Ostomy Memories of a Labyrinth

LIFE IS COMPLICATED AND IT’S A WONDER that more of us don’t go mad.  Just having to deal every day with the insane complexities of organizational structure within private industry and government can drive a reasonable person to drink.  When is the last time you were able to break through the maze and speak to a real person in some organization?  “If you are a physician, press one; if you are a patient, press two; if you are an insurance representative, press three; if you would like this menu repeated, press four; if you would like to rip my face off, hang up and re-dial.”  It can be difficult to find one’s way among the often interconnecting but typically responsibility passing warren of networks comprising a contemporary business or government entity.  I have one doctor who has a telephone system set up so that it is impossible to break through to an actual breathing human being.  The best one can do is leave a message on someone’s machine and hope for a call back… eventually.  Or not.  The whole point of constructing a labyrinth like this is to lose or confuse.  In Greek mythology, the Minotaur was punished by confinement in a labyrinth designed by Daedalus.  In contemporary society, we are all kept chastened by the impediments to personal contact and the growing mountain of obstacles associated with real communication in the 21st Century.  That leads us directly to where we are right now:  on the Internet.  Ask yourselves:  are we really communicating, or are we imprisoned inside a labyrinth?  

Hello HenryM.

I spent most of my working life helping people negotiate the complex labyrinth of modern human life. However,  I often wondered whether it would not be a more sensible option to simply opt out and live a life that was free of all that complexity.   A few of my ‘clients’ were born into such a life and I did try to capture the essence of this in a rhyme, which I share with you below: Best wishes

Bill

THE TRAMP.

I sometimes pause and look around

to see the chains by which I’m bound.

Then something deep inside of me

begins to struggle to break free.

I fancy I could be a tramp,

a nomad with nowhere to camp.

I could wander to and fro

no place to be, nor need to go.

With no ambitions to achieve

I could simply up and leave.

This makes me wonder if I may

take this route myself someday.

Tramps can live alongside us

yet they remain anonymous.

No one asks them who they are

and most pass by them from afar.

For them a tramp’s the scum of earth

Therefore they give them a wide birth.

Or could it be these folks miss out?

Not knowing what the tramp’s about.

For every person has a past

no matter what their class or caste.

The thing that always interests me

is how they manage to stay free.

Many times when I have walked

I’ve met these people and we’ve talked.

I have enjoyed what they have said

and some of them are quite well read.

For some there’s no one they can trust

and so the tramping life’s a must.

To stay away from human kind

helps them retain a healthy mind.

Others do not have a choice

they have no influence or voice.

I cannot fathom reasons why

our human rights do not apply.

If  ever I’m on any street

and by chance a tramp I meet.

I offer him a cup of tea

and show him some humanity.

I like to try to get to know

what decides his way to go.

What does he think? How does he feel?

What for him is false or real?

What circumstance has brought him here?

What does he like? What does he fear?

I’d like to know his history

and hear the whole of his story.

Consider now the price he pays

for his wondrous wandering ways.

In the summer his life seems great

but what about the winter’s fate?

Right now I’m feeling very old

I don’t like wet and don’t like cold.

And as I ache in all my joints

I start to see the finer points.

I’ve thought it out, now I can see

this thing’s about a fantasy.

For how on earth would I survive

without his skills to stay alive.

There is no sense in being dead

so hence this dream’s kept in my head.

In there I can tramp everywhere

and wander off to anywhere.

In dreams the world is at my feet

no dangers lurk that I can’t beat.

With my mind’s eye, I now can see

the tramping life is not for me.

I think that I will stay at home

then in my dreams I still may roam.

I’ll snuggle in my nice warm bed

and ponder yonder life instead.

                                         B. Withers 2012

Bill:  Good verse.  It reminded me of a book that I would recommend to anyone:  'The Importance of Living' by Lin Yutang.  His version of your 'tramp' is the 'scamp.'  Here's a quote:  "In this present age of threats to democracy and individual liberty, probably only the scamp and the spirit of the scamp alone will save us from becoming lost as serially numbered units in the masses of disciplined, obedient, regimented and uniformed coolies.  The scamp will be the last and most formidable enemy of dictatorships.  He will be the champion of human dignity and individual freedom, and will be the last to be conquered.  All modern civilization depends entirely upon him."  This was first published in 1937.  Some dangers just never go away...

Hello HenryM.

Yes! it is interesting that 'scamps'/ tramps and any person who did not conform, were some of the first targets of Hitler's dictatorship to be exterminated.

Best wishes

Bill 

Henry, we must have the same doctor. I can't ever get a human on the phone nor get my message answered. It's frustrating to say the least.

Yes, it is definitely frustrating when you have to face such unresponsiveness from those who are supposed to be patient oriented. 

I don't usually have a problem with GP's because I avoid them most of time. However, after my triple heart bypass operation I was obliged to try to make a follow-up appointment with my GP. This proved to be much more difficult than I had expected. Interestingly, after I posted the poems below directly to my GP (circumventing the reception staff), the GP telephoned me and followed that up with a home visit the same day. 

Who says that rhyming verse isn't effective!

Best wishes

Bill

                  GP’S RECEPTION.

IT SEEMS IT’S JUST THE ODD EXCEPTION

WHO CIRCUMVENT GP’S RECEPTION.

                                                   B. WITHERS 2019

MY HEART ATTACK :

GP appointment.

It may seem like a simple thing

to let the phone line ring and ring, 

but it shows some disrespect

to make the caller disconnect.

How many rings d’you think is fair 

to keep a caller hanging there?

Or do you think ‘they’ are to blame

in this surreptitious game?

You tell me when it’s best to call

but then you say the same to all.

So, I’m in a competition

with an active opposition.

And this, you claim, is not your fault

which means that I should not revolt

or show you some discourtesy

which goes against your policy.

You might justify the fact

that you don’t have to do or act

if the caller’s gone away 

to try to ring another day.

We know phones get overloaded

making relationships corroded,

but whose responsibility

is the consequentiality? 

How do I cope with frustration

and bring this thing to a cessation,

not make this drama exponential 

but get the outcome that’s essential?

The doctors seem to all agree 

their aftercare is right for me.

So, if the system doesn’t work

expect that I might go berserk  

                                  B. Withers 2019