VN May 2020

Vetnuus | Mei 2020 48 Life plus 20 without parole Mike Lowry Mike Lowry has been in veterinary practice for "life plus 20" years. In this column, he shares his experiences and opinions . Regulars I Life plus 20 It was only amonth or two ago that I wrote about pensions andwhat I thought was required. Just howwrong can one be? Just one wink of a Chinese eye and it’s all gone. All those lovely unit trusts and those shares held in amazing gilt-edged companies virtually wiped out in a fewweeks. Investec, a company trusted by many dropped 49% in one day. Obviously the world is reeling and currently uncertainty prevails. Imagine the task of the President, when he has an obligation to the people of South Africa to keep them safe andwell-fed. This, after years of corruption which depleted State coffers, resulted in themaligned status of Junk froman investment point of view and having a huge portion of the population living in squalor. Hard to imagine worse nightmares when the likelihood of an upturn in the economy is absolutely remote! That wheel that we were all so earnestly pushing came to a sudden and abrupt halt – yes, the announcement of a lockdown, although not unexpected, sent shockwaves through the population – howwere bonds and car rentals to be repaid; where would salaries and school fees come from, let alone other things like life and health insurance.We have nowbeen a fewweeks in the lockdown and one can already see some very positive aspects. People have reluctantly accepted the position and are nowbeginning to see life froma radically different point of view. Read the poems below: Come away, Ohuman child! To thewaters and thewild With a faery, hand inhand, For theworld’smore full of weeping than you canunderstand. (The StolenChild. W.B Yeats 1865-1939) And these words could not bemore pertinent. (And People StayedHome, KathleenO’Meara, 1839–1888) This poemwas written during the COVID-19 pandemic by retired Irish teacher Kitty O'Meara, first posted on her blog "The Daily Round" onMarch 16, 2020. I hope that you all joined in: When the dust settles, we will realise how little we need, howmuch we actually have andwhat the true value of human connection is. I don’t believe that we will ever be the same, unless we allow ourselves to get back on that wheel – let’s not be the ones who don’t understand the danger and do as they please. “And the people sat still and the earthhealedand the spring came, flowers bloomedbrighteninghope andbeauty back into theworld” Enjoy the rest of the lockdown, relax and energise the soul; the banks won’t know what to do with all the houses and cars that theymay want to repossess!! v And people stayed home and read books and listened and rested and exercised and made art and played and learned new ways of being and stopped and listened deeper someone meditated someone prayed someone danced someone met their shadow and people began to think differently and people healed and in the absence of people who lived in ignorant ways, dangerous, meaningless and heartless, even the earth began to heal and when the danger ended and people found each other grieved for the dead people and they made new choices and dreamed of new visions and created new ways of life and healed the earth completely just as they were healed themselves.