I was looking after a little cat with epilepsy over the Christmas period. It was the first time in a long while that the owner had been able to spend a few days with family over Christmas and actually the first time they'd met me, having come across me and my cat feeding skills via a mutual acquaintance.
My job was to visit the cat twice a day, feed him and give him his meds, and let him go outside for a bit.
See, you can tell that something bad is about to happen, can't you? Some kind of cat related disaster. But I bet you'll never guess. You're thinking it ran away, or I trod on it, or I forgot to give it the tablets or it did poos all over the flat.
No. I poked the poor little blighter in the eye, or at least in the vicinity of his eye. How? Well, that's hard to say. But on Christmas night, I was giving him a hearty skritch behind the ear with my index finger, and he suddenly moved his face, and *poke*. There you go.
He didn't cry out, but his eye became a bit watery. I waited to check he seemed okay before heading home, feeling slightly anxious about it all.
The next morning he was looking very sorry for himself, all puffy on one side. Although his eye was open he was winking, and little cat tears were saturating his little cat nose. It wasn't clear whether I had poked him in the eye, or around the eye, but his eye hadn't appreciated it. You have to be very careful with eyes. They can quickly become infected or develop ulcers if the cornea is scratched, and my own cat has a lazy eye and saucy sailor wink from scarring from cat flu as a tiny kitten.
One of the good qualities my parents imparted to me is a strong belief that if you break it, you own up and apologise and things will work themselves out, and this will not only be the right thing to do but the pain of doing this will be far less than the worry of not owning up and taking responsibility. And so it came to pass that on Boxing Day I phoned the owner to alert her that I had poked her cat in the eye, and then paid to take it to the emergency vets to get an eye exam and antibiotic eyedrops.
Whilst at the vets I had to explain that it was not my cat and what happened. In the 'reason for injury' section of the form, they correctly wrote 'carer poked cat in eye'. It's hard to communicate exactly how mortified I was, and unfortunately my embarassment materialised in the form of me involuntarily emitting nervous laughter whilst speaking, so you can imagine how well that came across.
When the vet and I discussed about payment I said 'Well, of course [giggle] I'll be paying because it was my fault. [giggle] I mean, if it had been an accidental injury. No - Wait - Oh God, it was an accidental injury, I mean I obviously didn't poke him in the eye on purpose... er, you know [giggle].'
Fortunately the cost of the vets trip was only 70% of the worst-case scenario figure I had convinced myself it might be, and precisely as much money as I had acquired over Christmas and planned on spending during the sales to buy myself stuff. So if my relatives ask what I got for Christmas I might tell them that I made a charity donation to save the sight of an ill cat. I just might not tell them how the whole thing came to pass...
Tuesday, 28 December 2010
Monday, 27 December 2010
A slight confusion over human rights
Human rights are an idea - a jolly good idea I hope you agree. In the UK we are under the European convention, as below.
Your human rights, if you are privileged to live in the UK are theroretically:
The right to life
Freedom from torture and degrading treatment
Freedom from slavery and forced labour
The right to liberty
The right to a fair trial
The right not to be punished for something that wasn't a crime when you did it
The right to respect for private and family life
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom to express your beliefs
Freedom of expression
Freedom of assembly and association
The right to marry and to start a family
The right not to be discriminated against in respect of these rights and freedoms
The right to peaceful enjoyment of your property
The right to an education
The right to participate in free elections
The right not to be subjected to the death penalty
Lately, there's been a lot of press about Christians feeling they are discriminated against. In particular being made to do their job for people they object to on homophobic grounds, because they feel they cannot collude with gay people having families and relationships. But article 9 (Freedom of thought, conscience and religion) is actually more complicated, as below.
Article 9: Freedom of conscience
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
(2) Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
What that means is that yes, if you take a job where you have to treat all people equally including gay people, then yes, you have to treat all people equally on account of gay people actually being people. And no, it is not a right to deny other people their law-given rights.
In my job I have to give help to people who sometimes turn out to be misogynists, women-who-hate-other-women, racists, sex offenders, people who treat their children, loved-ones and pets poorly, or people who eat shitloads of factory farmed meat. And no, I do not consider it my right to not give help to these people if they need it and it's professionally my role, whatever my beliefs. This is a core value. It's what puts the profession into professional.
I admit I am fairly irreverant and critical of Christianity, not because I see it as a soft option, but because it's the religious context I have lived experience of escaping. And perhaps that's something I would benefit from addressing. But I would fear for a world where irreverance and criticism of religion is outlawed. Because if you look internationally and historically for examples of places where that has been the case, it usually comes at the expense of many of the rights up on that list.
The irreligious - we have beliefs. We're often quite shouty about them. But generally the more Humanist of us will be sticking up for the rights of Christians, or Muslims or Jews or any other people where we see their human rights being eroded. If people want to use prayer spaces at work, and make a plan such that they still work their hours, I really don't care, so long as if I wanted to start up a 70s throwback feminist consciousness raising group I can do that too, (although I doubt we'll be getting out the hand mirrors for hygiene reasons). If it doesn't cause a health and safety problem and people wear a hijab or a turban or a crucifix or a pentagram, then it's up to them to deal with the effects of difference it may cause people to perceive on first meeting them. I dye my hair ginger and until recently had a facial piercing and am also a fat person, and no doubt that has some effects on engagement too.
Your human rights, if you are privileged to live in the UK are theroretically:
The right to life
Freedom from torture and degrading treatment
Freedom from slavery and forced labour
The right to liberty
The right to a fair trial
The right not to be punished for something that wasn't a crime when you did it
The right to respect for private and family life
Freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom to express your beliefs
Freedom of expression
Freedom of assembly and association
The right to marry and to start a family
The right not to be discriminated against in respect of these rights and freedoms
The right to peaceful enjoyment of your property
The right to an education
The right to participate in free elections
The right not to be subjected to the death penalty
Lately, there's been a lot of press about Christians feeling they are discriminated against. In particular being made to do their job for people they object to on homophobic grounds, because they feel they cannot collude with gay people having families and relationships. But article 9 (Freedom of thought, conscience and religion) is actually more complicated, as below.
Article 9: Freedom of conscience
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.
(2) Freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs shall be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society in the interests of public safety, for the protection of public order, health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.
What that means is that yes, if you take a job where you have to treat all people equally including gay people, then yes, you have to treat all people equally on account of gay people actually being people. And no, it is not a right to deny other people their law-given rights.
In my job I have to give help to people who sometimes turn out to be misogynists, women-who-hate-other-women, racists, sex offenders, people who treat their children, loved-ones and pets poorly, or people who eat shitloads of factory farmed meat. And no, I do not consider it my right to not give help to these people if they need it and it's professionally my role, whatever my beliefs. This is a core value. It's what puts the profession into professional.
I admit I am fairly irreverant and critical of Christianity, not because I see it as a soft option, but because it's the religious context I have lived experience of escaping. And perhaps that's something I would benefit from addressing. But I would fear for a world where irreverance and criticism of religion is outlawed. Because if you look internationally and historically for examples of places where that has been the case, it usually comes at the expense of many of the rights up on that list.
The irreligious - we have beliefs. We're often quite shouty about them. But generally the more Humanist of us will be sticking up for the rights of Christians, or Muslims or Jews or any other people where we see their human rights being eroded. If people want to use prayer spaces at work, and make a plan such that they still work their hours, I really don't care, so long as if I wanted to start up a 70s throwback feminist consciousness raising group I can do that too, (although I doubt we'll be getting out the hand mirrors for hygiene reasons). If it doesn't cause a health and safety problem and people wear a hijab or a turban or a crucifix or a pentagram, then it's up to them to deal with the effects of difference it may cause people to perceive on first meeting them. I dye my hair ginger and until recently had a facial piercing and am also a fat person, and no doubt that has some effects on engagement too.
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Better is how it gets
Today is the Winter Solstice, and the darkest day of the year.
I celebrated with Yorkshire Salad (chips) and something similar to a prayer but not quite.
I've been in a dark place the past few months. If a partner dumps you then you may have got boring or fat. But if your best friend of 18 years dumps you then maybe you're just awful. And if they're dumping you because they're bored of you thinking you are awful then there is no way of painting it nicely and no way out other than pretending until hopefully something real emerges.
I celebrated with Yorkshire Salad (chips) and something similar to a prayer but not quite.
I've been in a dark place the past few months. If a partner dumps you then you may have got boring or fat. But if your best friend of 18 years dumps you then maybe you're just awful. And if they're dumping you because they're bored of you thinking you are awful then there is no way of painting it nicely and no way out other than pretending until hopefully something real emerges.
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Revolting
In England the Students finally are revolting. The government have agreed to scrap a limit on tuition fees, and university will now be out of the grasp of most, despite what the Tories say. Fees have tripled for most. Education for educations sake is now the preserve of only the very rich, and everyone else must take vocational courses - it's like we're back to the bad old days of Unis and Polytechnics. People say the ladder has well and truly been drawn up behind people like me, the final year to not pay fees, but I'm wondering how I'm going to support my future kids through this.
On the news I see footage of angry young people throwing paint bombs and missiles and slightly startling Royals. From the safety of my living room I find it exciting. I was a political young person and I feel pleased to see young people giving a shit about really important stuff.
On the news when we see small mobs creating chaos and destruction they tell us that it is a small band of people who came to the protests determined to cause trouble and may not even be as interested in the issues as they pretend to be. Of course. I knew lots of people like that growing up - misguided anarchists and rebels without a clue and people who just wanted to dance on top of a bus stop. They 'ruined' many peaceful protests I attended. But hasn't there been people like that at every protest in time? Outside, rattling the gates of Versailles and the Winter Palace I daresay there were more than a few who weren't actually that bothered or personally effected by the specific issues, but just fancied a bit of a riot. Possibly it's actually those people who make regime change happen, given their unthinking enthusiasm for things like charging gates and defenestration.
'What do we want?'
BLARGH!
When do we want it?
NOW!'
Mostly I am excited by seeing people use their right to protest in a free-formed way. Labour used the cover of anti-terrorism and health and safety to reduce the rights of the populace to protest to that of a well-organised ambulant Church fete.
On the news I see footage of angry young people throwing paint bombs and missiles and slightly startling Royals. From the safety of my living room I find it exciting. I was a political young person and I feel pleased to see young people giving a shit about really important stuff.
On the news when we see small mobs creating chaos and destruction they tell us that it is a small band of people who came to the protests determined to cause trouble and may not even be as interested in the issues as they pretend to be. Of course. I knew lots of people like that growing up - misguided anarchists and rebels without a clue and people who just wanted to dance on top of a bus stop. They 'ruined' many peaceful protests I attended. But hasn't there been people like that at every protest in time? Outside, rattling the gates of Versailles and the Winter Palace I daresay there were more than a few who weren't actually that bothered or personally effected by the specific issues, but just fancied a bit of a riot. Possibly it's actually those people who make regime change happen, given their unthinking enthusiasm for things like charging gates and defenestration.
'What do we want?'
BLARGH!
When do we want it?
NOW!'
Mostly I am excited by seeing people use their right to protest in a free-formed way. Labour used the cover of anti-terrorism and health and safety to reduce the rights of the populace to protest to that of a well-organised ambulant Church fete.
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