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Bill
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About
In my life so far I have had a very broad range of interests and have taken part in almost every kind of activity and sport that has become available to me. Sometimes this has been via a process of participating whilst enabling others to take part in their own chosen activities. I like to listen rather than talk and if I feel the urge to say something it usually gets documented as a chapter for a book, or if it's too complex or emotionally charged, it will invariably end up as a rhyming verse.
Inventing things gives me a buzz but being pragmatic I need an obvious problem to address before the motivation emerges. Dealing with other people's problems has been my life's work but I am now officially retired and now just do a variety of voluntary work. I like riverwalking, nature and animals but have a somewhat cynical view of the human-animal.
I am married with two children and two grandchildren.
Someone has asked me if I was 'famous'. I would like to reply to this in verse:
I AM A NOBODY.
Noblest of nobody's never can
Raise themselves to head of clan.
For if they do achieve this aim
They are someone once again.
A novel nobody is who I am.
A something, a nothing, a hologram.
A feeling, a concept amidst a malaise.
There-nowhere, never-forever, always.
If you wish to have no fame
Nor exploit for personal gain.
If you care, you share my aim
So may also share my name.
B. Withers. 1992
Since acquiring a stoma,(colostomy) I have an interest in what others are communicating about their experiences. It's not so much that I want to talk to people but to 'listen' in the form of reading about their experiences.
I have difficulty with forms such as the profile for this site in that truthful answers would be "none of the above" However, the format does not allow for this so some information might be misleading.
UPDATE 2020
Very occasionally,there are people on this site who post personal comments which are perceived as an attempt to be cutting or abusive. Of course, I do believe that everyone has a right to express their opinions, and if they wish to be perceived as potential bullies, then this will be their legacy. I quite enjoy these people aiming their venomous words in my direction, because whilst they are doing so, they give mt the opportunity of capturing the concept of 'bullying' in all its different forms in rhyme. they are also leaving the more vulnerable people alone.(for he time being). Below is a recent rhyme which deals with the somewhat cutting and unnecessary comment that someone felt that I was "A pimple on the face of humanity". You will see that it happens to coincide with my own view of myself, that 'I am A Nobody' and of no particular consequence in the scheme of things. However, to think that I might be a thorn in the side of those who wish to bully and dominate the rest of us for their own satisfaction and pleasure, certainly raises my inner-pride. I hope you enjoy the rhyme below, which is only one of many hundreds dealing with such issues.
A PROUD PIMPLE.
Someone told me the other day,
some of the things I had to say,
although they may have been quite clear
had been offensive to their ear.
They weren’t content with a comment
about what this discussion meant,
but added a brief personal note
which I would like to proudly quote:
What they said was curt and simple,
that they thought I was ‘A pimple
on the face of humanity’,
inferring their view of sanity.
I thought about this for a while
because, deep down, it made me smile,
and ponder on my role in life
amongst those humans causing strife.
For many years it’s been my role
to write about the heavy toll
placed upon the poor and weak
who rarely get a chance to speak.
My rhymes on inhumanity
and what must be insanity,
are designed deliberately
to highlight this emphatically.
What human beings have become
and all the bad things they have done,
has made me feel I don’t belong
to this species that’s so wrong.
So, my retort to the report
that I’m a pimple or a wart,
is unequivocally simple –
I feel proud to be that pimple.
B. Withers 2020
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