BlackMan Time

Archive for March, 2009

A coconut once fell on my head. It wasn’t funny at the time it made an impact on my head but shortly afterwards we were all laughing about it. My only thought at the time was I hope I could still be laughing about it in 50 years time!

Did the coconut falling on my head knock any sense into me, break anything in my head, improve my mind or otherwise injure me in ways I couldn’t immediately detect? As far as I can tell I’d say no. But then I really didn’t know.

A coconut is a particularly harmless thing. It’s roughly the size of your average soccer ball and the inner hardened shell is covered by an outer casing that darkens over time. It is harmless that is until it falls on your head!

I guess with hindsight I should have had a doctor or some other medical professional look at my head at the time. But, I didn’t. The death of actress Miranda Richardson following a ski fall in Canada made me think about this coconut incident.

Like her I received a sharp blow to the head. Although I can very well imagine the blow she took was many times greater, hurtling down a ski slope at speed. I was stationary. She felt fine afterwards and seem normal but she had no idea of the internal damage done which eventually caused the fatal blood clot in her brain.

The experts say she could have been saved had she had treatment immediately afterward.

The moral of this thought is that if a coconut (in whatever guise) falls on your head, seek help immediately! It could very well save your life.

This week members of the top 20 richest countries on the earth, the so-called G-20 See below, are meeting in London to discuss plans on how best to continue ruling the world.

The public statement says something about meeting to restore confidence in the currently depressed global economy which over time will help people everywhere get back to work. Blah, blah, blah. We don’t always believe public statements particularly when considering the nature of the beast.

For instance the meeting hasn’t even happened yet (it’s scheduled for Thursday) but already Britain has signalled that a further meeting of the group could be necessary later this year because they won’t be able to solve everything in on meeting.

Since they already know this why not spread the meeting over two days? This is why I’m sceptical about such meetings: they are simply public relations exercises where leaders make lofty promises and deliver nothing and get away with it because who is going to punish them?

It’s the easiest thing to make empty promises. But, when you are a poor, struggling teacher or a misguided, detached youth, the impact on you could reverberate far beyond your situation. The ripple could even upset and unseat the seat of government.

Wouldn’t that be a good thing?

1. The G-20 (more formally, the Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors) is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies: 19 of the world’s largest national economies, plus the European Union (EU).

   The G-20 member countries are:-

   Argentina
   Australia
   Brazil
   Canada
   China
   France
   Germany
   India
   Indonesia
   Italy
   Japan
   Mexico
   Russia
   Saudi Arabia
   South Africa
   South Korea
   Turkey
   United Kingdom
   United States

At age 18 I also thought being rich was being able to take my girlfriend to the casino and give her a bag of money and say “try your luck with that” as she and her girlfriends giggle off to one corner and me and my brethren tried to beat the Blackjack Dealer.

At age 19 being rich meant being able to send all my clothes to the dry cleaners every week and to have shag pile carpets and sheepskin rugs with mirrors on my bedroom ceiling and wearing the most expensive cologne and looking the most handsome youth of all time!

At 21 being rich meant being able to afford my own house with garden. It didn’t happen but the thought was there…

At 25 being rich meant being able to commit crime and know enough connected people who could ensure I would not face the consequences of my actions.

At 31 I thought being rich was all about owning your own Yacht and having the trappings of success scattered all around you. It’s a glamorous lifestyle and everything, as far as the outside world is concerned, is hunky-dory. Only problem is internally it feels shallow. Or at least these were my feelings even if reality was somewhere else…

Today, being rich means being able to afford what I want and not having to worry or even care about things like bills, fees and charges but complain about them anyway, especially when you see people trying to take advantage of you because they think you’ve got money, simply because you can and should! It also means being healthy in mind, body and spirit…

Tomorrow being rich won’t be something I’ll be too preoccupied with because, hopefully! I would or at least should have learnt by then that being rich is a fruitless exercise or just an illusion. Like Bob Marley sang: “What’s the use living big today, tomorrow you bury in a casket…”

My concept of “being rich” has changed with my age and circumstances over the years.

At age five being rich was being able to buy bun and cheese with pocket money saved up from what grown ups gave me.

At seven being rich was being able to buy my own bun and cheese with money I had earned or stolen myself.

At 11 I saw being rich as being able to afford my own tailor and have him make pants or a suit to my specification. Also, it meant being able to buy certain brands of clothing that I had to save up hard for.

TV Times

It also meant having a TV. It didn’t matter whether it was black and white or colour! But if you had a colour one it meant you were richer than someone with a black and white TV.

At age 13 being rich meant not having to share a room with my brother or anyone and to sleep in for as long as I want.

At age 15 being rich meant being able to stay out for as late as I like without having to answer questions from my parents. It also being able to experiment with ganja and alcohol, even if I wasn’t really all that bothered about either.

At age 18 being rich meant living in an apartment that was left to me or controlling two apartments and having the feeling I was a landlord. Being able to treat my girlfriend to a steak dinner in the days when I used to eat animal flesh like that.

Should you ever decide to break the law you always have to bear one thing in mind: at some point you may have to suffer the consequences!

Depending on the severity of the crime and the local laws you’ve broken, this could be as drastic as death to imprisonment. At the very least a conditional discharge, fine or even an acquittal!

More than likely however, if you get caught you will probably get fined an amount that should reflect the severity of the crime. But, and this is my theory, because we are in bad economic times, the courts may actually fine you much more than if things were booming.

So-called career criminals, who habitually break the law, are usually more seasoned and know what to expect if they get caught. To them going to jail or “doing time” is like occupational hazard. They live by the maxim “if you can’t do the time then don’t do the crime”.

Sometimes it is not always easy to tell who the real criminal in a crime situation is. Increasingly the criminals may actually be innocent (in this instance) but the court seizes the opportunity to impose harsher than normal sentencing on a known criminal for a previous crime which he was definitely guilty for but subsequently acquitted on.

To say that crime don’t pay depends a lot on who is collecting and who is laughing all the way to the bank! What about justice, I hear you ask? Hahahaha to infinity.

That’s a good one…

A few weeks ago a two year old baby belonging to a Caribbean family in North West London crawled onto the window of a 16th floor apartment. It somehow slipped through a gap in the sill and fell to its death below.

Last Saturday another baby of similar age suffered a similar fate a few miles away in Kilburn. This time the boy fell from a balcony in Hereford House. He died shortly afterward in hospital.

The following day a man jumped off the 16th floor of a building also located in North West London. He was a mature man and according to my housing association newsletter the police have confirmed that there are no suspicious circumstances regarding the incident.

These are indeed tragic circumstances but all three coming so closely together in the same area makes one very curious indeed. The infants were innocent deaths but the mature man seems like he took his own life for some reason.

Some people might speculate about the credit crunch, hardships or other calamity befalling the man. But, I guess we never know about some things in this life.

Except that bad things – let’s call it evil – happens, sometimes…

It’s never a good idea to burn bridges behind you because you never know when you might need to cross those bridges again sometime in the future.

At the time you were busy setting those bridges alight you were not really all that bothered about tomorrow: the thing uppermost in your mind was how you felt at that time.

Blinded by rage, anger or some other extreme emotion, we tend not to see common sense and cut off our nose to spoil our own faces. Who hasn’t done that at some point or other?

I had a situation where I’d actually burnt a particular bridge down and would you believe it the situation arrived where I needed to cross that bridge again. So what did I do? I faced the situation head on and apologised for my previous behaviour.

The other party was so glad I had actually apologised they not only forgave me but now the friendship has found new strength!

Sometimes you really shouldn’t listen to supposedly wise sayings. It’s best to follow your own instincts too!

Vegetarians, vegans and all non animal flesh eating humans rejoice! Scientists have just discovered new evidence eating lots of red and processed meat damages your health.

These findings, featured in Archives of Internal Medicine, suggest big meat eaters had a raised risk of death from all causes over a 10-year period. The study was based on over 500,000 people.

Hooray, I say. I just can’t contain my excitement. But, this is something I have known for a long time which is why I do not generally eat meat and can count the number of times I have done so over the past two years on my fingers. I prefer to eat things that grow on trees or can be uprooted from the ground…

These same scientists also conclude that eating white meat was associated with a slightly reduced risk of death over the same period. This will obviously be good news to fish and chicken eaters…

I suspect lots of other vegetarians will feel vindicated but where will be the joy? To them this so-called news will probably not register anything on the health scale.

But if scientists have now reached this conclusion that humans tearing into dead animal flesh, carcass and bones, preparing and eating it is bad for you, then I have only one question.

What took them so long?

I am not really a competitive person. I like competing if pushed to do so but my natural state is be comfortable within my own space and work through problems at my own speed. This is how I think I have become.

In the past I was driven to compete because someone or other issued a challenge, ultimatum or an insult that I felt I needed to ram down their throat.

If I hear someone is doing better than me in any particular field and I in my pompous state think I should be doing better than them, I do not think I should pull out all the stops to try and outdo that person.

That really isn’t me.

Yet, I see this all the time around me and I wonder why people feel they have to compete like this? I guess we’re all different and are driven by different stimulus. Some are driven by greed, fear and failure or not wanting to fail or be considered a failure, fame, etc.

What drives you forward?

I started to write a poem about the joys of Mother’s Day
But then I remembered my mother died a few years ago
So I thought I’d still write the poem for all mothers,
But then I remembered my mother died a few years ago

So I began and words appeared at my finger tips
But I still remembered my mother died a few years ago

And then I thought what would my mother wanted for Mother’s Day?
So I turned on my memory projector to remember my mother’s life
Like a fast rewinding film I saw many happy scenes unfold
A smile or two replacing the frown from creasing up my face

And then I was aware words was still appearing at my finger tips
While the life of my mother continued to rewind in my mind
The face, the eyes, the smile, the mannerisms, the motherly quips
Pity none of the words rhyme, let alone this uneven line…

So I think I should abandon this idea as a fruitless exercise,
Cos I’m still remembering my mother died a few years ago,
And even though the weather man said it would be hot and sunny,
It’s suddenly started to rain from out of my eyes…
For I remember my mother would have wanted only three things:
Just for me to praise God, a good woman and be happy…

Happy mother’s day all you living, loving, caring, mothers,
My mother would have wanted you to be really happy too!