When family affairs are inherited by next generations
There was a van parked near the busy bus stop.
The area was teeming with pedestrians, shop-seeking citizens, motorbikes, mopeds and bicycles ready to deliver stuff to various households. Home delivery has become a huge, huge business in developing countries. Yes, it was your usual, buzzing Saturday London. And all around were children running, parents screaming at them to be careful, while push chairs, trolleys of the elders, young dudes, swaggering and swinging, and on top, car horns and the occasional ear-splitting cutting police and ambulance siren fast swirled and zoomed past. So, in such a hectic ambient, we saw this massive white van.
It reminded us of a robust cow waiting and ready to be milked.
Alas, a hospital van. Diabetes outfit. From time to time, such vehicles do impose themselves at heavily populated areas, for free, to bring awareness on urgent, pressing diseases.
Internet stats in 2019 inform that 9.3 percent of humanity is suffering from diabetes. Now, even after the spectre of Covid-19 became normal, these figures are still expected to rise to 10.3 percent by 2030. According a paper written by an Oman-based medical scholar, Jawad Al-Lawati, diabetes mellitus is expected to surge forward and viciously as we go on living...
For example, we are told, in countries with the highest number of diabetes patients (i.e. China and India), the cause is obesity and lack of physical exercise. Symptoms for this type of diabetes – commonly known as Type 2 – include feeling tired, frequently peeing and being thirsty. The biological cause is, of course, having too much sugar in the blood. This column has consistently hammered home the idea of too much sugar, keeping an eye on healthy diets, plus constant physical exercise.
So, as the van perched plainly that Saturday afternoon, we observed one thing.
Nearby stood a mother and grandmother, plus children running around and round. Six children, aged two to 12. Both women were smoking heavily. Both obese. It was obvious that most of the children were either as overweight as their maternal elders, or (and this was the most painful to bear) passively inhaling the cigarette fumes from the obese mother and grandmother. Yes, it is called passive smoking. Not only is it common in London and other rich cities, it is the root cause of children inheriting habits of their ancestors.
It is often common to hear certain heavy smokers admitting that this vile and useless habit kicked in when they were nine or ten. Like a running relay, batons picked from puffing parents, uncles, aunties and grandparents. And in this same vein, we may expect children to end up as fat and as chubby, too.
That is a presupposition someone might challenge.
Well, I would genuinely prefer more positive outcomes as I reflect on other situations.
A few weeks ago I was at this secondhand shop. Secondhand and vintage shops (selling clothes and items from yesteryears) can be amazing. The owner was merry and chatty and interesting. In her youth days, she had trotted across the globe, mostly Asia, USA and parts of Europe. In between she lost and won and fell and ran and skidded, while her family was always on standby, ready to assist, materially and morally.
“My family was and still is a rock to lean on. My dad used to say, ‘We worry about you all the time but go out and learn’. Nowadays I write books and run this shop. Enough to feed my two sons. I will say family is everything.”
We chatted about that until a giant of a guy slithered in. He wanted some red or pink trousers. The lady, who we’ll call Florida (her most favourite place), searched and tried her best to get her client those precious red trousers.
“Excellent,” the huge man boomed.
I wondered why red, as it is an unusual colour for fellas.
“Ah, its for a neighbour. He is fancy dresser and it is his 40th birthday. The chap has the best manners on earth. I can’t tell you how many times I have come drunk or hungry or down and mess up, and he let me into his parlour, served me tea and biscuits, assured me to keep well. He knows I have no family. My whole lot were wiped out in that bomb...I wont say where, but it was those darned terrorists. This guy has become my family.”
Again we spoke about family.
Family significance.
And to that bus stop we must return. And to the van. And.
And reflect. Family affairs. Basic affairs.
