w.atching the w.orld unw.ind

Today's lyric:
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"Bring out the drip-feed, they're losing their world, they're losing their hard
boys and magazine girls, advert illegal, TV as outlaw, motive as spell.
They'll see the books burn, they'll be 451, it's people against things and
not against each other, out of the pre-pack, into the fear, into themselves.
They're the great British mistake - the genie's out the bottle, call in the
magician, they didn't mean to free him, devil behind him, devil in the
mirror, chained to the right hands. They're the great British mistake -
they'll have to come to terms now, they'll take it out somehow, they'll
blame it all on something. The Great British Mistake - when will it be over?
How can they avoid it?"

The Adverts: "The Great British Mistake"
From the album: "Crossing the Red Sea"

Walking back to London Bridge the other day, noticed a young, suited lad with both arms missing above the biceps, gamely trying to get cash out of a hole-in-the-wall by pressing the numbers with his stumps. It was one of those moments when you want to offer help - although clearly, he must have done it before? - but then you realise that would involve him giving you his pin.

Well, would you hand over card and means of withdrawal to a stranger?

Then I got to thinking about how such a disability would affect your whole life. What you ate. Ok, you could hoover solid food off of a plate with your mouth, but somehow the food would have to have been cooked and served to you and then maybe you ask the chef to leave the room while you 'enjoy' your meal?

And the more basic functions like washing. Going to the toilet. Shaving. Holding someone?

Would it have been better to have been born that way - a Thalidomide victim, perhaps - so that you knew no different. Because to have lost the functionality after familiar useage must be worse?

Doesn't bear thinking about, really..

Labels: Health