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: 18 September 2017

I’m immortal – aren’t I?

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Most of us have seen the joke which has been on Face Book and in e-mails for a couple of years. It goes something like this:

When a baby is in its 1st year, parents will say he/she is nearly … weeks or months; … When children are in the 1st ten years of life they describe themselves as 7 and a half etc; When one is a teenager, the age is always nearly 16 or 18 or soon I shall be 21; In our twenties we look forward to being 30 and then we worry about nearing 40 and so it goes on until in our 90s we revert to being 92 and a half and then almost 100.

: 18 September 2017

From Pain to Peace

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Each year for 16 days from 25 November to 10 December many countries in the world bring the plight of battered women and children to the notice of the public – 16 Days of Activism Against Abuse of Women and Children. In South Africa this is probably more esssential and poignant than anywhere else.

Statistics may seem boring to some and to others are just that – statistics. Why should we care? I agree that many sets of statistics seem to be lists of figures about which we can do nothing or do not seem to have a direct relevance to us so we skim over them. Others, such as those describing violence we choose to ignore because it seems to awful to think about and here in SA we have become almost immune to it. As I need to keep this brief and to the point I shall only mention here that 1 in 6 women in South Africa is abused by her partner with at least 1 in 4 having to flee to a place of safety. South Africa, I am ashamed to admit, has the worst record of baby & child rape in the world. For more statistics to open your eyes and mind to this shocking situation go to the Soul City website from which I found these few figures.

: 18 September 2017

Be brave and take the plunge – I did

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Taking the plunge is not an easy or simple thing to do but there are times when we have to. I have done so 3 times over the past three years – written a book, got a website and finally learnt how to blog – and all of that post retirement. My book is not a great novel but I believe it should be in every home as we are all going to need its advice at some time in our lives.

It is in this that I encourage everyone to really take the plunge and not be afraid to talk about death and dying. Unfortunately it will happen to every one of us. Methulesah lived to over 900 but he died. It is said that modern medicine will lengthen lives at that children born in this century could live to 150. Even if that happens they will still die. None of us is immortal! The truth is that all those issues against which we may no longer discriminate, colour, class. creed, sexual orientation, size, shape, ability etc etc have never been discriminated against in death. Not even age! In the past year, I know of at least 5 persons who have died and they range in age from 2 – 99 years.

: 18 September 2017

Why I wrote this book

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At about 8pm on the evening of 8 September 1982 my mother and I stood beside my father’s bed as he took his final breath. He had been ill for almost 7 years so his death was not really a surprise but what did come as a surprise was that I had absolutely no idea what to do when a person dies. I just said to myself, “what now?”

I found myself, for the next few weeks rushing around answering queries, making and delivering copies of documents and making arrangements as we bumbled along. The next thing I learnt was that no matter how rich or poor you are, you need plenty of copies of the Death Certificate – at least 6 because everyone wants one.

: 18 September 2017