Declining populations and reactions to it

The remote Japanese village of Nagoro is known around the world for its population of life-size dolls- approx. 350 dolls to the approx. 37 residents left.

One craftswoman is responsible for their creation, and for the last decade, she's made them to represent those who left and those who passed.

You can read an article about it at the link below:

https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/08/26/490687505/a-dying-japanese-village-brought-back-to-life-by-scarecrows

What struck me about the entire thing is that she did it because the population of Japan is declining, and this can be seen in the more rural areas, one of which is where her village is located, nestled deeply amongst the mountains. 

In general, however, the world is gaining a longer living population, with less babies being born, and the young migrating to more densely populated cities in search of jobs.

It happens everywhere! That is why in the UK, the pensionable age is rising, and why there's been arguments about whether to retain or keep the travel and TV licenses free for the elderly.

Now, due to the covid pandemic, the argument is whether to raise NI for the young to ensure better resources for the old. That is only one example amongst many  arguments going on within the political realm, and you know, with arguments, there are never any winners.

I accept that my idealistic view of the world will never come to be, but all I can do is contribute and create my own type of legacy so even when I pass to the other side, I am somewhat immortal. This blog will probably exist longer than I am alive and that isn't a bad thing! 

Best to make the most of what I have now, eh?! With a couple of frozen margaritas to start me off!

How to defuse a culture war in the right way

I read an article today in the Evening Standard, page 12, by Tom Newton Dunn. It's called 'How to defuse a culture war: a group of London schools found a way', and it basically talks about how the benefactor, Robert Aske, started the Haberdashers' Aske's set of private educational institutions from a request he made when he died in 1689.

The issue with the benefactor was found out recently, in March 2021- that he partially funded the Royal African Company, which, apart from obtaining gold and other valuables from Africa, also extracted people and made them slaves.

Due to this, the Haberdashers school  governors had to decide: should they cancel Aske as a benefactor, or defend him? They decided to do neither, and consulted with all students, parents, alumni and school staff, the numbers of which exceeded 800+, for 6 months.

In the end, they decided to remove his name from school titles but not from the formal legal name of the federation, and they used his statue as an educational tool to teach Aske's history and explain it, both good and bad.

They found a third way that was almost universally accepted by all people associated with the schools, which can be summed up in the following excerpt: 'Undoctrinal, built with intelligence and sensitivity. Peaceful resolution and consensus has been found to an extremely sensitive cultural divide by painstaking consultation and debate'.

I read somewhere that each person is the sum of every person that they have ever met. If every person could be exposed to variations of such a 'third way', and realise that making a choice is not just either one- right, or two- wrong, perhaps our society would be much calmer.

It's nice to hope.

(A picture of the article is below, which you can read in its entirety.)

Self Mastery (Poem for Myself)

 

(Not drawn by me- screenshot taken via internet surfing)

Tamp sadness down

Push the negative out

With a whisper 

And not a shout

Understand that time

Will take its pace 

Patience is a virtue

Life ain't a race

A tidy place

Gives a tidy mind

An organised body

With goals assigned...

Stops emotion from getting

Too low or too high

Aim for stability

Or the end is nigh!

Remember that goals

Are long term not short

Remember the locus

The world is your court

What you do and feel

Affects all those around you

So keep it on lock

It's not just about you.

Compose yourself fully

You are in control

Let go of any sadness

Then you'll be on a role

To proceed forward rightly

One foot, two feet, three

Chill out and be strong

Be firm like a tree.

Don't lose your focus

Be mindful of others

Be less selfish and yield-

think of pressed flowers!

The time it takes to make them

Is long and you await

moisture to leave petals

But it's worth the wait.

Life is a journey

You go through many doors

When one closes, another opens

So make your life YOURS!

 

Limited Word Scifi Stories

I had a little hiatus from my blog due to work-related issues, but now I am back again! Thought I'd test myself with a brain exercise that tests my fiction-making capabilities using a limited word sci-fi story format from 1 to 20 words, so here goes:

1 word

Space.

2 words

Corporeal Energy.

3 words

Light speed cruising.

4 words

We're all just stardust.

5 words

Implosion of dwarf star imminent!

Virtual reality superceded physical reality.

6 words

The corporeal evolved into the spiritual.

Haptic feedback: now, the new normal.

Groking the new world: peacefully prospering.

7 words

Switching through virtual planes of existence nowadays.

The cosmos mourned the lack of light.

8 words

Groaning, she went back into her physical form.

9 words

Stuck within the nebula, he debated his last actions.

10 words

Instant transportation- to die and be reconstructed; he'd rather not!

11 words

The new frontier was no longer space: it was now multidimensions.

Big Brother- our overseer- our man-made god: had eyes everywhere. 

12 words

Colonisation beyond earth is now a goal and no longer a dream.

Real money no longer existed. Bartering no longer existed.  Cryptocurrency was all.

13 words

Moving from one robotic artifice to another prolonged her lifetime but caused dichotomies.

14 words

Space tourism became a massive industry and assuaged the ennui of the very rich.

15 words

Cracking under burnout, she switched on her VR and relaxed upon a sunny white beach.

16 words

Cyborgs, androids, automatons, humanoids, droids, virtual brains- whatever they were called, they were everywhere offering assistance.

17 words

The future was now littered with idiots and was no longer a democracy- it was an idiocracy!

18 words

Polished metal skeletons encapsulated by sleek metal skins was the new fad as humans seeked to live longer.

19 words

Cracking under the weight of information overload, she pressed her eyes and compressed the info within her positronic matrix.

20 words

Lack of privacy was no longer frowned upon. If you didn't use social media at all times, you were backward.

Augmentation of the artificial to flesh and bone woke them up to the advantages of never being tired or weary.

I enjoyed that exercise. What do you do to stretch your mental capabilities?

This was one of the few sci-fi books that made a big impression on me. If you can, have a read of it- it will definitely stretch your mental horizons!

Tolerance and Patience

Tolerance and Patience are different sides of the same coin. 

As per the dictionary, their definitions are as follows:

Patience means the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious.

Tolerance means the ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour that one dislikes or disagrees with.

So, patience is to do with capacity, and tolerance with ability.

However, what people can tolerate, and how much patience they can give towards their goals depends a lot on how they interact with others, how they understand others, how they react to others, and how others react to and understand them.

Sometimes, tolerance can be given to a person, a daily activity or thing undeserving of the time you give to them- for example, a bad girlfriend or boyfriend. This is when they take advantage of you in the name of love, and you tolerate it because you love them.

It can take a while for you to take off your rose-tinted glasses, and you lose a bit of yourself every time you give in to their demands. 

Also, patience can be given to a person or daily activity or thing undeserving of the attitude you have with them. You let their flaws and foibles go time and time again, and again, you lose a bit of yourself as they take you apart piece by piece with their selfish and possibly narcissistic attitude.

These are extremes of course, and they are part of what makes us human. It is how we adapt, learn, and progress.

But knowing when to exercise tolerance and when to be very patient is like learning to use a knife to peel and chop loads of onions!

Funny metaphor, yes? But a good one, because when you chop an onion, you have to be tolerant of the tears you will cry due to the interaction of sulphur-based chemicals (produced from cutting the onions) with your hydrogen and oxygen-based tears, and you have to be patient especially when you have to cut lots of them!

Anyhow, the main points I'm getting to are:

• Learn to use your patience and tolerance to your advantage. Make them strengths.

• Know that it will be uncomfortable to tell others when your limit is reached, but understand there is a way to tell them with compassion, not derision or anger.

• Know how to say it in a good way- calm and in a low tone. There are no winners in an argument and saying what you need to in an explosively angry manner and a loud tone gains you no fans and just makes the other person more defensive of their viewpoint.

And remember- you're a human, not a robot. You can't just go on and on and on and on taking whatever flak is going on you. A robot can take it to infinity and beyond when it comes to patience and tolerance because they could essentially be immortal (if upkeep of their bodies and brains are maintained). You aren't.

So:

Never: reply when you're angry.

Never: make a promise when you're happy.

Never: make a final decision when you're sad.

Always exercise Patience and Tolerance, and wait at least 24 hours before making any decision so that it is objective, pragmatic and not emotionally influenced. 

Know your limits.

Enjoy your day!

Three Poems in the Sun

Inspired by this glorious weather whilst sitting on a field of green, I thought I'd write three poems. All different in style, and experiments to illustrate different thought patterns...

Sun, Blue Sky, Music

Green field,

Blue Sky,

Yellow Sun,

Birds Fly!

Sweet Tunes,

Smooth Melody,

Chromatic Scales,

Mellow Harmonies!

Cool Shorts

Bright Shirt

Bucket Hat

No Skirt!

Cold drinks

Snack food

Picnic mat

Happy mood!

Close friends

Fa-mi-ly

This is where

I like to be!

Thinking of the Possibilities

A line of trees are on the horizon,

With a field of grass, verdant,

Blades waving in the wind

Hearing the wind

Invisible though it is,

Making its presence known as much

As the music being channeled

Though my earphones.

I think my thoughts,

Stare across in absentness

Dwelling upon my mind's eye

Dreaming brief day dreams

Of what things I could have done

In a parallel life

In a different timeline.

The decisions made that split you 

Off the path of all possibilities

Onto a linear road

Where sidelines are additions to the main,

Where free will is around

But watched by a God that is

Omnipresent.

Omnicient.

And you are one consciousness

Interacting, floating, 

through the multitudes

Of many.

Park Sounds

Swish, Swish

Sounds the Grass

Makes while caressed by the Wind

Whooooo, Oooooo

Sounds the Wind

Makes travelling through the trees

Rustle, Rustle

Sounds the Trees

Make as the wind bustles through

Tweet, Tweet

Sounds the Birds

Make as the tree branches sway

Crackle, Crackle

Sounds my feet

Make walking on dead leaves

Onward, Onward

Words my heart

Makes as I amble towards 

Home

Food and Dieting

Definition of a diet by the dictionary:

Definition of a diet by Jennifer (yours truly):

The amount of food you put into yourself to gain enough energy to do all your daily activities. 

I used to think 'to be on a diet' and 'to diet' or 'to go on a diet' were good phrases. However, as I've grown older, I've realised they have negative connotations, and I have decided that the word 'diet' by my definition, should not be called a diet. It should be called a Healthy Eating Plan.

That sounds more positive, eh? 

Anyhow, I touched upon my plan in an earlier post when I said:

My plan is simple: have a bit of everything you want in moderate quantities, and vary the amount of what you have depending on the time of day.

This plan allows for chocolate and sweet stuff and all sorts of lovely things like FRIED CHICKEN, but only in the daytime, and in moderation.

Eating lots of veg and rice daily is the norm for me, and I've tried all sorts of diets where cutting out certain foodstuffs was the recommendation. It worked for a time, but I'd feel jaded and would then discontinue the diet because I missed such foodstuffs. I just really enjoy food!

And with my mindset and my very active job nowadays, I need those calories to burn! Using my Fitbit as a guide, I do on average 20000 to 25000 steps a day, with my top score being 41041 steps recently. 

The only thing I need to be careful of is my off days, where my body just wants all those calories but doesn't burn off as much. It takes a certain discipline to modify my mindset to eat a bit less, and I am not always successful. But most of the time, I'm okay.

Let's see what I'm like when I retire, lol!