Pandemic: where’s Humility

♫Non, je ne regretted rien♫ says Dominic Cummings.  He says he was correct, he used legitimate judgement, that the public should understand him, once they hear his explanations.  He has offered no resignation and Boris has not asked for one.  He has provoked anger at the one rule for them and another for us ‘little people’. Professors Stephen Reicher, says efforts to control the virus have been damaged.  Reicher is an adviser on a key Government Influenza pandemic group.  He said on 25^th:

How are you?

How are you?  On sunny days this is bland and a vanilla greeting or conversation starter.  It is a toughie when life is stressing and circumstances hard.  As I am currently finding out.  At the moment, the question is “How is A[i]?” “A” is a close family member who has just had a significant operation, and suffered from non-fatal but unpleasant post-op complications.

I see the friend sidle up. The frown emerge (early indicator of a “serious question” is about to emerge) and I get a scent of a “How is A?” question coming.  Then I find myself seeking to get away.

Waffle or Wonderful?

Episcopal Presiding Bishop Curry’s sermon, at Harry and Meghan’s Saturday wedding? Wonderful. Or Waffle? As usual, I think Christians mis-read society. This sermon was… Both. At 14 minutes it felt long. It was MLK-lite derivative. Lots and lots about love. Sure, some good stuff here. But don’t Muslims, Hindus, agnostics and atheists love too? And sometimes, sacrificially too? And considering how little was said on the embodiment, the very visualisation and representation of God’s love – Jesus, the sermon could have been preached by any Theist. And perhaps that was so under Prince Charles’ direction??

But…

Ring Ring Ring

Ring, ring, ring – and the thread of your discussion goes ping!  We’re discussing a complex accounting issue with my Haitian colleagues, in three languages (English, French, Creole).  Then … a shrill jingle… the phone is picked up.  And poof! The thread of thought is broken.  On another day I was in a personal 1-to-1 conversation with a Haitian friend … a shrill jingle… the phone is picked up.  And poof! A sheepish smile “sorry, I won’t be a moment.”

If I’m honest – after many visits to Haiti, I still get annoyed.  For a people who value personal relations so highly, I wondered why is an incoming call given such priority over face to face conversation.

The Buried Giant – does it stir?

Kazuo Ishiguro’s “The Buried Giant”.  Does it stir?  Will the earth quake as it breaks surface?  If you are looking for a literary Godzilla, go elsewhere. Ishiguro’s tales is set in England, after the Romans have left and the first Saxons have arrived.  It also is a canvas for memory, loss and forgiveness to be explored.  Easy to read – it is not a light read.  And like the travellers in the book, the allegories can readily lead you into forests with little light.

(This seeks to be a spoiler free review.)  The tale starts with an older couple, Axl and Beatrice, becoming unsettled in their village life, and setting off to find their son who had left home years earlier.  It is very early on that the land feels under a mist that smothers memory.  Recollections of the past are in fragment only, if existing at all.  As time passes and encounters on the road occur, are shards of the past snatched back.