https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0tldz_-0yU

We are all slightly ruined by the things we've grazed against.

My Morning Commute Epitome

Sound attempt and after hours I'm still not sure it's any better!

I am on my morning commute,

the train is filling up stop-by-stop until I am surrounded by bodies,

I feel like cattle going to market, packed in we rattle down to our destinations in these metal cages.

Forced into awkward embraces we move in unison, supporting ourselves through the tracks’ twists and turns as if we were suspended on a rollercoaster.

I am so close to my neighbour that I can read every detail of their distant eyes,

the perfume of freshly washed hair consumes my senses and I feel squeaky-clean skin polishing up against mine,

with little warmth shown amongst these strangers I warm my shivering fingers by the heat of my phone.

And as I look around I find everyone transfixed by the same show playing between their hands,

worlds balanced between thumbs and fingers like two curtains opening onto the centre stage,

here play self-constructed realities programmed to our own limited agendas,

I stand and watch the scene engrossed.

It seems that we prefer to occupy ourselves with celebrity gossip,

passing the minutes zooming into airbrushed images,

photos so different from the originals that we barely recognise their beautiful faces.

You see it’s easier to consider the life of one star than contemplate the fate of thousands,

so we limit ourselves to the quick fixes of distraction that satisfy our need to fill this time.

It’s then, drowning in this sea of screens and silence I realise we have become disconnected from the realities around us,

could it be that our senses have been numbed, so anesthetized by overexposure that we are no longer stunned by the atrocities recounted on our crystal clear screens.

And the vision may be high definition yet we still miss the looks of desperation,

and how loud must the surround sound be to hear the cries of our global friends?

Today I can switch off to the sight of death at the press of a button.

As our horizons shorten to the focus of our two-inch screens,

we become entwined in the familiar, venturing no further than the circumference of our own circle of friends,

it is our friends that form the ends of a protective blanket wrapped around us,

it holds us so tight that we cannot step out to help those in need from other walks of life, even when they stood right in front us.

We tell ourselves that the problems around us are not our problems,

it’s the benefit system, it’s immigration, the economy, their culture,

you see they just didn’t try as hard enough.

Yet everybody knows that the toil of Sisyphus was infinite, and there was no reward for his endless output.

We could offer a helping hand to our fellow passengers, make their loads a little lighter, make their space a little larger,

But ‘our hands are tied’ we say, and they are tied-

tied to our phones, plugged into superficiality, charging on consumerism and wired to our egoisms,

we could put down our prisons, free our hands to focus on things that really matter: the implosion of our world and those within it.

In a recent study at Emory University called "Short- and Long-Term Effects of a Novel on Connectivity in the Brain," Neuro-scientist discovered evidence suggesting that reading novels improves brain function on many levels. Reading a novel puts the reader in another person's shoes expanding their imagination. A bran scan showed that there were changes in the temporal cortex of novel-readers. This is the area of the brain associated with language as well as sensations and movement. Reading stories can exercises a person's emotion and compassion as well. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzCUGhdnGvI

The more one forgets himself -- by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love -- the more human he is

Frankl

This uniqueness and singleness which distinguishes each individual and gives a meaning to his existence has a bearing on creative work as much as it does on human love. When the impossibility of replacing a person is realized, it allows the responsibility which a man has for his existence and its continuance to appear in all its magnitude. A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how."

Frankl.

Why meaning in life is more important than happiness

Mind the Gap

This was created to be spoken

And we stand here, huddled together in this moving case,

packed in like cattle so close that we can stare straight into the other’s distant eyes,

we watch their emptiness reflecting back at us.

We are surrounded by bodies, propped up shoulder-to-shoulder, ready for market yet there is no warmth in our uncomfortable enforced embraces,

the only warmth we find sits in the encased connections held within our hands.

Transfixed by the boxes balanced between our thumbs and fingers,
 like a theatre stage between two curtains,

we watch self-constructed realities played out for our own private viewings,
built to order, custom made, programmed to play

microcosms of our own world vision.

Our only desire is to zoom into albums of digitally enhanced images,

so dissimilar from the originals that we barely recognise our own airbrushed faces.

And we occupy ourselves feeding on meaningless knowledge,

celebrity updates, comedy trends, scandalous gossip,

there is no end to the quick fixes that satisfy our need to fill this time,

you see it distracts us from what really matters;

the implosion of our world and those within it.

The moving carriage slows down, then jerks to a halt,

there’s a pause –

until the pre-recorded voice calls,

‘mind the gap between the train and the platform’.

Mind the gap.

The distance to cross between the train and the platform has got bigger,

so wide that we can no longer glide over with the confidence we once had,

we are caught in the rat race, trapped in the chase for money and power

we stride to reach the privileged who tower above us in their sterile office blocks.

Don’t look down, they warn, that’s where oblivion sleeps.

We have become so entwined with our wealth and familiarity that we no longer venture further than our own circle of friends,

it is their ends that form a protective blanket wrapped around us so tight that we cannot step out to reach those in need from other walks of life.

We can switch off to the sight of death at the press of a button,

it is easy to miss the faces of desperation when the sound’s on silent.

our senses have been numbed; so anesthetized that we are no longer stunned

by the atrocities recounted on our crystal clear screens,

the vision might be high definition but we do not hear the cries for assistance from our global citizens, not even with surround sound.

And we are so disconnected from the realities of others that we are blind to

their suffering, paralysed, so overexposed to disaster and lies that we could drown in this apathy.

You see we tell ourselves that the problems on our doorsteps are not our problems,

it’s the benefit system, it’s immigration, the economy, their culture,

You see they just didn’t try as hard enough.

Yet everybody knows that the toil of Sisyphus was infinite, and where were the rewards for his endless labour?

We could make people’s load a little lighter, but we choose not too.

‘Our hands are tied’ we say in our defense, and they are tied,

tied to our phones, plugged into superficiality, charging on consumerism and wired to our egoisms.

We could put down our prisons,

free our hands to focus on the things that really matter; draw the platform a little closer, make the gap a little smaller, assist others who are weaker-

but we choose not to. The gap continues to grow and we continue on our precarious commutes, how long before the space is so great that we can no longer reach the other side?

We have a choice. We choose to remain living in our homemade prisons, watching our connections, pretending we can’t see them, pretending we can’t hear. Perhaps we do but we still remain motionless.

‘Mind the gap’ the announcement calls yet who ever paid attention to the safety warnings given by the voice from above?

'where you come from now is less important than where you're going...home isn't just the place where you happen to be born, it's the place where you become yourself.'

Boom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQucWXWXp3k

Letter to my daughter

You may not control all the events that happen to you but you can decide not to be reduced by them. Try to be a rainbow in someone's cloud. Do not complain. Make every effort to change the things you do not like. If you cannot make a change, change the way you have been thinking. You might find a new solution.
Never whine. Whining lets a brute know that a victim is in the neighbourhood.
Be certain that you do not die without having done something wonderful for humanity.

Maya Angelou

Erudite

Having or showing great knowledge or learning.

Rhetorical assignment two: my cause and passion, community engagement

In order for community development to be successful and sustainable at a local or international level the community and local citizens must be fully engaged with the development process. I have dedicated my career to engaging local communities in local development processes and opportunities: facilitating their involvement in social, health, economic and political decision making processes. I have witnessed the outcomes that community engagement fosters. 

One example focusing on the reduction of health inequalities, a current focus of my work, is found in the journal ‘Community engagement to reduce inequalities in health: a systematic review, meta-analysis and economic analysis’ that evidences the positive impact community engagement has in reducing existing health inequalities. This is just one of many examples that prove that development project outcomes are better when the local community is fully engaged. 

Involving local people in political and developmental processes is also a democratic right.

“The people of Scotland have spoken. It is a clear result. They have kept our country of four nations together.”

Take the recent Scottish referendum on independence, if a referendum had not been granted to the Scottish people we would never know whether Scotland is bound to England because it was not given a choice or because the people chose to be part of the Union. Their recent decision to stay within the union is as a result of a democratic and fair decision with over 85% of the population voted. Great Britain remains undivided through a process of engaging with citizens politically. Now compare this to the current events in Syria and the onslaught of the terrorist group ISIS, did the people of Syria have a say in whether they would like to become an independent Islamic State? Both these examples prove that citizens much be engaged in the political process for it to be democratic.

 Working in rural indigenous communities of Guatemala for two years I saw countless international and government projects come and go, handing out aid and establishing new initiatives without consulting or engaging local communities about these projects. These development solutions were often inadequately designed for the local environment or insensitive to local cultural practices. These projects often failed or were unsustainable lacking local support to enable their continuation. Take the example of a greenhouse built by the government built in a community at too higher altitude for anything to grow. The greenhouse now lies abandoned only a couple of years later. Compare that to AMA’s organic greenhouse project. The need for a supply of nutritious , affordable and diversified diet identified through community engagement processes led to the instigation of this project. Not only is the greenhouse now harvesting organically-grown tomatoes, lettuce and pepper for local consumption and for surplus sale but they are now in the process of establishing an sustainable agricultural school in order to ensure seed diversity and food security for local indigenous women and their families. All this happened because the leaders of AMA who are driving grassroots development in the Guatemalan highlands had stopped to ask what it was the community wanted. After listening to their needs they to action to respond with real and workable solutions.

Effective community engagement creates sustainable change and development for our local and international communities. Whether you work in  local or international development, it's essential that local people are given a voice, their voice often holds the key to your own projects’ success. 

http://www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/94281/FullReport-phr01040.pdf

http://www.pixanproductions.org/

http://amaguate.org/

http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/natalieprunty/sustainableagricultureschoolfundraisingpage

http://www.healthwatch.co.uk/