Starts Off Angry…. Gets Angry Again…. ‘The Forest Beyond’…..Hope….
by Bernie Bell - 09:30 on 25 April 2023
Starts Off Angry….
I read this report….
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-65314849
....and remembered this lass encouraging people to ‘Tak’ a Stand’ against abuse. It’s good to see this issue getting wider attention.
When this subject comes up, it occurs to me that self-defence lessons for girls would be a good idea – in school. We learn enough useless stuff in school - self-defence could turn out to be very useful. The knowledge would then be there when the girls became women.
When I was a teenager, a friend – a male friend – taught me some self-defence.
He said the first thing to remember is - don’t get scared, get angry – use that anger against your attacker.
The second was, not to be afraid to fight dirty – your attacker won’t hesitate to do so – so you can, too.
People sometimes have reservations about 'fighting dirty' - in that kind of situation - don't be afraid to do whatever is needed.
Here are a few of the moves he taught me…
There an idea of ‘kick them in the balls and run’, and that could work in some circumstances. But kicking or kneeing could put you off balance. A well-aimed punch in the genitals with a tight fist is something most blokes can’t stand against.
Eyes are very sensitive – if you can, push your thumb or knuckle hard into their eye socket – it feels worse than it sounds.
Pressing hard into their wind-pipe with your thumb or knuckle can make them choke.
If they grab you from behind – if your arms are free enough to do so - jab sharply back with your elbows into their sides.
Also, you can run your heel down their shin, then stomp on their foot – preferably on the instep, as that really hurts and might hinder them running after you.
Don’t hesitate to grab anything that comes to hand, and wallop them with it – preferably across the head.
The main idea is to cause as much pain as possible - incapacitate your attacker if possible – then run, making as much noise as you can, to attract attention.
This all sounds very vicious – and I am by nature peaceable – but self-defence, is self-defence. That’s the idea.
Actual lessons in school would be better as they would be done properly, under supervision, but until that comes about - maybe what I’ve written here might help someone, sometime.
Thinking more widely about the issue of people hurting people – lads and men get abused and attacked too – even raped.
It happened to a friend of mine when he was 8 years old. He didn’t tell his family - just told his close friends when he was older. I’m not sure what effect it had him – one thing’s for sure, he had no luck with women – a clever, funny, kind man, comfortable with his friends, but………never had a steady girlfriend all the time I knew him. I don’t know if his experience influenced that?
He’s dead now – drank too much – worked as a builder, fell off a ladder – died of head injuries. Was the drink problem connected with what had happened to him? We’ll never know.
The impression I get is that it’s often the more vulnerable who get picked on and attacked - whether male or female. When a person is vulnerable - the good-natured folk want to be good to them, and the ill-natured folk want to hurt them.
That’s one for the psychologists.
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Gets Angry Again….
I read this in ‘British Wildlife’ Volume 34 Number 4 February 2023, and I hope the author, Amy-Jane Beer, won’t mind my quoting her…
“Farther afield, January saw the conviction of a Dorset gamekeeper on multiple counts of killing of birds of prey, possession of unlicensed poisons and firearms offences. As it happens he was head keeper of the same estate where a White-tailed Eagle (part of the otherwise successful introduction scheme on the Isle of Wight) was found dead in January 2022. The police investigation into that appalling crime was mysteriously suspended after the local MP, Chris Loder, declared that Dorset wasn’t the place for eagles and the exemplary Wildlife Crime Officer went on sick leave and then left the force. For details, see the redoubtable www.raptorpersecutionuk.org blog”
Please share this as widely as you can - especially if you live in Dorset.
Thank you.
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From ‘Emergence’ magazine… https://emergencemagazine.org/
by Jeremy Seifert and Fred Bahnson
“I have lived in the Amazon my whole life … but I’ve never known an immense forest like this … until today.”
“Earth Day opens a space to remember that those who have always understood our interdependence with the natural world hold wisdom that we can no longer afford to ignore. Conservation biologists have recently published research confirming what is intuitively true: that Indigenous peoples such as the Shipibo, ancestral stewards of the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, are the best managers of intact forests. Their view of the forest as sacred and sentient, rather than merely a source of raw material, keeps it protected and whole. Given the forest’s ability to draw down carbon, preserve biodiversity, and act as one of the Earth’s great lungs, their care for the Amazon is, in a certain way, care for all of us.
Senen Kaisi, a young Shipibo woman from Santa Isabel de Bahuanisho, a community near the headwaters of the Amazon River, has lived her whole life in the Peruvian Amazon without ever encountering an old-growth forest. The dense primary forest that once surrounded her community has been devastated by loggers, colonizing settlers, and palm plantations, and although members of her village are planting new seedlings, the ancient, massive trees that the community was named for have disappeared from their area. In this film, Senen Kaisi travels by river and road to meet the edge of the primary forest that once stretched all the way to her village, nourishing and sheltering her ancestors.”
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There Is Hope…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-65359334
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Here’s one I made earlier…. https://theorkneynews.scot/2021/08/16/they-dont-make-em-like-that-any-more/
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