Talking of Gods - what of heaven?
These days not much is said about life after death, at least not in my world. Heaven and hell seem to have lost favour. The idea of us all meeting our loved ones in heaven, after we die, has always seemed fraught with potential problems. As an old roué there were several factors to consider. First I had to get there, not as easy as it may seem, I've not always been a really good boy. Then having passed through the gates there would be those loved ones, waiting. Presumably there would be those that I loved, and those that loved me about whom I had never felt quite the same. Then what would be done of those that I had loved, or desired at least, but for whom ardour had waned?
Choices would have to be made, for emotions tend to be ranked; a wife being more important than a lover, even though the male mind seems capable of loving more than one person at a time, women seem to have a different outlook. I recall some research, conducted years ago, on the male gay population in California, where 1,000 sexual partners was found not to be so unusual (this was pre-AIDS, and that must have changed outlooks). The researchers concluded that males who are not laden with responsibilities are promiscuous.
Our society used to place demands upon young males. Getting a girl in the 'club' was socially unacceptable, and the pair were expected to get married, for the good of the child and for society.
Today that has changed. The male can walk away, leaving the woman, and the tax-payer, to pick up the tab. It may be useful to bring back guilt.
It will make it simpler when we do get to heaven.
The Gods are not helping
Recently our server web sites have been attacked by viruses, today it could be that the server company has gone bust. I don't know, they are failing to answer the phone, and I'm in the dark, as are my sites.
It is easy to get paranoic about such matters. I drive a car carefully, and do the same on my bicycle, because whenever I decide to take a risk, jump a junction or whatever, then something gets in the way. So far I've avoided danger by not putting myself in the way. The same principle seems to apply to the pleasure/pain divide. I'm often concerned when I get money, because that's the time that bills, for just a little more than I have in the bank account, arrive.
Yesterday was a good day. I cycled to the Suffolk Show, the largest agricultural fair we have in this county. I spent time with the Suffolk Punch horses; wonderful heavy horses that hold special memories for me. A Suffolk Punch was the first horse that I rode; aged about six, I climbed up the five-barred gate of our field and coaxed one of the huge dray horses we over-wintered for the local brewery close enough for me to climb aboard. The horse, gentle old dobbin that he was, slowly walked away from the gate. That raised a problem that I'd not considered; how to get off. It was a long way from the ground for a little lad. Fortunately the horse had more sense than me, as it took me around the field, then went back to the gate, allowing me to scramble off to safety.
The relationship that can be built between man and animals is far more satisfying than that of man and computers.
Export Drive
We do have a problem, as there is very little that we can provide that the rest of the world wants. Our manufacturing industry finally went with Thatcher, although I can recall how we all laughed when Japan sent its first consignments of small mopeds. How could they ever compete with our Triumph, BSA, Norton? Since then most industrial sectors have collapsed. During the 1990s I played my part by sacking 350 skilled workers, as my boss tore apart eight building service companies and retired to the sun with his ill-gotten gains. Now we do not have the skills needed for large projects.
What now as India, China, Brazil and the rest increasingly show their potential? What do we have that the rest of the world wants? Alongside that conundrum is the perceived need to allow more young people into the country, as our indigenous population ages, and require more support. We need a workforce, so they say. If we don't have any industrial base then it is difficult to understand why we need more people.
Our real problem is the ageing population. If the government had invested our money in individual accounts, over which we had some control and choice, then the interest accrued over a lifetime would have been enough to cover the cost of looking after us in our decrepitude. Instead the government has always robbed Peter to pay Paul, taking cash from today's workers to pay pensions.
Getting old is frightening. If Alzheimer arrives all could be well, provided the illness does really cover up reality. Living in a dream world could be OK. I have at least one reader who lives in that state permanently, only occasionally coming back to this world to make inane remarks, as the comments to some of my ramblings confirm. For most of us become increasingly helpless, being forced into retirement homes, whose main task is to drain us of our life savings as quickly as possible, at the cheapest possible cost. Thankfully men are less likely to face this horror, as our life span is (on average) five years less than that of a woman. How that equates with women retiring five years earlier is beyond my ken.
There is an answer. We should send our old folk to developing countries, where they can provide jobs for an emerging people, so bringing much-needed income. All of the factors necessary to make that workable are already in place. It could provide a great investment opportunity. It has worked reasonably well in America for years, where retirement villages have been built, which provide all the facilities that some old folk seem to need. So, why not build such complexes in the foothills of the Himalayas, the Far East or anywhere in South America? They could have good satellite communications, with sound systems and screens loud enough for the aged to hear and see their loved ones.
More entrepreneurial advice may well come along again soon.
