We need to learn to look after ourselves
MORE often these days we hear grumpy old men muttering: “I just don’t know what the world’s coming to. Everything is falling apart. There seems to be no law and order”. It’s not only the grumpy old men, either. Statistics from around the world indicate a scary breakdown of what we think of as civilised values.
It was announced that in 2015, Brazil experienced 60 000 murders – as many as North America, Russia, China and Europe combined.
It was also announced officially that 97 million workers around the globe are living from pay cheque to pay cheque. In other words, they do not know whether they will be employed next month. (That’s just those who have jobs)
It doesn’t take an expert to realise crime and violence is increasing globally at a fast rate. Every day we hear of new bomb attacks, terrorists driving into crowds, arson, genocide, riots and wars.
A study group in American and British universities has found that society has collapsed several times in the past. The human race seems to go in cycles until things get out of control, then the population gathers the scraps and those who are left rebuild.
In medieval times, there were no strong police forces to protect the weak. People learned to fend for themselves. The poor bunched together for protection and the rich hired armed guards.
People hid their money, or buried their treasures, because they no longer trusted banks to protect it from thieves. Modern thieves are cleverer than ever before because money is only virtual reality in computers, so thieves don’t even need to pick locks to get at it. They just press a few buttons.
The great plagues were the result of poor hygiene and over-crowding and this seems to be happening again. Diseases like swine flu or avian flu, sweep across countries because farm stock is kept in crowded pens.
In the US, it was announced that more Americans that ever before own guns. In South Africa thousands of weapons are stolen annually from the police. Where is it all heading? The answer is simple. We are going to have to learn to look after ourselves.
If the politicians can’t help us and the police are too inefficient to protect us, we must help ourselves. Have you thought of joining your neighbourhood watch? Have you considered attending first aid classes? Do you know how to skin and cook a cobra?
I’m sorry to be an alarmist, but maybe we should all put down our gins and tonics for a moment, unplug our iPhones and take stock of how self-sufficient we are.
Last Laugh
A very angry man marched into the local police station and dropped a dead cat on the charge office counter.
“Somebody threw this cat over my garden wall into my property,” he said. “What are you going to do about it?”
The duty sergeant reached for his incident book and said: “No problem, sir. I’ll just take your name and address and if nobody claims the cat within three months you may keep it.”