much for what you gave us; and especially for what it personally cost you. You have lived a life that was a glowing example that will never be forgotten.   You are a positive influence for my son and my great grand daughters.

You once stood before an audience, in the grip of Parkinson's disease; shaking and with trembling voice you announced that you would come back. Your audience politely laughed, but the good news is that you will indeed be back through reincarnation in the body of some very lucky new born.

You were too good for only one round. I'm looking forward to Round Two!

Good bye for now, my friend!

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

The three-year old and Harambe the Gorilla

I was not going to touch the incident at the Cincinnati Zoo, but there is so much material in the incident that I feel compelled to put my oar in.

I'm talking about the fact that a three-year old boy slipped away from his parents and fell down a fifteen foot embankment into Harambe, the gorilla's enclosure.

The fact that it happened at all means that responsibility must be shared between the parents and the zoo, as it was something that was supposedly guarded against. However, I am not about criticizing a family with four children or the zoo where that fencing has been adequate for 37 years. What I want to do is look at human responses that prove that there is no such thing as a consensus of opinion; on anything. It just doesn't exist.

Harambe was a beautiful gorilla and it is a real shame that he had to be sacrificed. However, there will be a school of thought that will hold that he was "just" an animal so what's the fuss all about? In the wild gorillas are routinely hunted and killed to  the point of near extinction, yet there is very little in the way of public outrage as this goes on every day. These same people might even fantasize about hunting gorillas themselves.

Then there is the group who feel that the animal should not have been killed, no matter what. They say that Harambe seemed to be protecting the boy, but he could not have known how delicate this young human was. In his hands the boy was like a rag doll, and it is a miracle that in ten minutes in the enclosure the boy was not accidentally killed or even seriously harmed.

There have been a couple of cases lately where mature humans have entered into the enclosures of dangerous  animals with the apparent intention of suffering suicide. Zoo officials have intervened to get the person out, sometimes at a cost to the animals. I know that officials cannot just stand by while the person realises his goal, but I certainly wish that they would go have a coffee while the man gets to know the animals a bit better.

It is important to remember that this was not a scene from King Kong. That was a movie with a script where it was known how the make-believe screen gorilla would act. This was real life where the people who were watching inadvertently further agitated the animal through their panic. It was a highly emotional ten minutes that could have so easily ended in the death of the child.

There are people who have been quick to condemn the parents for their failure to have kept absolute control over all four of their children. However, something like a simple incoming phone call would have been enough of a distraction, thereby reducing vigilance of four children onto one parent. A curious and adventurous child of three needs even less space to get into trouble.

This has to simply be chalked up to one of those extraordinary things that no-one ever wanted to see happen, but since it did all must learn the obvious lessons on offer.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

June: The Month of major decisions

This June will see three momentous decisions taken by voters. June the 23rd will see voters in a referendum in the United Kingdom decide whether they want to remain in the EU club, or whether they prefer to leave and go it alone.

This is a highly extraordinary consideration for a country that prefers tradition to change. There are people in Britain who still prefer to conduct all their communications through the snail mail of the Post Office. They are being asked to vote their opinion on whether to continue life as it is, or whether to jump off a cliff  to see what happens after that.

Scotland recently went through a referendum on whether to remain part of the United Kingdom or to stand alone. That country decided that tradition ruled. At this point there simply is no way for anyone to have confidence in a prediction of how it will turn out. Fundamentally, there are two sides to the question, and both sides are entirely reasonable. On the one hand there is the economic and security case that states that Britain is much better off in staying where it is.

As members of a club, presumably there are benefits to be had for being a club member in the first place. In Britain's case there are. The club consists of 500 million people with whom to trade. Britain is an important member of the club and enjoys preferential treatment. It seems that the cost of membership must be worth it, otherwise I would have expected Britain to have quit a long time ago, were it not so. The people who take the position to stay in are mainly the elite ruling class.

The other position is social and personal. Britain continuously finds Brussels interfering in it's affairs. Unelected officials constantly stand in the way of the British way of life causing outrage throughout the country. What we see is a clash of cultures and complete, and some say, deliberate  misunderstanding of how the British prefer to do things. This comes at the same time as Britain has to absorb immigrants from the former colonies which is placing enough strain on the English man and woman in the street. Voters in this group find the whole question highly emotive and may not be thinking all that clearly if they are being guided by their emotions.

One of the very big questions is should Britain decide to elect the Out option, what will happen to those people from the Continent who are in Britain at the moment, and, of course what will happen to the millions of Brits who are on the Continent. For those countries that host British pensioners who receive money from Britain, I imagine they will not be so keen to see them return to Britain, nor will they want to see their own nationals sent back.

One prediction that will most likely come true is that voting will see a very high turn out.

On June 26th, voting will take place again in Spain to try and form a government. We tried that last November and it ended with a hung system. The old system of interchange of the two dominant parties was broken because of corruption within the system that seems to have been ever present. That led to a disastrous situation for the country, and gave rise to the young warriors who want the old guard gone. The court system is clogged with so many political cases of corruption it is easy to see what they mean.

The country has been without an active government since it first tried to put in place a governing party, and in spite of several attempts to form a  coalition that has not been possible. So, if at first we didn't succeed, we need to try again; and if not then, we will try yet again.

The third important vote will take place in my own country of Bermuda on June 23rd, where the referendum will decide whether to respect the right of gay people to happiness by being married to one another, either in church ceremonies or in civil unions. This is just as important as the other two decisions to be made as we live in a modern world  of live, and let live.

There are some countries where gay people are killed. That says nothing about the gay person but a whole lot about the killers, nothing of which is good.  Bermuda is, in so many ways a country to be envied. The literacy rate is near 100% and a great number of people live very well. A lot of people argue the case against gays and lesbians by citing the bible, but if God is responsible for creating mankind, if some of mankind have a sexual orientation toward one another, then that's the way God made them. Enough said!

The reason I'm thinking about these three significant voter exercises is that for one reason or another I either cannot, or am not allowed to vote in any of the exercises, but at least in two of the three the outcome will have a direct impact on my life.

That's sort of like having taxation without representation.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

What all immigrants really think.

I overheard a British man at the next table telling his friends that he had left Britain and come to Spain because he could no longer  abide the fact that the country was becoming overrun by Muslim immigrants. They had come into the country in droves, and they insisted on carrying on their way of life, instead of  integrating into the English way.

He felt that it was just too much that they insisted on speaking in Arabic; they did not socially mix with  English society, and that in fact they were a nation within a nation.

I thought, if only you could hear what the Spanish are saying about the British impact in Spain.

The man did have a point. He was describing how the world has always worked to cross pollinate cultures around the world. Stronger nations deliberately invaded other weaker nations and colonised and exploited them. The weaker nations even benefited by learning of new ways to do things. Britain was the country who boasted that they had invaded so many countries that the sun never set on their empire, and India was the jewel in the crown.

It didn't seem to occur to Britain that in invading a country that belonged to other people was wrong in principle. The only thing that made it right was might. The problem with that was once having taken over someone's country the population became awakened and aware of the existence of what was referred to as the Mother Land. It was only natural that in the fullness of time people would want to visit the invader's home.

Just as British invaders spoke their own language and practised their own customs and religion,  so it is with even mere tourists. Very few people deliberately make the effort to change their own customs to adopt those of the host country. A person's way of life is what they know and is who they are. Also, we tend to think that our way is best, so why change.

British Muslims appear to find life in England more to their liking as they are able to practise their religion freely, which is not always the case in their homelands. However, they don't want to be Englishmen and Englishwomen. Some have arrived in England due to escape from persecution, and having had their lives interrupted they now simply want to continue on as before.

I am one of the few people I know who consciously make the effort to integrate totally into the culture of Spain. That is because I freely made to decision to move here because I fell in love with Spain and her people. I think the Spanish way of life is wonderful and I have chosen to adopt it for myself. It also helps that a Spanish explorer first discovered Bermuda, which is where the name comes from: Juan de Bermudez. The Spanish crown decided it did not have an interest in maintaining its claim to the island, and so it left Bermuda to be re-discovered by someone else. That person was Sir George Somers who claimed it for the British Throne.

I always wondered what life would have been like for me had Spain retained its right to the territory. I'm here finding out, and I'm not disappointed.

Meanwhile, life goes on in the United Kingdom as a rainbow of immigrants continue to come and go, and the country becomes more diversified as a result. Old-time Brits may indeed take umbrage with the changes, but it is the way of the world.

Nothing stands absolutely still. We are moving ahead or falling behind but change is relentless!

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Eurovision Time Again

More and more people are turning off to Eurovision for one reason or another, but I also suspect that the programme is drawing far more people than it repulses. It started as a contest between the nations of Europe but now, Russia, Australia and The Ukraine have become involved. In my house I was keen to watch and my wife was not. Just as well we have two televisions and they are not within sound of one another.

The contest is between twenty-six contestants, so we sit through 26 songs. It becomes immediately clear that most singers have lost the plot because they present  songs that are nice, and album ready, but in order to be in  the running your song has to be different than something average and has to incorporate a few highly essential elements: It has to have visual appeal other than what the technicians produce. The favorite to win last night was Russia because the stagecraft and special effects were absolutely superb. I have never seen anything like it, and if there were a special category for that it would have won. However, the song itself, sung without the special effects was ordinary.

A good example was the year that the man who presented himself as a woman, complete with beard was an image that drew our attention and never let go.

The song must be intelligent, passionate, and have a clear message.The rest is completely up to the singer in the presentation of the song. A singer who has been trained for the opera and who has power to reach the high notes in crystal clear fashion is bound to impress. That was the case with the afore-mentioned man, which is why he won that year.

I sat through the songs, and to be honest I enjoyed each one, but then I turned off as I chose not to sit through the tedious voting. They say that Eurovision is not political, but it is with countries giving their biggest vote to their neighbours, and nobody voting for Britain.

As I turned away from the programme my projections and opinions were as follows: Russia would probably win, but it shouldn't for the reasons given above.

My home country of Spain produced a lively and world-class entry that had the audience bouncing in the aisles, and I was proud of  the presentation, however, it was unlikely we would win.

The very last song was that from Armenia and it was the most original. It certainly took my attention and I would like to hear it again. Kudos to the singer and her team. It should have been the one to beat and therefore should have rated high on points.

The one song that totally moved me was the song from The Ukraine. The staging was superb but the song itself embodied the heart of a hurt nation that had been invaded by Russia which has inflicted serious pain on its people, simply because they wanted to turn away from their brutal neighbour and to move closer to the West. I knew the history, as we all do, and I heard the cry of an oppressed people, loud and clear.

I declared that was the song that would have my vote to win because it had it all.

And the winner was: Ukraine ! Bravo!

The Eurovision song contest! Long may it continue!

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

On writing a book

I have chosen this topic because I have written a book which is now going through the publishing phase.  It is my first book and I hope to hold a big launch for it soon. I have learnt many things about such an undertaking, and the most important lesson learnt is: the easiest thing to do is to write the book. Now comes the hard part.

Firstly, I wouldn't like to guess the number of titles in English that exist. A person, such as myself has a book in my head and I decide to sit down and put my thoughts in written form. When that is completed I sit back and am well pleased with myself that the project is done. This will be a subjective work that usually involves immense research and effort, so it's not difficult to see that the author will be proud of himself. However, will anyone at all have any interest in what has been produced? Will anybody actually pay a farthing to buy your tome?

This is where things start to really get complicated!

Our first thoughts are to submit our precious manuscript to literary agents who, we hope will see the merit in what we have writ, and of course they will want to represent our submission as the next great work of written art.

JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, submitted her first manuscript to twelve agencies. Harry Potter is a children's fictional story and most agencies used to say that they had no interest in either fiction or children's stories, or both. On her thirteenth try the agent had a young daughter to whom he passed the manuscript. The child wouldn't put it down.

The rest of that story is that JK Rowling has sold more than 400 million of the books. To put that into perspective she has sold one to absolutely everybody in The United States of America and Canada, combined. The world's most successful writer was sent away by twelve of the very same people who are supposed to be on the lookout for just such a talent. I hope those people are doing something else for a living now.

Not only did she get children all around the word to actually read, each book has been turned into a movie, and now the Harry Potter concept has been made into a Theme Park.

To be a literary agent must be the most difficult form of work there is. Firstly most agencies receive so many submissions that they aren't even able to send out rejection letters. It takes them ages to even get to what you have sent, and they get annoyed to know that you have sent out several submissions to every agent there is. "We don't like to think we are part of a beauty parade," they say.

I received one rejection letter that I appreciated from an agent who said that she was sorry but that they had elected not to represent me as they have to absolutely love the books they choose. It is a highly subjective business to be in, and I understand that, but there will be some books that no-one will actually love, but because of their message they will be commercial successes.

My book will fall into that category. I have been forced into self-publishing, which means I get to keep the agent's 20%, so wish me luck and watch this space. I hope and expect to hold a Launch Announcement in the very near future.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Sins of the Sons

It's usually the poor children who have to live under the shadow of the misdeeds of the parents. A child grows up with his father in jail for having done this or that. The other school children learn of this and the child becomes the focus of bullying. There have been many fathers who have been executed for murdering others, and you wonder how that affects the life of a child.

I once knew a young man who was simply the nephew of a notorious killer. He once told me that he was thinking of changing his last name, although he never actually did it because it was kind of common. Still, he felt that people always wondered whether he was related.

Times have changed and the world has been shocked by some over the top horrible events committed by young people. Now, the shoe is on the other foot. Traditionally, parents stand by their children and hope to be made proud by their achievements. Instead, in far too many cases the child goes off and does something that is so horrible as to defy logic.

I'm thinking of the child who took his mother's guns and went to school and shot and killed a number of fellow students who were very young, and their teachers. We never hear how the parent copes with that. Then there was that absolute cretin who was a co-pilot of a passenger plane who decided that he would end his life, and deliberately took everyone on board with him. His parents were perfectly ordinary people, but he leaves them to cope with that. How!

Another young man walked into a black church and joined in bible study and prayer with the group  before opening fire and killing everybody. Why? His parents are left to explain the actions of their son. The strange thing about that was that the relatives of those killed declared that they forgave the killer. I know they meant well but that seemed to me to make a bad situation worse.

There are far too many cases of young people from good families who leave home to make their way to Syria to fight with ISIL. They engage in killings in the most barbaric manner while back home parents and relatives no longer can bring themselves to watch the news for fear of what they may see.

Two young men in the heart of London, in broad daylight while the public looked on, attacked and savagely killed a man who was a band member of a military brigade, simply because they wanted to make some insane comment. They have parents. Do those parents agree with their actions or are they hiding their faces in shame. They should be!

If you are parents and your children are making you proud, count your blessings. There are some parents who are unable to do that because of the actions of their offspring.

I include in that statement the many parents, and brothers and sisters who have been killed by one of their own. What the hell has this world descended into?


Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Toastmasters

I have attended a Divisional Contest between most of the Toastmaster's clubs in Spain. Firstly I should say that Toastmaster clubs are groups of people who are dedicated to developing and refining our communication skills, between each other and in front of a larger audience. To do this we practise delivering speeches for the public.

The people who participated in the contest had worked their way to the top. Presentations were contested in Spanish, which I got the gist of but I can't say that I completely understood what was said. That can be generally said about my experience of living in Spain. I get the point through the gist of what is being said.

The most helpful thing that we do is to listen carefully to a person's speech, and then we point out the things we think that person did well, and then we focus on how we think, in our own opinion the speech could be made even better. That we call doing an evaluation. When a speech is really good it is extremely difficult to accomplish this.

A speech was given in Spanish and four people evaluated that, and one was given in English and four people evaluated it.

Then speeches were given by individuals on any topic the person wished. Seven contestants competed in both languages, so a lot of talking throughout the day. I took a keen interest in the English contests, of course, and I was very relieved not to be a judge because the speeches were so good.

One woman spoke about making a difference through small actions, and one of those actions taken by her saved a man's life.

Another woman spoke about celebrating our differences of personality and the importance of reaffirming the worth to yourself of the person you have chosen to spend your life with. It's just too easy to complain about the things that our partners do that irritate us.

A young woman focused on the achievements of her friends and weighed those things against the fact that her own claim to fame was that she had collected all 150 Pokémon characters. What should she do now?  She developed this question brilliantly with the theme song from Cabaret.

A young man, speaking in a similar genre posed the question: "What is your song?" He articulated his own development and led us to a place where we finally understood what his song was, but never actually sang a note.

The most touching story of the day was told by a young man originally from Brazil who began with the words, "when I opened my eyes the muzzle of the burglar's gun was touching my forehead." He then told how his dog saved his life, and he went on to share with us the story of his life experience with his dog. Eventually he had to put the dog to sleep and now he is trying to cope with super grief.

There were no dry eyes in the room.

I know it's difficult to appreciate my summary if you weren't there, but I'm so pumped up I just can't think of anything else I would rather write about at the moment.

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Those Panama Papers

There are any number of perfectly good and legitimate reasons for doing business with law firms in Panama, so to even suggest that everybody with an account with such law firms are up to no good is just simply wrong. For the media to have released the names of clients of a private firm is totally irresponsible, in my view, and I imagine that there will follow some lawsuits as a result. And so there should be so!

However, just to say that a list of clients of one company encompasses politicians, government leaders, wealthy businessmen, oil sheiks, and so on from around the world suggests that these are the one percenters with a lot of something that might be worth holding in Panama away from the prying eyes of spouses and the tax man, among others.

I have been studying Panama as a place to live as a retired person. I was expecting two particular problems: the fact that there is not a national health program, and I was told that I will have to come with impeccable references in order to open a bank account. Once living there I would not be taxed by Panama on my foreign earned income, which is a real draw for me. That and the fact that it is always warm.

In fact, Panama is especially inviting to foreigners from America and Canada to retire to the country. We are made very welcome and the pace and style of life sounds ideal. Nowhere in the information about Panama is it suggested that the legal community there can remedy the problems of the rich and famous.

The thing I think most people suspect is that account holders are primarily concerned about is the evasion of taxes. Why do people seek to evade paying their lawful taxes to the government? One reason is greed. They earn money from this or that venture, including those people who actually steal money and they secret it away by either using outright evasive tactics such as arriving at the bank with a couple of suitcases, or by paying clever lawyers and accountants to find ways and means to evade the payment of taxes. T
he other principal reason is to hide assets from a spouse so that when the divorce takes place she, it's usually the she, will not be able to get her hands on half of it. You would have to hide it from both the taxman and the wife.

The irony of it all is that when you die, and you will die sooner or later, if you have hidden your assets well they will remain hidden until someone figures out a way to simply walk off with the bundle for their own benefit. Also, accountants and lawyers don't come cheaply so it was probably just as well to have paid the taxes in the first place and to have had peace of mind, except there's always the wife, but you could have avoided that by simply not having married in the first place.

Another reason that people hate paying taxes to governments is because they see corruption, incompetence, wastage of tax payers money, and in some cases, just plain theft by politicians. However, when lawful taxes aren't paid the government is denied the funds that are necessary to solve the many and ongoing social problems of the community. When those funds are made available to the government and they are wasted or stolen, both the government and the person who didn't pay his taxes have committed offenses against society.

Had I moved my application for residence in Panama further ahead it's quite possible that I might have become a client of that particular law firm and the world might now be looking at me askance as though I was trying to hide something.

How would that have made me feel?

Copyright (c) 2016
Eugene Carmichael

Some people do the strangest things

A husband and wife set off on a luxury cruise that didn't go well for them. They argued and fought every day, especially on the last day ashore before the ship was due to return. The wife declared, "if that's how you feel leave me alone!" With that she walked off on her own leaving her husband with no idea where she was.

He returned to the ship and assumed that she had come on board and was somewhere within the ship sulking on her own. She wasn't. She was sitting on the beach thinking what a terrible man he was and feeling sorry for herself. As she sat there she noticed a huge cruise ship leaving the island and realised, to her horror that it was the ship she was supposed to be on. What she did next comes under the heading: "Some people do the strangest things!"

There was no-one else on the beach, they were all on the ship. So, she started shouting wait for me, and waving her arms, which people on the ship took to be very friendly gestures, so they waved back. The ship continued on and eventually sailed out of her sight. By this time she was desperate. She was yelling to her "awful" husband to come back. Don't leave me! Then, she jumped into the water while holding on to her handbag.

She swan after the ship and was in the water for four hours as the sun was going down. Two fishermen, returning from a fruitless day at sea happened to be travelling directly for where she was and almost ran her over. She was exhausted by then, but in one last desperate effort to be heard yelled at the top of her lungs, Help! The captain had to throw the engine in reverse as there was not space and time to avoid running over her.

WTF!

"Lady, what are you doing out here? Did you fall off the cruise ship? You say you were swimming to try and catch it. Ah, I see."

Among that fishing fraternity this counts as the very strangest catch in history. In the annals of that island community there is nothing that tops that story when it comes to strange behaviour.

The only thing that saved her life was her handbag that acted as an improvised life preserver as it filled with air to keep her afloat.

Presumably husband and wife were reunited at some point, although for how long is anybody's guess.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael

Well, How about That?

There's no real significance to this story. It's simply one of those "How About That" stories.

The social history of Bermuda is in many ways just as awful as that of The United States of America, our giant neighbour to the West. Their treatment of black people has been as shameful as our own. It seems that our white tribe felt that they should show solidarity with American practises. Therefore, black people were considered as part of the barnyard group. Our country practised apartheid as much as South Africa did. Foreigners would come to my country and be told that here blacks know their place.

As a young black man growing up under this nasty umbrella of white privilege, discrimination and prejudice I was definitely not amused. I was very limited in what I could do and say. I could work in hotels and fine restaurants, but I was not allowed to take my own leisure in those places. In particular, there were two golf clubs which were for whites only. I could work there in some support position, such as a caddie. This I did and I earned good money. By taking careful note of the clubs that golfers used for each hole I grew to be able to advise my clients, and I got a good feel for my own game, except that I couldn't play on that course.

The problem with apartheid in a small living space was that the two racial groups would be brought into confrontation on a daily basis in all sorts of situations. Young black men took on a growing resentment against white supremacy, and once we started to fight, even only  with words, we had to fight every day. As a white person who insisted that you were superior you were a superior fool for trusting what you put in your mouth.

The RBG&CC was the principal golf course that I caddied at. It enjoyed  a long waiting list for new members and they charged extortionate fees to be one of the select. They were not embarrassed to lord it over us lowly blacks, especially when they held their gala dinners and other grand events with blacks in attendance as servants. That just served to fire us up and to drive us on to the day of revolt.

Well, that day came and was handled peacefully enough. We were fed up and we were simply not going to take it anymore.

On the surface, everything changed. Apartheid died and all of society was opened up leading me to be able to finally play the RBG&CC course.  I played that course about a dozen times until one day I came to the conclusion that golf is a stupid game where you hit a little ball and then go find it, and you hit it again.

Between then and now the old membership have died off, foreign workers left the island in droves due to the economic crisis and consequently were no longer club members, and young people just don't want to know. That beautiful property that once stood as a bastion of privilege has now gone into bankruptcy. We have come full circle.

It would make a fabulous site for a first class hotel. This is a good bet for a hotel chain, as the golf course is renown and up and functioning.  The property itself is a gold mine. I have no doubt that it will continue, but I do have mixed feelings for the place as it was the venue that served for so much of my pain.

I just have to remember that as a property it has no responsibility for what I was put through.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael

Petra and Alexis

Although I have given them fictitious names Petra and Alexis are mother and daughter and this is a true story.

Petra was born in a North American mid-sized town and, according to her she had a perfectly normal upbringing, except for one small thing: she grew into a super beauty and that had people saying yes even though she did not ask the questions. The most eligible bachelor asked her to marry him, and she said, "yes, of course I'll be your trophy wife." They lived in a perfect house on a perfect housing estate, and they gave birth to their perfect daughter, Alexis, who grew up to be even more lovely than her mom.  Petra was on all the right committees and they all lived perfect lives.

Her husband went on to become the most important banker to the medium sized town, and they had a housekeeper, a nanny for Alexis, and a gardener. All was just super until the day husband came home from work to find a note from Petra which stated that he should not wait up for her as she had gone to

search for a real life.

She ended up on the island of Bermuda, and with secretarial skills she had learned to help her with her committee work she took a job working for, ironically, a bank. Every man dreamed of taking her home and every woman was jealous of her exquisite beauty. She caught the eye on one man in particular who decided that he just had to have her. He was a married man living at home, but that was a minor detail. Petra, who could have had any man of her choice allowed herself to be this man's "bit on the side." Worse than that, he was an abuser who would beat her because she had no right to be so beautiful.

I was introduced to her by a friend who had tried unsuccessfully to turn her away from her abuser. I was just as awed as everybody else, but I was also very patient, plus I genuinely liked her. "Turn your back on that horrible man and give me your sweet loving," I would urge her.

Meanwhile, her daughter had come to Bermuda to be near her mom. She was given a job at a bar/restaurant by the owner who wanted her for himself. She opened herself to him and they lived and worked together.

After several years of my persuasion, one night while embracing her, Petra whispered in my ear that tonight's the night. She said that she was ready for me and that I should take her and do whatsoever I wished to do. I had a heart attack, but I didn't let that stop me. We became lovers and I was so very happy right until the day she returned to North America, and I later lost touch with her.

I was at work when the phone rang. It was Alexis saying that her mother had suggested she call me. Alexis had fallen out with her lover/boss, owing $3000. She had nowhere to stay, could I possibly help her as she had no-one else to turn to. I lived alone and did not have a fixed relation at the time, so sure, I could help.

That evening I took her home and showed her the house. There was only one bed in the whole house because when I brought a woman home it was so that we could sleep together. I was not going to sleep on the couch and neither was she. Did she have a problem with that? She whispered, unhappily, that she did not. I said, "you have come to me in desperation for me to take care of you, and you need to pay off the $3000. I could lend her the money, but did she expect that I would fully take advantage of the situation?" Again, unhappily she said she guessed that would have to be the price she would have to pay.

"Well, I'm not going to abuse you and take you against your will. We will live here for as long as you need to, and I will leave your dignity intact. If I were to do anything else your mother would have my guts for garters!"

She stayed for three months until she found a job at a hotel that had staff dormitories. On the morning of the day she left, over breakfast she said that I had promised not to interfere with her and that I had kept my promise. She said that she knew she aroused me because several nights she was awakened by my erection poking her in the back. She said that on a couple of nights she had the feeling that she should have made the first move, (Oh man!) but she didn't because there must have been something serious that made me honour my promise.

I said that if I had taken her at a time when she really didn't have free choice it would have amounted to rape in my mind, and no-one would ever have cause to accuse me of such a thing. However, had she taken the first move that would have been just fine. Although we thought about it we didn't finish breakfast with a quickie.

She repaid me the $3,000, part of which she had to send me from abroad as she left the island at the end of the Summer season. 

From time to time I reflect on my life and the things I have done that make me proud, and the things I am not so proud of. This was one of the things of which I am super proud. For three months I slept with the most beautiful woman on the planet, who I could have taken at will, and who I came to really like. I never touched her sexually because of my principles.

Sometimes principles can be a real pain in the ass!

(c) Copyright 2016

Eugene Carmichael 

Other People's Lives

The conventional wisdom is that we should all mind our own business and leave the details of other people's lives to them.  This is very good advice but it is seldom followed. This is probably because we live in such a small world, one that is getting smaller by the day with the discovery of even more communicating technologies.

It starts when we are born with our arrival being of intense interest to our parents and our brothers and sisters. Our family of aunts and uncles and cousins all take an interest in our development through the early period of our lives, and when we grow up to the point where we choose a friend who may become our husband or wife the buzz picks up speed. The circle is completed when we bring our own offspring into the world, and it begins anew.

Every time our son or daughter reaches a new milestone it is shared with the family at large. When they do good the family celebrates and takes pride. When they do something criminal and go to prison we all hang our heads in shame.

Acclaimed success in business or politics can be a real occasion for uplifting the whole family. For instance when a family member becomes part of the ruling party's cabinet, or especially when that member becomes the chief  executive officer of a major company or bank, or the leader of a political party, or even the country. All of the family and their friends take great interest in everything that is happening as they believe that it is all a part of their business.

As a child grows his or her choice of career is noted and commented upon. Advice, that was not asked for is given and even persuasion may be used to try and steer the child in a different direction. Given that the child's life is his own this is clearly an invasion of his space, but the Relations seem to think its all a part of their business.

The most controversial aspect of all is when our now grown up child brings home the friend who is most special of all. Regardless of who that person is they are unlikely to pass muster from all the family. They are the one who is the outsider, and who expects to be good enough for our family member. We have all been through it, and we never forget. Whichever way it goes we can't win. If the relationship goes all the way, those against just wait for a misstep. Those in favour take joy in the happiness of the couple, but if they do stumble and fall everybody's heart will be broken, except for those who said, I told you so.

The worst case scenario is perhaps when father and mother come to an impasse in their relationship and they have to go their separate ways. The fallout from that is so huge it's like a nuclear blast, starting with the children and it spreads like the waves of a tsunami. Yes, it is the business of the couple in question but the people and institutions and societies that are impacted is just amazing.

They may be other people's lives indeed, but somehow all of our lives are intertwined and that brings us joy or consternation, as the case may be. Mind your own business indeed, but that is much easier to say than to know what is our own business or not.

(c) Copyright 2016

Eugene Carmichael  

To be older and wiser

"Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it." (George Orwell).

"Women are wiser than men because they know less but understand more." (James Thurber)

The belief that wisdom only comes with age has stood the test of time, and generally has been taken to mean that older people always know more than young one people. I think the time has come to revisit this generalization. The world has changed and turned upside down in so many ways that nothing lasts forever anymore.

I read somewhere that a broad definition of wisdom is that it consists of cognition, reflection and compassion that allows us to maintain a sense of positive well being and kindness in the face of challenges. This can come through the process of growing old and experience. If we accept that we learn something new everyday, it follows that our wealth of knowledge is increased.

However, with the advent of living with computers, which were devised and created by people who were then young, even younger people have made the digital age their own which leaves us more mature adults struggling to keep up with developments.

I hate to put myself forward as a prime example, but there was a time in my life when I lived on the cutting edge. However, I might as well have gone to sleep for a hundred years because I woke up one day to find that everything had changed. I was living on a small island when it was suggested that I look into becoming involved in computer programming. Why? We didn't use computers in the country where I lived. 

Can you imagine that?

Then came mobile phones. Did I want a mobile phone so that I could always be contactable? Hell no!

Now I have two phones and I almost never leave home without them. But, neither one is yet a smartphone because I really don't need the amazing power that they represent. That is the case as it stands today. Tomorrow that will change and I will become an addict.

Older people are wiser, but not necessarily wiser than any other person than they, themselves  were, as individuals the day before. It can not be generally said that old people are wiser than young people. In fact, the world is changing so much and so fast that in many ways we are going the other way in the application of our wisdom. That is why senior citizens are such soft targets for conmen. The stories of older and very wise men who marry very young women who could be their grandchildren are legend. Where's the wisdom in that?

I encourage my fellow seniors to keep an open mind and to continue to learn something new. Be curious and let yourselves grow with a fast moving world, and if it makes sense try something new from time to time. That's the definition of living. If you stand absolutely still and close off your mind, only one thing happens next.

It's called: The End.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael

We are now in the Season of Fallas

Valencia, Spain has now entered into a three week period of fiestas leading up to the planting of temporary monuments in the streets of downtown Valencia and throughout the villages dotted around and about. Expert craftsmen and women have been busy since the day after Fallas ended last year in making ready for this year's event. Similarly, they will begin anew on the 20th of this March thinking about their presentations for next year.

This is the largest event of the year on the Valencia calendar which changes the total mood of the area. The event around which everything else revolves is the daily mascleta, a daylight sound show of very noisy fireworks that provide about five to seven minutes of sheer violent noise. Because we like to live life on the very edge it's wonderful to feel the concussion against our chests, but the spoilsports they are, authorities are saying, come on guys, we have to be sensible about this. They have moved the crowds back to a  safe distance where we can observe the beautiful starbursts, but we can no longer feel them up close and terrible.

This is one tradition to have continued over the years when the economy was at its best, as well as through some rather dark days, both politically and in the economy. However grand it may be, for many true Valencia city dwellers, when it comes time for the celebrations of Fallas that is a good time to leave home.

It's that time of the year when sleep will be at a premium, so party on young ones, us slightly older ones are outta here. The city is all yours.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael

A change to take our breath away!

The United States of America is currently dealing with a real crisis of currency in that in spite of the printing presses running 24/7 they are not able to print enough dollar bills to cover their needs, and they never will.

It therefore appears that serious consideration is being given to scrapping the system of using cash altogether. In other words the United States would become the first country in the world to be cash-less.

Whether this prospect is true or not I simply wanted to think about whether it would be possible or practicable; and what would change for the better or the worse. I am not saying that it will happen, I leave that to others who make a study of such things. It has been suggested that something serious might cause a major disruption on March 15th of this year, but we will just have to wait and see.

Apparently the majority of economic transactions that take place are done so digitally. Perhaps as much as 93 to 95%. Over the past week I have closely monitored my spending and I have only had to spend a maximum of ten euros in cash on one day for the lottery because I am not allowd to use cards to gamble. Otherwise, I routinely spend only between 20 cents for parking to less than ten euros in shops that operate cash only businesses. In my case, I'm 99% there.

In a cash-less society I think the first thing that will go is corruption. Guilty politicians will no longer be able to look forward to little brown envelopes. Any efforts at bribery by other means can be tracked because someone will have to make a purchase or a sale.

The black market business of dealing in drugs is cash driven. How would drug addicts get their fix if they cannot use cash? Would that drive drug cartels out of business, and would the gangs that are so brutal and murderous have any other reasons to stay together?

The people trafficking business that is so callous about human life would hopefully cease to exist. Those people are monsters and do not deserve to carry on their activities, but they are a cancer on society. Very concerned people would like to see the end of what they do, often sending people off to their certain death because they have been paid, but they are like cockroaches, they are seemingly endless in their numbers.

The end of that group would also have a positive impact on the business of prostitution, but the actual trade of sex for money could continue as even today services can be paid for by card. If a woman chooses of her own free will to sell her body and pocket the reward, I don't have a problem with that. However, when others attach themselves to her against her will than I do have concerns.

In order for a cash-less society to work, absolutely everyone in the world would need a card and a bank account with a positive balance and an income. There is that end of society that live on handouts from passersby, so if I don't have some change in my pocket to give, the person who has been able to rely on me will be in hard luck.

There are many businesses that are traditionally cash based because they are small enterprises, and high volume. I suppose that some accommodation would have to be made to keep their businesses functioning as they are necessary to our way of life.

The positive changes, other than cleaning up our society would be to the financial system whereby all transactions would happen by the stroke of a computer keynote. In the world of very high finance that would spell relief.

For the rest of us, I'm not so sure yet.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael 

There are none so blind.......

...as those you just don't want to see.  I'm talking about Global Warming, and the fact is that we are in the midst of February and we have had lunch on the terrace where we found it to be too hot. This is the middle of winter, yet we have been having days like this for over three months. Yes, we are very much enjoying the days, that do turn cold at night to remind us what season this is, but how can anyone deny that the planet is warming.

It has been called an Inconvenient Truth, which for some no doubt it is, but the truth is the truth. When I encounter someone who chooses to believe that global warming is not happening I simply cease to be a part of the conversation. Why should I stand there and allow myself to be annoyed by some simpleton. That person may not be the problem, but if he or she is someone who needs to be doing something in response to the warming of the planet to reduce man's input to the problem, and they don't even accept that it is happening, then we are really in trouble.

What could be some of the reasons why someone who is supposed to be intelligent would deny the fact that it is happening? If you have an interest in the coal industry you are being blinded by your financial interest. In your heart of hearts you may quietly realise what is going on, but you are reluctant to take any loss at all by reducing our reliance on coal. There are some very big names in this group who continue to simply close their eyes to what they are helping to happen.

I think that anyone else must be acting out of sheer bloody mindedness that they would rather not face up to the truth of the situation. However, Mother Nature is trying to open our eyes through examples that are crystal clear. Hot winters and even hotter summers should convince us that we are in the warming cycle. Weather has its cycles just as economics has its own.

As if we needed more convincing come the Summer we will probably have to contend with a plague of mosquitoes and flies and cocroches whose numbers were not diminished by the severity of cold weather that was needed, and if last summer was anything to go by we may find this summer to bring  killer heat.

So, inconvenient it may be, but the truth of the matter is that warming of the planet is with us, and it is growing worse by the season.

At some point we will all either take our heads out of the sand and accept the truth, or we will have to bury our whole bodies in the sand just to escape the heat.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael 

Happy St. Valentine's Day!

A man once said that we men make a great mistake when we tell a woman that we love her because she will find an inexhaustible number of ways to make us prove it every day for the rest of our lives.

Having said that ladies, when you tell us that you love us, Heaven knows you must come to regret it in so many ways because we can be a real test of your resolve.

Love is the great leveller of men and women. We meet someone, or even just see that person passing in the street and something happens to us over which we have no control. We fall hard, head over heels in love, or in the case of women, perhaps heels over head in love, and we have no idea why. They say that opposites attract, which means that we will spend the rest of our lives in mortal combat with one another. In a word, falling in love means falling in a lot of trouble. It's a honey trap to both men and women, and trying to avoid it is like trying to avoid breathing. You can achieve the objective, but then you die.

Well, those are all the bad things I can think of to say about falling in love, but once we are in love the joy and the feeling of being alive is without parrallel. When two people are purring along in perfect sync all is definiately right with the entire world. There is no other feeling that can compare. We soar like eagles and we are truly kings and queens of the world. Stand well clear of our coming crash zone, as crash we will, but for the time we are sailing up in the clouds we are the happiest we will ever be.

As men and women we are put here on earth to do our part in the furtherence of the species, so all this feel good experience is simply the setting for us to procreate, so we should get on with it and at least replace ourselves with children, and ideally to give the world at least two spares.

As different as we think we are compared with others around the world, we are, in fact exactly the same. We gain our fundamental education, a job, and someone to love with whom we create a family. The rest is all politics.

Once a year we set aside a day to celebrate love. Why not? We celebrate all manner of other things not nearly as important as love, so a day to declare our love for at least one other person is appropriate, in my opinion.

If you love someone and you need that person you're a very lucky individual. Take the time to smell the flowers and to savour the feeling of being loved and appreciated.

Happy St. Valentine's Day to you, and to me.

Copyright 2016

Eugene Carmichael

The declining institution of Marriage

When I was born people in my geographical zone were given very little time to live by actuaries. Because of our lifestyle and our access to health care, and the quality of health care, I was expected to live to a maximum age of forty-seven. That placed a lot of pressure on me to get my primary and secondary education done, and to get a job, find a woman, get her pregnant and have our children before we dropped dead. Consequently I married at age seventeen.

Fast forward to today when it is forecast that today's babies will have a maximum life expectancy to age 85. Today's babies have all the time in the world to get the same things done, so when I noticed that people were getting married at much later stages in life I naturally presumed that was the reason.

In many cases I suppose that is the reason, among others like economics, but it appears there is another much darker reason. In the Western world, particularly in America, home of the super independent woman, men are pushing back against a trend that has seen ruined lives almost guareented from the time he marries the love of his life.

Women naturally want equality with men and they want their own economic independence. You may say there's nothing basically wrong with that, except if they don't need a men to depend on, do they need a man at all? There has been a trend and a trap against men where he marries, participates in bringing children into the family, and then finds himself forced out of the house and into a life of financial servitude to a family from whom he is barred.

Because we men are our own worst enemy we will make it easy for a wife for whom this is the ideal situation. We are bound to do something stupid where we run head first into the wall of intolerance. To make matters worse, the first thing we do when forced out of the family is to look for another woman.

Men are on strike! They are refusing to make The Proposal because they simply realise that they will most likely be shooting themselves in the foot. The woman can still have her children, but she will have to fend for herself in finding a home. He will give her child support, which will leave him money to live on, but he is very reluctant to tie himself up legally because there hasn't been any such thing as happily ever after for a long time.

The pendulum has swung too far to the other side. In most things the ideal is in the middle, so one can only hope that there will be movement back from the abyss. However, these things take time and they don't well advertise themselves. It has taken my whole lifetime to move away from the traditional to what we have now, but it need not take another lifetime to move the needle to the centre.

In the name of happiness and hope, sooner would be better than later.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael 

The Coming of the Drones

We live in a time of very rapid change that makes it impossible for the laws of the land to keep pace. It is also a time when new innovations arrive without the implications being fully anticipated. This is not a call for a slow down in new technology. If it were it would not matter one bit because the forecast is that the pace of new technology is about to rapidly increase. It looks as though it will be a future of build it and then catch-up.

Such is the case concerning the development of commercial drones. They are here, and now uses for them are being sought. One obvious use is that of ariel photography. This replaces the old camera on a balloon and is much more practical as the camera can be moved about as you wish. This would be particulary useful in survey work, and could be used to observe large crowds, whether in peaceful assembly or in uprisings.

On the dark side, drones can be used to deliberately, or accidentally invade people's privacy. Think of the owners of a large estate that is surrounded by walls that lock out curiousity seekers from observing what takes place inside the walls. In most cases probably  nothing out of the ordinary takes place, but the point is made by the installation of the wall that the owner requires his privacy. 

Sending a drone overhead, especially at the low altitudes they fly would be very intimidating. It would not be known if the drone carried a camera or not, so, I think if I were one of the lucky people to have a large estate, this would be a major issue for me.

I suppose the first thing to come to mind is matters dealing with nudity and sex. Some owners probably have liberal attitudes with nudity and sun worship and probably engage in fun outdoors, including sexual intercourse in the sun, that they would rather not be  interrupted by commercial drones. That still leaves police and news helicopters that fly overhead, but usually at much greater heights. Still, cameras with long zooms are very invasive, and are a direct threat.

It would seem to me a much greater concern would be the security threat that one of these drones with camera could represent. In the hands of the wrong people it could gather details of the layout of the property so that a plan to breakin could be developed from the air. Even if the drone were not flown directly over the property, data could still be collected using side-view cameras.

My hope is that there will be such positive uses for the commercial drone as to override loss of privacy concerns. A simple tent could regain the specific privacy you might want. If the drone can serve in life saving situations, or to simply deliver food packages to people who would otherwise find it extremely difficult to go to the shop, then the cost of a tent would be well worth it.

This is a case of our having to stay tuned while the development plays itself out to the nth degree.

These are indeed interesting times!

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael  

Every country should retain flogging as part of the penal Code

As I wrote that headline I felt myself shake in horror. It seems to be an antiquated form of punishment in these modern times, as though it was something best left to past centuries. It suggests that the people who would carry out such punishment are, themselves barbarians. But are they?

If we were to take a journey back in time, as far as one might like to go, we would find both the  authorities who subjected the convicted to horrible treatment, which we would unhesitatingly call torture, and the convicted who did such stupid things that you almost want to say that they had it coming. Unfortunately, flogging was one of those things that, as we became more enlightened we felt was beneath us.

However, mankind has failed to respond accordingly, so we are faced in these modern times with people who do such awful things all over the world that the justice system really doesn't know how to appropriately respond.

I am presently reviewing the Nazi concentration camp culture because I made the mistake of visiting Dachau concentration camp in Munich. The punishment that was meted out to the few who were actually brought before justice could be considered very mild in the face of what the convicted had done. That is because we face the question of how to properly punish those respensible for crimes against humanity without falling into the same pit ourselves. One way could have been to have sentenced them, in addition to the punishment given, to a regular flogging, which was something they, the Nazis thought appropriate for the prisoner who's only crime was perhaps being Jewish.

It goes back to the beginning of time, in the home and in school. If you didn't conduct yourself properly you had to feel the pain from being flogged. It hurt like hell; it was embarrassing when it took place at school, and it did matter. Unless you were some kind of creep who actually liked pain inflicted upon you, the chances were that you would do better.

I had a head teacher who would send me out into the woods to bring back a stick that was sturdy enough for her to beat the hell out of me with. I cried like a baby while choosing that stick.

What makes me write this is because of a very recent case of some thugs who filmed themselves in a pig farm among the little piglets. The piglets were penned in, and the thugs took turns just jumping on the piglets, crushing them to death. This they did for fun, and posted the video on social media.

They will be arrested and tried and sentenced to something that will amount to a slap on the wrist, compared with what they should receive. If only they could be sentenced to three or four floggings of twenty-five lashing each time, on the bare buttocks with the Cat-o-Nine tails. I doubt whether they would think it was funny then, and I doublt whether they would  think about repeating the behaviour, and most likely it would discourage other numb-nuts from doing the same thing.

Presently, there are some 36 countries that hold flogging as part of their penal code, or practise it anyway behind closed doors. Many of those countries practise Sharia Law, but apparently Barbados, Singapore, and Trinidad & Tobago are on the list, if my informatin is current. I think these countries should continue to retain this punishment in cases where it would be a travesty not to flog them, and other countries might want to think about bringing back the sanction.

Some people can only learn the very hard way. If that is so, then so be it!

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael

A Most Curious Justice System

Last week, a friend of mine asked me to provide her with transportation to one of the principal police stations where she would renew her identity document. We first had to go the local town hall to obtain a current certificate acknowledging that she was a resident of our town, and then we drove to the appointed police station. We arrived a few minutes early ,which was enough time to get some pictures. With those in hand she and I went into the waiting room, and within five minutes her name was called, whereupon she went to the desk, and out of my sight.

She was gone a long time. They called the names of several people after her who went in and came out with the documents they required. Where was she? Finally she emerged, accompanied by three policemen. She had been arrested and was being marched off to be processed and sent to jail for six months.

What?

Whatever Spanish I thought I knew escaped out the window. I just did not understand. I still don't understand.

She has never been to court over any matter and heard a judge sentence her to time in prison, so why is she now locked up as a common prisoner in a women's prison? It seems that the matter stems from something that occured several years ago. She was engaged in an unpleasent event with a person who apparently accused her of theft. A warrant was issued for her arrest, of which she was not aware. She has continued to live in the same house for those several years, so you might wonder why no policman ever came to her house to take her in.

To apply for important documents, such as identification cards or passports we must all attend at a police station. Apparently, at that time they search the master data base for information, and if there are any outstanding matters against you that is when they are going to be resolved.

What a shock! I'm only talking about myself. For her I can only imagine that she must have thought it was all a walking nightmare.

The question remains: How can we find ourselves locked up in a prison with common criminals without going through the courts? I can see being held in detention in a jail cell at the police station while enquiries are being made, but to be held in a prison while serving a sentence of a specified time period without the order of a judge just blows my mind.

Evidently it can be done, and presumably it is legal. I have never heard of it being done anywhere else in the modern world, but then I am no expert of judicial matters, nor have I ever had the need for such information.

Sometimes I have to wonder how justified is it to feel safe and secure in my everyday life. I have suddenly found myself in a hospital emergency room, but that is entirely different.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael 

Tears of a President

Recently, President Obama held a news conference to announce that he was taking an Executive Order to close a loophole(s) that allowed people to avoid undergoing a background check before buying a gun. It was while giving his reasons for taking the action that he recounted some of the more than 170 mass shooting incidents that have occurred only while he has been in office, that tears came to his eyes, and he became very distraught. So much so that it was difficult for him to finish what he was saying.

As President, one of the things he has to contend with is death, and the sense of loss by family and friends. This includes deaths and injuries caused through violent weather; the loss of lives in the field of war, and the impact on wives and husbands and children. And then, there's the death toll caused by people who act without sense, or reason, or rhyme. In so many of those cases, the President himself is the Mourner-in-Chief.

Is it reasonable to expect that any human being at all might find oneself simply worn down, to the point of simply not being able to control one's emotions, and tears fall freely. Is that reasonable?

I think so.

The President was recalling the worst case to happen that involved 28 deaths, 20 of those being first-graders at Sandy Hook, Newton, Connecticut. Twenty children set out for school that day, only to be cut down by a young assasin's bullet. No reason given could possibly suffice to justify such a hideous thing to happen. I live in Spain and I clearly remember how dumbstruck I felt upon the news. Yet, to date those responsible have not lifted a finger to do any thing at all about stopping the madness. So, it was left up to the president to try and make a difference through an Executive Order.

Looking at America's problem of mass killings by use of guns it seems to us who live offshore that America has compacted an agreement between one another whereby some will act as murderers and then they will double-up as suicides. Now, certain States have made wearing your gun on your hip legal. Wasn't this what people did during the infamous period known as The Wild West?

The reaction to Mr. Obama's show of raw emotion by Republicans was along the lines of: "Crocodile tears; insincere; weak leadership; what's he done to make it better; it's happening on his watch; politically contrived, and just acting."

The response from the Democrats was, "We should all be crying."

The world may be crying for you, America, but this one is for you to get sorted. Either you are all doomed or you will wake up and turn things around. Instead of buying more guns everytime there is an incident, as Trevor Noah asks,:" shouldn't you be buying bullet proof vests?"

You have met the enemy. It's You!

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael

  

Day One in a New Born's Life

The New Born of whom I speak is the year 2016 and this is its first day. The sound today is one of stillness after all that celebrating in the first minutes of its arrival. I sat on my sofa and watched as it arrived in many parts of the world. As usual people were very animated. It brought together massive crowds to welcome the new comer with hope for general improvement, but the fact is that no-one can know what 2016 will bring. For so many 2015 brought misery and suffering, and death. I don't think any of the people who so cheerfully welcomed 2015 had that in mind.

New Year celebrations are all about that fundamental spirit in humans whereby hope springs eternal. Everytime I buy another lottery ticket the same thought goes through my mind. Should I one day win 100 million euros that may just about cover all the money I have spent on buying lottery chances.

Of course, New Years in Dubai took centre stage, as it usually does for the most elaborate and costly firework display. This year, unwittingly there was added a real life disaster in the form of a massive hotel fire that burned in the shadow of all the fireworks. Thankfully, it appears that there was no loss of life reported the last time I checked. One of the most interesting decisions had to be made as to whether to go ahead with the planned event. A firework show that runs for 25 minutes would bear a truly frightening cost, so with everything in place, to cancel at the last minute would have been even more of a challenging thing to do than to go ahead.

I suppose there is room for both optimists and pessimists at midnight to choose whether they are celebrating, just because, or because they are celebrating whatever the previous year meant to them. My family and I have a lot to be thankful for that 2015 gave to us. We did not lose anyone from the family during 2015, so that alone is worth cheering and being thankful for. So many families had to live with tragedy, including that mass of people who moved from Africa and the Middle East into Europe, or tried to do so. We are told that more than 3,000 people lost their lives in the Great Migration, but really, no one can know for sure.

We were treated to news footage, day after day of such desperate human suffering that if you were not touched you simply are not a human being. One man actually told me that he simply did not care. That statement sticks in my mind and has coloured my thinking of him.

This New Year will likely bring a worse season of people running for their lives because one man insists on holding on to power. We have been promised that the next decade will continue to bring us change, but that the volume of change will accelerate to dizzing speed, so we can reasonably assume that we will see some amazing new technologies over this year, and beyond.

I have to mention that just as important is hope, so is it important to expect disappointments from time to time. My hero is/was Bill Cosby, but he has been arrested and charged with the commission of a sexual offence, and it is also alleged that he improperly treated as many as 50 women in the same way. Say it isn't so! I cannot make any suggestion as to how this may turn out for Bill, one of the (previous)  most respected men in America, whose accomplishments raised up the entire black community. I can certainly say thank you to him for having so carefully crafted his career that it achieved that end. However, this is not the ending I would have scripted.

Hope! Trust! I hope and trust that 2016 will bring good health, first and foremost to all readers, together with prosperity in both economic and social terms. If we can all do our part to solve the problems of the world, then perhaps we will have all done a lot.

I also hope that we can all meet back here in one year's time.

Copyright (c) 2016

Eugene Carmichael

The Absolute Joy, Misery, and Miracles of El Gordo

As the world is aware Spain has presented El Gordo, The Fat One, once again to the delight of more people than I can imagine. The lottery paid out Two Billion, Two Hundred million euros. Spain is the only country in the world where thousands and thousands of people dance with joy because they have received a financial boost from the lottery. Even those of us who did not win anything substantial are happy for those who struck it big. Our hope is that it will be our turn next time.

No individual wins the jackpot, as is the case in most other lotteries. No individual needs to win 100 million euros or dollars. To begin with, the average person is simply not equipped to be able to handle that much money at once. The Spanish system is unabashedly socialist. The idea is to spread it around as far and wide as possible.

The prizes don't sound like much compared with Euro Millions, or New York lottery. For first prize we have 4 million euros, second prize is 1,250,000 euros, third prize is 500,000 euros, fourth prizes are two amounts of 200,000 each, and fifth prize consists of eight 60,000 euros. However, these are formulas. The punter can buy a whole ticket, or tickets, in which case you win 4 million on the first prize, as many times as tickets you hold. You could buy ten whole tickets at 200 euros each, and if that number comes up you walk away with ten times the stated prize.

You are also offered the opportunity to buy fractions of a whole ticket. Most people opt to buy a tenth of a ticket for 20 euros, or what is known as a decimó. There are also lesser participations to be had that allow people with low budgets to participate perhaps in several numbers.

This year brought forth an extraordinary result in the form of several winners who are illegal immigrants. I'm thinking of Mohammed from Senegal, a country that Spain has had close relations with in the past. Senegal is a beautiful country, but without economic promise to its young men and women.

Mohammed left his home for the usually mistaken promise of Spain. He crossed the Sahara Desert and the Mediterrean Sea, a journey that results in far more lost souls to the sand or the sea than anyone knows. Once here in Spain he has had to rake and scrape just to eat, but still you will find him at the local locutorio sending small amounts of money home to family. For Mohammed to acquire 20 euros would be like me to acquire 20,000 euros. So, to pay the massive sum of 20 euros to buy a piece of paper was a great leap of faith for him. I have been doing the same thing for years and my number has not come in big yet. His number did, paying him 400,000 euros. He is in total shock!

Of course, everybody who heard this news are happy for Mohammed, however, his problems have just begun. He is an undocumented immigrant so will not have a bank account, but he now has a cheque that is made out to CASH for 400,000 euros. He is part of a large immigrant community of very needy people, and while he was not the only one of his community to win he will have to endure severe pressure to share his fortune.

Since the 22 December draw, at least one of the immigrants has been stabbed to death, so we can imagine there is serious trouble within the ranks.

As much as I would like to be favoured with a big win on the lottery I don't think I would want to be Mohammed. Sometimes it is true to be careful what we wish for.

Copyright (c) 2015

Eugene Carmichael

My phone, My friend, My Addiction!

To be addicted to something is to say that you are what you are addicted to. Addicted to smoking? You are a chronic smoker who is unable to voluntarily stop under any circumstances.

Addicted to recreational or doctor prescribed drugs. You're a sad druggie and your use will likely lead to an early death.

Now, enter the modern day addiction to IPhones and SmartPhones. Much has been written about this phenemon, but to watch it take place in a loved one is an unsettling experience. Three years ago my wife bought herself a Samsung phone, and progressively she has learned to use its many features. In particular she has become expert in combining the use of the camera with facebook, as well as research on the Internet. Naturally, she is an enthusiast in worldwide communication through Whatsapp.

I have observed her total immersion into her phone, just like so many others, to the extent that every second that is spare is used to text or to do someting or the other with the phone. Even when we are sitting and watching television she is only half watching the program. With her second eye she is following something on her phone.

It is common to observe people who enter a restaurant to seat themselves around a table, and out comes the mobiles. There was a time when people wanted immediate attention from the wait staff, now it is difficult to get anyone to give their order. People walk in the street with their heads down texting as they go. More than one person has walked to their death that way, simply unaware of what they are doing. I watched two drivers at a red light. They were both focused on their phones when the light changed to green, and then back to red without being noticed.

My wife lost her phone. She was equally completely lost. It was as though the major portion of her personality was missing as she experienced withdrawal symptoms. The tension from that spreads throughout the family and friends and nothing else matters but to find the damn phone. The nearest thing I can imagine would be to have your pet cat or dog whom you love, to wander off. At least they don't carry valuable information with them. They just carry your heart.

A mobile phone is such  a small thing. It is entirely portable and very easily stolen or lost. I think the option of uploading everything onto the cloud is something that everyone should do because over the years so much data is created that not to do so is very dangerous.

My wife had attended a special concert where it was essential that mobiles were placed on silence. So trying to locate her phone through calling it did not work. It was finally found, having fallen from her bag and become wedged in a perfect hiding place in the car. The stress caused to her, (and to me) during its absence was overwhelming.

I don't own a Smartphone, but who am I kidding, I will buy one eventually, as I seem to be living in a world all alone with my fliptop. I ask that you remind me not to become so absorbed as everyone else, but that may be asking too much. I must, at least, upload everything to the cloud.

Copyright (c) 2015  Eugene Carmichael

An American Dictator President

Should the American electorate ever mistakenly elect for its president a person who is bullheaded, racist, misogynist, ignorant, illiterate, medically insane, un-diplomatic, and worst of all, dictatorial, how much damage could such a person do, and how would America get rid of him?

This question is part of a much wider question, because most Western governments are structered in the same way. At the top there is the President, or Prime Minister, or Premier, and that person has a Cabinet that is comprised of Secretaries, or Ministers. Those people hold great power and are usually well taken care of. However, they serve at the pleasure of the person at the top. Failure to support the chief can be expected to lead to those dreaded words, "You're Fired!"

I think what generally hapens in most countries is that the person at the top, whom I will call the CEO, chooses a policy directive which is then supported by the cabinet and the members of Parliament, if the same party holds a majority.

A classic example of this was the sitting president at the time who wanted to bring about regime change in Iraq. This was an unpopular directive that brought American forces into harm's way, which many thought was based on a pretext. Since the war people are more outspoken against that action, but the fact remains that America was dragged into a war that it did not want to be involved in.

Was that something that happened as a result of a dictatorial decree?

It is possible that in America a president dictator, who is also the Commander-in-Chief of all the armed forces could seek , with the assistance of The Secretary of Defence, to divert those forces for his own purposes, and to turn them against the population of America.

That seems to be a close existing reality when we consider that many police forces in the country have extensive military munitions, and under the Homeland Security powers many freedoms once held no longer exists. Certainly, the armed forces can be deployed within the country to face a domestic threat, and those can possibly be manufactured at will. 

How can the excesses of such a loose cannon in the White House be controlled? Fortunately, under the Constitution a sitting president can be fired if members of the Senate and the House of Representatives deem appropriate. They effectively fired Richard Nixon, and they sought to fire Bill Clinton.

However, before that could happen the Commander-in-Chief could issue orders to the armed forces that could be directly counter to the interests of the country. It would take some very determined generals to say no. It is also why so many people think they need to posses so many guns and ammunition so that if an attempt was made to control the country by a dictator president, who would clearly be a megalomanic, they would be ready to fight their own armed forces.

The choice of who to elect as president, or Prime Minister or Premier is a weighty one with awesome possibilities, both good and bad.  It is one of the most serious responsibilities a voter can have.

Copyright (c) 2015   Eugene Carmichael