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Thread: Shame

  1. #1
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    Default Shame

    I mentioned the word shame in another post which was not conducive to that subject of that post.
    Just to clarify will give one of my own which has always stayed with me . About 1955 as an 18 year old I was ashore during the day in Cochin ,India. I was nightwatchman on the ship so my day was clear until 1900 hrs.Walking along the pavement of a bustling city I saw a figure sitting on the curb and people just walking around it. On getting closer I saw it was a young girl of I guessed about 13 years of age. She was in the process of giving birth to a baby in the gutter and was in obvious distress. I too just gave her a wide berth and walked on. Then the shame set in and stayed vivid for a number of years. Why didn’t I make some attempt to assist her. My excuses to myself were the usual , she was an untouchable as was told later , but why should that bother me ? I was only doing what her own people were doing ? However as one gets older one knows these excuses don’t cut the mustard , and the shame remains , one doesn’t have to do what others do , that is no excuse .68 years later I can still see that little figure sitting there and no one helping her. She will. Be Long time dead by now and probably her offspring if it survived , as believe the average life span at that time in India was about 47 years . But that guilt is still there for me . Cheers JS
    Last edited by j.sabourn; 15th June 2022 at 01:29 AM.
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    Default Re: Shame

    Mate, at some time we have all had similar experiences, ones such as that are quite common in so many parts of the world.

    We once saw a dog being hanged in what was then Yugoslavia.
    There were a number of us at the time but we all walked away, not our problem.

    Somehow the mind says one thing but the body does not go with that.

    We all know of so many horrific incidents that daily occur.
    Had you attempted to assist that young girl it is quite possible you may have been in trouble your self.

    No good beating your self up over such events, there was little you could have done.
    Just try to be a good citizen and do what is possible for others when you can.
    Happy daze John in Oz.

    Life is too short to blend in.

    John Strange R737787
    World Traveller

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    Default Re: Shame

    Just emphasising a guilty conscience of an average citizen brought up in a Christian environment . Cochin is in what was Goa which was in the Portuguese area of environment and was the most populous part of India brought up in the Christian Faith. They obviously weren’t taught the parable of the Good Samaritan. Just think of people like Putin anyone responsible for his recent acts of plain murder would not be able to live with themselves. Also if he gets his desires , he will probably get away Scot free with it. Where does that leave the rest of the world conscience wise ? There is something sadly lacking in the scheme of things , and yet there are those still struggling with the theory’s of climate change whilst the rest of the world blows itself up. JS
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    Default Re: Shame

    It has always irritated me why ex-colonials seem affronted by the perceived treatment of their countrymen by the British,when they themselves since even further back than their colonial masters,treat their own kind with cruelty and indifference. In India,a continent that many of us have visited in our seafaring careers,I have been struck by the treatment to their fellow mankind,mainly due to the inequalities of the caste system,where only the highest ranked have the privelege of a first class education-it is money:who you know,and I dare say ,corruption that accounts for that.

    On one of my early visits,whilst strolling along the streets of Madras to the Mission in early evening should have been pleasant enough-but walking behind one of many fair-skinned Asian families complete with beautiful saris and parasols ,out for their evening promenades,I was shocked to see one such elegant lady and her schoolboy son viciously kick out of the way several limbless beggars out of their path on the pavement.

    Returning back to the ship in the evening around midnight I was accosted by a wizened mother or grandmother frantically begging me to please buy her glass ornament.It might have been one of the last few possessions she had .I gave her several rupee notes ,all I had left,and which I knew wasn't worth all that much-and then gave her back the intended glass ornament that I was supposed to 'buy'. I didn't have the heart to take it.Her look of wonder and joy at this gesture was more than enough,and I could see how grateful and relieved she was.I was embarrassed and humbled by her profuse gratitude and prayerlike gestures.
    That was my first introduction to the inequalities of life amongst citizens of such countries.



    Back to this country I do have ambivalent feelings towards certain Asian business tycoons and politicians in both parties.Our government's present Chancellor of the Exchequer ,Mr.Rishi Sunak,and wife are reportedly worth an amassed fortune of millions of dollars,a lot of that from investments in India.
    I suppose that's why they choose to live in the West,so that they don't have to see and live with the inequalities so apparent in their own country.

    So,Mr.Chancellor is 'giving' we British tax-payers(and others) one-off payments this year and next, to help with the cost of living crisis.
    Yes,it's very nice to give away money-when it's not your own,isn't it,Rishi? .......!

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    Default Re: Shame

    Take a good look at Africa, many countries there in colonised by the British, French, Belgium, Dutch and a few others.
    Most did well under their control, then they demanded independence.
    Fine, but the new masters in so many instances became nothing more than greedy dictators who had never heard the word concience, let alone know what it means.
    In many instances the people are worse off now than before, but does the world care, just as is the case with Ukraine they pay lip service and think that exonerates them any responsibility.

    Most of the population are honest God earing people who when called upon do what they can for their fellow man.
    But then there are the Putin's, Idi Amin's, Saddam Hussain's who are only interested in control of the people.

    So we must not feel guilty for our mistakes which in the scale of things compared to them does not even register.
    Happy daze John in Oz.

    Life is too short to blend in.

    John Strange R737787
    World Traveller

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