Our Reality

Out of sight, out of mind

At the end of every sentence there are full stops. I put them there to represent mundane deaths. Car accidents, falls. These deaths are rarely seen as newsworthy, unlike deaths in plane crashes or train collisions. Ten deaths in one day, on our roads, means very little. Ten deaths in one train crash means much more to us. However, if you die in a novel way, a news reporter may write a little story about it. News reporters tend to flock to the scene, if and only if, lots die, all together in one go. If you are involved, you personally are unlikely to get a mention, but the event will. No matter what the cause of death, it gets a lot of attention if you are famous or infamous. Then you can have a red circle on my ceramic plate. I find it all rather crass. All people are valid to me. And the newsworthiness is very much dependant on the nationality of those in peril. Tragedies involving poor citizens have much less significance than tragedies involving rich ones.

If you take a walk down the high street of your town you see plenty of people out and about. There may be a few in wheelchairs, some will be struggling to get around, but on the whole people seem alive and well. What you don’t see, is all the people too ill to leave home. You do not see those laid up in hospital. It gives a false impression that all things are alright. Many people are hidden away, out of sight and out of mind. Whilst traveling we stayed in someone’s house, a bedsit of sorts. It was very nice. They cooked great meals and told us a lot about the area. One evening I took the plates into the kitchen and found that they had a child, maybe in their early twenties sitting in a wheelchair. Unable to talk properly but with some communication skills of sorts. I don’t think she left the house very often.