ONLY TWO AT A TIME PLEASE!

In the two decades during which I lived in America in both the New York/New Jersey area and also Hawaii, it became almost a tradition that I would organize one or two overseas tours each year with members from the churches where I served as well as non-church people who asked to join us on these trips.   We literally circled the world over those years and each trip proved to be an adventure at some point. We visited Europe, the United Kingdom, Ireland, most of South East Asia, China, Mongolia as well as the Middle East and North Africa.  Many of the people who travelled with me were not young, -  my goodly grandmother would have described some of the travellers politely by saying that they were "of indefinite vintage".  Be that as it may, they bravely faced whatever came up.  They raced on camels across some of the Egyptian desert. They slept in villages in the jungles of Borneo with head-hunters while the severed heads of former victims hung above the mattresses.  They crossed the deserted plains of Mongolia where they roasted in the heat during the day and froze when the temperatures dropped dramatically at night so that fires had to be lit in the gers where they slept in order to keep warm.

On every such trip there is usually one person who will complain about this and that, but that is all part of the deal.  However, over the years I found there was only one thing that was the cause of many complaints - that was the state of the public toilet facilities in China!  A few of the ladies from Hawaii who travelled to China with me two or three times, would always say "We will wait till we get back to the hotel", if the coach stopped at a rest stop.  We would all laugh, but understood exactly what they meant.  Chinese public toilets are renowned for not being quite the same as those in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York or the Savoy in London.  Having said that though, I have to continue and say that prior to the Olympic Games being held in Beijing, the Chinese Government went out of its way to ensure that those visiting the city for the Games would have no complaints about the facilities there.

So why have I chosen to write on the choice topic of toilets, you may well ask?  Simply because it is a sort of follow-up to my last Blog when I said my grandmother used to always read the back of the morning newspapers before the main headlines as she said she found the most interesting pieces of news there.  This morning I thought of her and the comments she might have made if she read the piece I found tucked away right at the end of the BBC News where it could so easily be missed.

It seems that the Chinese Government - especially where Beijing is concerned has made a tremendous new effort to clean up all its public toilet and wash facilities in tourist areas by passing strict laws which have to be observed.  In every facility/toilet/loo or whatever you want to call them,  toilet paper must be in abundance and replace the old rag and wire brush!!  That is good.  A plentiful supply of hand towels - paper or cloth - must be ever present.  Also good.  All odours must be eliminated - also good.  But here is the really important one.    NO MORE THAN TWO FLIES CAN BE PRESENT AT THE SAME TIME IN ANY FACILITY!!!!!   A heavy fine will be imposed on the owners /operators of any of the facilities who ignore any of the above rules.

When I read that, my wonderful imagination promptly started working.  First of all, how do you ensure that the regulation regarding the two flies is implemented?   Do you pin a notice on the door saying "No more than two flies may use this facility at any one time." ?  Should you also inform the flies that if they ignore that notice they will be fined?

Now you have caused another problem because if Chinese flies are like the Chinese rural population, not all of them can read, so the notice won't be effective.  Also, assuming the flies can read Chinese, what happens if a foreign fly - say an American or German fly comes along or even one from neighbouring Mongolia.  Are they expected to read Chinese also?  Or have they discovered such a thing as "fly language" in which the notices can be written?   The only thing left to be done is amend the law by adding an "extra" to it that states it is mandatory for each facility to start literacy classes for flies.

All the above is so funny and weird and you can keep on adding and adding to it.  However, meaning absolutely no disrespect to the Chinese "powers-that-be" I would really love to learn how they can control the flies to "two at a time"!  My personal experience of flies over the years anywhere in the world is that they like to travel in swarms.  I am sure they will not be happy being told they have to fly in two's.    Maybe something in the line of a NATO Summit could be convened to deal with the matter!!

LET'S ALL WORK TOGETHER.

By today's standards I suppose I had a strange upbringing.  To me it wasn't strange and it certainly wasn't at all unhappy.  My father and mother had separated (but were never divorced as there was no such thing in Ireland then) since before I was born and I had not too much to do with my father, though I did see him from time to time.  My father was much more interested in his many "lady friends" and his Masonic Lodge activities than he was with his family or my mother.  He regarded my mother as being somewhat immoral because she was an actress - an attitude I have always regarded as somewhat hypocritical in view of his own lifestyle.  My mother's attitude to this was a dismissive "whatever!" and she would leave it at that as being something not worth pursuing.

Because of the above, we lived with my goodly grandmother who by that time had been widowed for the second time.  We had very little money but because of a couple of minor titles in the family (thanks to grandmother) we would never be considered poor - we were just living in what was then called "genteel poverty", so we never did without anything.  We always had a parlour maid - a woman by the name of Margaret Styles who worked for my grandmother for some 20+ years, as well as a general maid who did the cleaning - both of whom I am sure we couldn't really afford, but that was not the point.   They were staff my grandmother felt were absolutely necessary to life.

We had certain routines in our household.  Everyone had to eat breakfast and dinner together.   There was no such thing as "grabbing a bit of toast" and dashing off. Margaret Styles would ring a bell when breakfast was ready and grandmother would arrive in the dining room only after my mother, sister and I were seated.  When Margaret poured the coffee for grandmother and mother (my sister and I had a glass of milk) Margaret would solemnly place the morning paper in front of grandmother who would instantly turn to the back page and read the obituaries.  Then she would turn to the second last page because she said there you found the most interesting pieces of news.  I would watch in silence waiting for grandmother to comment on some choice piece of news.  My sister seldom spoke much at meal time for some reason that I never understood, and I wasn't allowed to, as grandmother would say "at meal times, little boys should be seen but not heard."  In later years I have agreed totally with that statement!

To return to the fact that grandmother looked at the second last page before the first is an interesting fact.  Her reasoning for doing so is equally true today, and I mean literally today.

I see most of the newspapers - American, European and Asian on line and I also check daily the websites of CNN and BBC World News.  Today on all of those sites two bits of extremely important good world news were relegated to the very end with a very small mention.  On CNN and BBC news they received totally no mention at all, which will, I am sure, make certain that not too many people will have heard about them.

We hear daily about the European Union which has drawn together so many countries in Europe over the years and which has been the helper of maybe four or five countries in the area that suffered from the economic crisis during the past few years,  Many may argue against the EU, but if it hadn't existed, countries like Spain, Portugal and Ireland might not have been able to pull through. I omit mentioning Greece here as that country's problems go further than just requiring a bail out.  Then there is the North American Free Trade Area which has resulted in many jobs being created - though it too is opposed in some quarters.  Finally I mention ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) of which this country - Cambodia - holds the Chair for 2012.  ASEAN has proved a boon to its 10-member nations by mediating in border disputes, promoting trade between the countries and generally being a "family" of nations.

This morning's "back pages" proclaimed the news that China, Japan and South Korea (none of these three are members of ASEAN) during talks in Beijing have agreed to begin negotiations for a free trade pact between the three countries.  This may well scare some western countries as they could feel it might make China more powerful.  But the west cannot control the whole world.

Mr. Wen Jaibao the Chinese Prime Minister said "The establishment of a free trade zone will unleash the  economic vitality of our region and give a strong boost to economic integration in East Asia".  The Japanese Premier - Mr. Yoshihiko Noda went further and said "Economic co-operation was essential to maintaining the Asia-Pacific region as the growth centre of the world economy".  These are really quite strong words from both Premiers especially when you consider the fact that relations between any of those three countries has not been exactly what one would call "amicable" all the time.  However, it is such a good sign that now they can work together for the benefit of each of their countries.

The other item today on the back pages was the fact that the members of the Gulf Co-Operation Council would be meeting in Saudi Arabia today to discuss transforming their six nations (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) into a union similar to the European Union. The Assistant Secretary of the Gulf Co-Operation Council, General Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg said "The vision is to include common approaches to defense, security, political and economic interests".

To my mind these two announcements on the back pages are of a huge significance to the world as a whole.  It is so encouraging to find that at a time when so many are only too happy to argue and throw barbs at each other that countries - some of which were once at complete logger heads with each other (don't forget Japan occupied the Korean Peninsula under anything like humane circumstances for several years) are now trying to work out situations where they can work together for the good of all their people.  Naturally it cannot all be finalized over night.  Things have to be worked out.  There will be certain differences of opinions from every side and there will have to be compromises made by each country.  There will be some wins and some losses by all, but the fact that they are trying and eager to work together is so good.

Let these countries be a lesson to everyone. Once the various regions of the world who have a common goal work together to settle their differences and in turn work for peace and prosperity of their countries, then it will not be too difficult for the different regions to work together.  So - "Let's do it".  Let's all work together for the benefit of all and make this world a better place.

WHERE ARE THE PRIORITIES TODAY?

Some days there is very little that is news-worthy on TV, Radio or in the printed media.  That is probably a good thing, because it signifies that things are jogging along just right in the world - something that is not always the case.

Today - this morning - it was a different story.  There was much to be told by all.  The Russian built Sukhoi Superjet 100 crashed in Indonesia supposedly (at the time of writing) killing all on board. A huge explosion in Damascus managed to kill many more. Mr. Kofi Annan is "mulling over" an invitation to return to Syria to meet with President Assad.  The results of the Greek election have threatened all sorts of things in the Euro Zone thereby affecting the economy world-wide.  One of the FBI's 10 most wanted people who had killed two and abducted two others shot himself and the two young abducted girls thankfully were found safe and well.  Then there was also the ongoing and important news about the bomb that was discovered which was made in Yemen and was heading to blow up a plane en route to the United States, but never got that far.  So much there today - enough to occupy a whole news hour.

Did that happen?  No.  CNN, which prides itself on its good news reporting, gave the prime headlines and the largest amount of air time to the fact that President Obama would be attending a dinner at the home of Mr. George Clooney in Hollywood and it would be the biggest fundraiser ever to be held for a President and also probably the most glamorous because of all the so-called celebrities who would be attending. Reporters, political analysts and others - including Mr. Wolf Blitzer - told us that those attending were paying $40,000.00 each for the privilege of dining with the President and Mr. Clooney.  Six million dollars would be raised from the 150 people who paid for their food.  Another 9-million would be raised from a raffle bringing the total raised in the evening to $15-million - all of which is supposed to go to Mr. Obama's re-election fund.   We were also informed about the jewels and gowns that would probably be worn at the event.  Finally, when all of that was finished, we were briefly given a report on the rest of the news.

What I found disturbing - apart from the fact that those reporting the event were so exited about it, you would think it was the most important thing that ever happened - is that it seems people have absolutely lost their sense of priorities. where have these priorities gone - the unemployment, the homeless, the jobless, in fact the entire economy?  Is it really necessary to spend all the $15-million on the election campaign when there is already over $200-million sitting there?

If you take just $1-million of what is collected at that dinner, it would go a long way to help those many poor in New Orleans who still have received little or no help following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 despite President Bush's promise at the time that he would get things done quickly!   What about helping the homeless in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other places around the U.S.A.  Are they "out of the loop" and so forgotten?   What about spending some of it to improve the schools which in some places are so bad the children can hardly sit in them.  

I live in a country that is struggling to deal with the situation of poverty as it moves forward.  Some of our people live on not more than $20.00 a month per family, and some other countries in the world are in the same situation.  I have no argument with Mr. George Clooney.  He does more and spends more of his own resources than the majority of well-known people in helping the under-privileged in the world.  Just look at his work in the Sudan.  Wouldn't it be better to channel these $40,000.00 per person donations to such causes as helping the underprivileged, rather than to an election campaign where most of it will be used on staff salaries and advertisements that "bash" the opponents.

 I have no doubt that many will disagree with me - but that is fine.  I never expect everyone to agree with me on every matter (though it would be nice!!!), but I have to say that in any other so-called civilized country, an event such as the one I mention would be regarded as nothing less than obscene. Just where are the priorities today?