That unwelcome discomfort from youth came visiting today

A familiar and rotten feeling

To date, I have never had a proper diagnosis, it is something I have suffered from juvenile times that I need to find a stop to. The stomach/abdominal pain that comes in waves with little in terms of relief can continue for up to a day. Usually starting early in the morning and continuing with moments of respite throughout the day.

Blog - I remember this tummy ache – (October 2007)

Blog - The pain is a long story – (September 2023)

It can be exhausting and the most I can do in terms of remedy is lie on my belly cushioned over a soft pillow and drink lots of sweet and milky tea. This might be accompanied by bowel movement or vomiting, which it was today, but it just adds to the discomfort of it all.

The thoughts that ran through my mind as I writhed with pain in my bedroom midmorning without the appetite for any ingestion even of pain relief, I would hate to consider again. I seem to have learnt to endure the pain with the hope it soon subsides.

The need for more rest

As I write this blog, even though I believe the worst of it is over, the muscles of my stomach seem to retain a memory of the suffering I endured with a foreboding that it might creep on me again. Thankfully, the pain associated with my waterworks post-radiotherapy has literally dissipated.

When I lay on the sofa in the living room, I passed the time away with old playbacks on YouTube of The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. Between the grimaces of pain and the comfort that interspersed today's main event, I did not even notice that we had some rain.

I think I’ll be fine for the rest of the day. There was no indicator as to why this ailment took hold today. I am glad it is over, and it is evident that for all the strength that I think I have regained in my first week of recuperation, I really do need as much rest as I can get, and I have not got nearly as much as I need, so far.

On the rise of juvenile witchcraft stigmatisations

A horrible development

It is sad and disheartening to hear that there is a rise in child witchcraft accusations in Africa [1]. I have never been able to watch the harrowing depictions on child witchcraft exorcisms that have appeared in documentaries in the recent years.

Worse still is the violence meted out to these accused children with the aim of cleansing them of their witchcraft powers.

I cannot understand if witchcraft were metaphysical, paranormal or spiritual how physical torture with increasingly bizarre rituals of unbelievable cruelty can be the means of negating the power and influence of witchcraft.

The hold of superstitious gullibility

The fact that certain of these charlatan exorcists can be religious leaders holding sway over frightened, superstitious and gullible congregations is bad enough – these crowds aid and abet childhood cruelty with the thinking that they are doing good.

Anyone who allows reason and common-sense to influence their judgement would very well know that if indeed these children were witches, wizards, sorcerers or more, they could easily have pooled their powers to wreak havoc amongst their tormentors teach them a veritable lesson they will never forget.

Helpless against a baying mob

These helpless, hapless, deprived children who are usually orphans, handicapped, destitute or different, especially albinos who for no reason of theirs have encountered misfortune and should find a more sympathetic, humane and compassionate society are rejected and what better way to reject them than to cast them as practitioners of witchcraft then engage in a public lynching of the children dressed as an exorcism.

Religious leaders themselves, frauds and agents of devilish concepts with their eyes on filthy lucre find a ready audience who are ready to believe any tale about their lot in life being hindered by the activities of their wards. There is money to be made in pointing accusing fingers and almost nothing can be done by the child to fight back against false accusations.

Either way, once accused of witchcraft, you are stigmatised and can never be innocent of it in the eyes of those who are lead to believe such atrocious claims.

Nothing Christian about this

From a Christian perspective, even Jesus said [2], suffer (allow, encourage) little children to come unto me and every child that suffered any affliction was humanely and compassionately healed r delivered; not brutalised as we find done today by apostles and evangelists of malevolent wickedness, gratuitous sadism and criminally actionable grievous bodily harm.

To which Jesus did say, perpetrators of violence against children can expect nothing better than drowning in the sea by hanging a millstone [3] round their necks. The preceding verses [4] talked about the need for childhood innocence, trust and humility, hardly anything about childhood witchcraft a concept that have developed for no justifiable reason than to feed the iniquitous ministries of people pretending to run a legitimate church.

Prosecute the practice mercilessly

This rotten practice has to stop and it can only stop when followers begin to follow good and sound doctrine.

Meanwhile, civil authorities [5] must not be afraid to visit the full force of the law on anybody who abuses children especially those who do it under the guise of witchcraft exorcism or some bizarre religious persuasion; the life of these children is hard enough, to make it a living hell is just unconscionably evil and an abdication of society of its responsibility to help the vulnerable.

Just because we cannot love the children or dare to like them for whatever reason does not give the license to make injurious accusations that offer the opportunity to visit the wickedest imaginations of evil violence on them.

Sources

[1] BBC News - Rise in African children accused of witchcraft

[2] Luke 18:16 | bible.cc

[3] Matthew 18:6 | bible.cc

[4] The Little Children - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[5] Witchcraft: Akpabio Warns Churches

Other references

UN publishes IHEU statement on witchcraft in Africa | International Humanist and Ethical Union

Beliefs - A Nigerian Witch-Hunter Defends Herself - NYTimes.com

Dispatches - Saving Africa's Witch Children - Channel 4

Parents of kids on booze should do time

The untouchable subject

Combining the right of centre demagoguery of the Christian Democratic Appeal ruling party with that of its second coalition party of the Christian Union; might just be like approaching the mount that cannot be touched or hearing terrifying sounds like roaring thunder.

There is no doubt that they both want to take our liberal Dutch society to Calvinist subservience where we all knew our places and let the social hand of authority and benevolence guide us to where we would fear no more.

There is no doubt however the age of alcoholic consumption initiation is falling like meteors to as low as it can be causing great concern.

Only recently a mother who provided alcohol for her 16 year old's birthday party got severely sanctioned that she would spend 2 years in prison in the United States. It was harsh, but I am hardly sympathetic about it.

Some countries have been considering bringing parents to book for allowing their children to consume alcohol and whilst we do not have laws prohibiting the use of alcohol in the home, some responsibility must surely be borne by parents for children who end up consuming alcohol in public.

Drug and alcohol fuelled

When 3 kids beat me up in December 2004, I should have known better to run for dear life when one of them picked up a bicycle and threw it at me. It should have occurred to me that only a drink and drug fuelled temperament would allow for such an exhibition of lunacy.

Basically juvenile alcoholism is a growing and serious problem; it is hitting our streets in the most unacceptable way, so as Dickensian as the plan of the governing parties might sound; breathalysing juveniles might be a welcome development - if they are immediately taken off the streets and their parents seriously inconvenienced as a deterrent with the kids put through a strict discipline and drying-out programme.

The extension to this is the rising violence of kids of immigrant descent who happen to now harbour less liberal values than their parents or the society in which they were born - they have taken to harassing other minorities, especially homosexuals, two of whom got beaten up on a popular gay street, in fact, there has been a rise in homophobic attacks in Amsterdam of late.

That should put paid to the idea of Amsterdam being the Gay capital of Europe.

Thankfully, the kids, 6 of them and all of foreign descent Morocco (4), Suriname (1) and Turkey (1) were apprehended by the police with the notice that they are repeat offenders in this atrocious banditry.

The study that most juvenile offenders use drugs and alcohol has long been read and digested, we now need some serious community action to curb these rotten activities before our peaceful cities get overrun with juveniles imitating lowlifes.