Mint Tea

So Long And Thanks For All The Fish

So long and thanks for all the fish
So sad that it should be like this
We tried to warn you all, but oh dear
You may not share our intellect
Which might explain your disrespect
For all the natural wonders
that grow around you.
So long so long and thanks, for all the fish!

Your world’s about to be destroyed
There’s no point getting all annoyed
Lie back and let the planet disolve around you
Dispite those nets of tuna fleets,
We thought that most of you were sweet,
Especially tiny tots and you pregnant women
so lond so long and thanks, for all the fish!

If I had lust one last wish,
I would like a tasty fish
If we could just change one thing,
We would all have learnt to sing

Come one and all, man and mammal,
join together in life’s great gene pool!

(long pause)

so long so long so long so long so long!
so long so long so long so long so long!
so long so long and thanks for all the fish!

See the video.

(From The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy Soundtrack)

Unfortunately the world is still full of bullies and unfortunately there are people who can’t defend themselves from them yet.

So today I will give you some tips that I told one of my patients yesterday.

Do you know why nobody yells at me at the phone? Because I hang up. Immediately. As soon the person raises his voice I hang up. In his face. If I’m in a good mood I could advise: look, I will hang up in your face unless you change your manners. But otherwise, I just hang up. And if the person calls me again I explain: I hung up because you shouted at me. If the guy complains and shouts again… I hang up again and maybe I go to step two:

I don’t answer the phone. Nothing can make me talk to anybody I don’t want to. Nothing. So I just push the red button and that is all. It’s so simple. Really. It is simple.

But what happens when you are face to face to the bully?

Pay attention: this goes with every bully, at school, at home, everywhere.

You walk away.

You turn around and walk away. Don’t stay listening shit you don’t deserve to listen. Mainly if the person is yelling at you. Nobody may yell at you. (And obviously you may not yell at people too. Unless you want to shout back, but that’s another story…). Be cool and go away.

The act of leaving a person shouting by himself is a very aggressive one. So be prepared to go all the way, until the end. It means anything can happen. The person can grab your arm; can hold you to keep you immobilized to continue harassing you. Then, you say firmly: DON’T TOUCH ME. LET ME GO! And do whatever you have to do to free yourself if you are not complied. Even ask for help and call the authorities if needed. NOBODY CAN TOUCH YOU WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION. It is illegal and you may call the police if you have to. Don’t bother going crazy. The message you have to pass is: don’t mess with me or you will face the consequences (the law, the principal, the parents, etc.).

Why do people don’t face their oppressors? Fear. But most of all because they don’t think they deserve to be well treated, well defended by who defends people. They think they are less important, they have low self-respect, so I must tell you: all people are inviolable. Our bodies are our boundaries and nobody can touch us if we don’t want to be touched. Put this idea in your mind and defend yourself. Do whatever you have to do. Don’t let anybody trespass your limits. Not once. So you will feel you are an entire person.

I don’t advocate violence. I just tell people to defend themselves when they are threatened and to avoid situations that can be disagreeable.

I was born and have lived all my life in one of the biggest cities of the world, Sao Paulo until I was 34. I’ve lived in a classy neighborhood full of intellectuals in a big apartment with a great view.

I’d decided to retire early from neurosurgery and left the hospital I’ve been working. So I had my own practice in a fancy office. But the big city was scaring me.

Violence for me was a big issue then. And I’ve decided to leave. Let everything and everyone behind, including my dear, dear husband.

After a brief passage over Anguilla (it was Anguilla or the husband, and I preferred the husband). I’ve chosen Sao Francisco Xavier, Sao Paulo State, here in Brazil. A small village 4-hour-trip away from Sao Paulo, in the midst of the slope rain forest.

I moved to SFX on December 1997, to a small rented house near the main square, my dogs and I. And I bought a piece of land full of grass for cattle near the city. The terrain was so inclined that I couldn’t climb it easily. It has a 22 floors gap. I’ve paid it by instalment and afterwards I’ve saved money to do the earthwork.

I began to work as a physician at the local health station the next year. I thought I was now a Local. But in fact, I was an Outsider.

And outsiders have SUCKER written in their foreheads in terms of managing ranches, as I would see.

(To be continued some day)

If you throw a lobster into boiling water, it will escape from the pan. But if you put the lobster into cold water and heat it gradually, the lobster will perish.

I am always amazed with our capabilities of adaptation to adverse conditions.

Sometimes an alarm ringed in my head advising me that the water was boiling but I didn’t care. I gave up to my routine. It was much comfortable.

And I’ve been acting like a lobster in the hot water for the past months and didn’t notice. Until I’ve been pulled out of the pan unwillingly and I saw the water yes was really damn hot.

Now I have to create a new habitat for me, with better waters, I hope. I will spend time and effort in this. It is always better to be in any pan than panless. But in other hand, I have the entire ocean now.

But the cool thing is that changes are for the best. And I learn from my experiences, otherwise I would be dumb.