Heroes Not Zombies

I guess war has always been mass murder. After all, every war involves at least one group of human beings killing another group of human beings. In fact, if the killing was one way, just one group being slaughtered by another, then we’d call it “genocide”, but in war, both groups kill others who belong to the other group. Who wins? The group who kills the most? I don’t know. Maybe a historian could tell me, but, my hunch is, it’s either the group who murders most members of the other group, or the group which carries out such a horrifying mass murder that the other group says, “Stop” and “gives up”.

I was thinking about this in relation to two current conflicts – Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Gaza. In the former case, as best I know (and it’s hard to know the truth about any war), most of the killing has been of “combatants”. Is that true? Do the number of “combatant” deaths exceed the number of “civilian” ones? Even if it is true, “combatants” are human beings too.

In relation to Israel/Gaza, this latest round of “war”, or shall we just call it “killing”, was sparked by the mass murder of “civilians”…….young people enjoying a music festival, families in their own homes, and so on. Since then, we are told, somewhere around 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis. A huge number of those killed in Gaza, are reportedly, children and adult “civilians”. How many “combatants” have the Israelis killed?

This is what set off my recent thought that war is mass murder, because, we now get reports that Israel identifies certain individuals as “combatants”, or, more likely, they call them “terrorists”, and then they either bomb their houses, or use a drone, to kill them, and, often several members of their family at the same time. There is no judicial process involved, as there isn’t usually in a war. I read that there are over 30,000 people on the Israeli database who have been selected to be killed in this way. They are named, found, and killed.

Will the Palestinians or Israelis ever “give up” and stop killing each other? In other words, will this war ever end? We don’t know. But, sadly, at this point, it seems unlikely.

In World War II both sides targeted civilian populations, carpet bombing and/or fire bombing whole cities. Did the “big bombs”, dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bring the whole conflict to an end? In other words, did the “Allies” win by killing more people who lived in countries controlled by the “Axis” than the other way around? I don’t think all historians agree that the nuclear bombs ended the war, but they certainly horrified the whole world.

However you look at his, it’s pretty clear that war is mass murder. Will we humans ever evolve to the point where we stop doing that to each other? What are the chances?

Last year I found a walnut under the earth when I was weeding. It had a small pale green root (or stalk? Who knows?) sticking out of one end so I took it and planted it in a pot. A few weeks later I had a tiny tree with a few delicate leaves on the top, so I transplanted it into the forest area of the garden and put a little fence around it.

Along came autumn and the leaves dropped off and all winter it’s looked like just a stick. I thought it was dead, but I’ve learned to wait (gardening teaches you patience), and over the last few days, look! It’s producing leaves again!

It still astonishes me that we humans have no way of telling if a particular seed is dead or alive. We just have to plant it, care for it, and nourish it. We can’t force it and can’t predict it.

Similarly, it amazes me how dead so many little trees appear in the winter. You have no idea which of them are still alive. Again it’s best to wait, to care for them, and watch out for signs of life in the Spring.

I think there’s a lesson here for when we think about how to recover from an illness, or even how to stay as healthy as possible – it’s about creating the right environment.

For we humans, we need to create the best conditions for people to recover and thrive, and that includes a healthy physical environment (as free from pollutants as possible), clean water, nourishing natural food, and social conditions such as dealing with poverty, poor housing and insecure employment.

I read a report in the Guardian recently. It was about the use of AI by the Israeli army. One of the officers was quoted saying this –

You don’t want to waste expensive bombs on unimportant people – it’s very expensive for the country and there’s a shortage [of those bombs]

I know war is horrendous and inhuman, but these words really shocked me. What a way to talk about anyone. “Unimportant people”. I know, he probably meant people who weren’t terrorists or fighters, but included in those “unimportant people” are children, women, ordinary folk just trying to live a life.

There are no “unimportant people” in my opinion. I spent a whole working life as a doctor, spending time with, getting to know and understand one person at a time. I never met one yet who was “unimportant”.

But this quote shocked me for two reasons. First was the use of the adjective “unimportant”, but second was the economic reason given for wanting to avoid “waste”. He didn’t want to explode expensive bombs killing people who weren’t on the target list. “Expensive”. An “economic” argument. Isn’t there a “moral” argument which should trump any “economic” one?

I despair.

There hasn’t been a time in human history when there hasn’t been war, and in every epoch, war brings its own evil, its own cruelty. Will we ever reach a stage of civilisation where we recognise all human beings as “important” and “valuable”?

It’s so sad.

I think of the Dalai Lama who says his religion is “kindness”. I wish all religions, one day, would insist on kindness at the heart and forefront of all the actions of their believers.

Just “imagine”, as John Lennon sang, so beautifully.

While travelling by train across the Alps last week I noticed this striking phenomenon. There was quite a bit of snow on the ground but the area immediately below each tree was clear.

I don’t know if this is due to the soil there getting warmed up by the activity of the tree roots, or there’s another explanation. (If you know, maybe you could let me know).

Then I was chatting with a gardener yesterday about how the blossom on the fruit trees varies so much from year to year, and he mentioned he had some fruit trees which had produced virtually no blossom, and no fruit, over the last two years but this Spring, after France’s wettest winter on record they’ve all started to blossom. He said, “You see, plants know what they need and when they get it they flourish. In this case it was water!”

I think that’s so true, and this gardening wisdom is something we could pay more attention to in life, especially in health care and in politics.

In health care we direct most of our efforts towards fighting disease but we need to create the conditions for healing during the repair and recovery phase. We’re not so good at that, maybe because we know nature does it best. When we supply a clean environment, pollution free, decent nutrition, adequate, clean water, rest, mobilisation exercise, and emotional support, healing has its best chance.

Similarly, if we want more people to suffer less disease, we need to create the societal conditions for healthy lives. Decent housing, nutritious diets, clean water, avoidance of pollution, the creation of good, stable, secure employment, reducing poverty and inequality and supplying high quality education for all, are all things which create the conditions for what human beings need to live healthy lives.

Maybe, one day, a political party will put forward just such a vision – the creation of a healthy society by making available what human beings need to live healthy lives.

Maybe, one day, we’ll have a genuine “health” service which puts as much effort into healing as it does tackling disease.

Life and water share the desire to flow.

You can slow water down by freezing it, but the ice will eventually melt. You can place obstacles in its path but it will flow around them as it gradually wears them down. You can heat it up and it’ll evaporate, disappearing for a while until it forms clouds, rain, rivers and oceans again.

Stagnant pools look and smell bad. The water doesn’t want to stay there.

It wants to flow.

Life has the same desire. It wants to flow. Your blood flows through your arteries and veins, the air flows in and out of your lungs, electrochemical signals flow through your nervous system, hormones send constant messages as they flow from your endocrine glands.

Your thoughts flow, your memories flow, your emotions and sensations flow, your imaginings flow.

You can’t stop any of this and experience life.

Water is better when it flows.

Life is better when it flows.

Enjoy the flow.

I’m in Palermo, on the island of Sicily, as I write this. One of the things I enjoy so much about being here is the glorious presence of such a diversity of cultures….even this street sign provokes me to be aware of that.

The architecture, the art, the symbols and the multilayered history that different peoples have left on this island are obvious everywhere.

I was born in Scotland and my ancestors over the last three hundred years or so lived in Scotland but I long held a notion to spend part of my life in a different country, a different language and a different culture, so when I retired after four decades of work as a doctor I emigrated to France. That’s almost ten years ago and I nowadays I love stepping out of my garden gate in the little French village where I live and chatting with my neighbours who might be happening by. I thoroughly enjoy the magazines and books I buy in my local newsagents and “librairies” (bookshops). I love getting in harmony with French cultures of eating and drinking and everyday manners of behaviour and speech.

I’ve also discovered I can drive to Spain, leaving home after breakfast, and arriving in time for lunch. And right now I’m on a rail adventure to Italy where I’ve sampled the very different cultures of Milan and Palermo and delighted in them both.

I wrote the other day about my life of “E”s, and days like this allow me to fulfill them all – I’m Exploring, Enjoying and Expressing – going places I’ve never been before, enjoying and savouring new sights, sounds and flavours, and taking hundreds of photographs, only a few of which I’ve shared so far, but which I’ll draw upon for posts in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Life is richer when we encounter diversity and difference, when we meet strangers and make new connections, when we open ourselves up to “the other”.

I noticed this doorpost the other day while strolling along by the canals in Milan. I find this kind of image beautiful. Because you can see the remains of at least four layers of different coloured paint, you realise you are looking at the past made manifest in the present.

I think I’ve been guilty of oversimplifying at times, splitting reality into three parts….past, present and future. The truth is there are no hard and fast boundaries between these apparent time zones. The past informs the present, the present emerges from the past, and the future unfolds within each present moment.

The past doesn’t go away and the future isn’t lying in wait for us around a hidden corner.

We have to use memory, attention and imagination if we want to understand this life, our life, and that of others.

If we don’t slow down we’re liable to experience life as superficial, thin and unsatisfying but if we do pause and reflect we can see a depth, a richness, in every moment and in every person.

Q. How do you make a flower grow?

A. You create the conditions favourable to the growth of the flower.

The modern orthodoxy of Medicine isn’t about cure, it’s about management. The majority of drugs prescribed and surgical procedures employed aren’t curative. We don’t generally talk about curing asthma, diabetes, multiple sclerosis or dementia. At best, our treatments attempt to manage disease – to control or reduce symptoms and/or disease progression. These are laudable goals, but they aren’t enough. The global burden of chronic disease continues to grow relentlessly.

We could do better.

We could do better if we consciously attempted to support the body’s natural systems of health maintenance and of repair. We can do that by mobilising the individual’s resources in body, mind and spirit, and by creating the living conditions conducive to health and flourishing.

Really, this is about learning more from Nature than we do from Industry. It involves understanding the importance of care, loving attention, diversity and the creation of mutually beneficial bonds. It involves clean air, clean water and toxin free soil. It involves whatever nurtures and nourishes growth and resilience – in body, mind and spirit.

In short, it requires a shift in emphasis away from management and control of individuals towards the creation of life enhancing societies and environments.

What do you think? Is this possible? Can we work towards such a future?