Little Lives

Our 4 yr-old granddaughter was in tears. Inconsolable. The reason? Nothing to do with being told 'it's bed time' or 'no you can't have that!'. She told us, in between the sobs, that she doesn't want to die.
She has absolutely no cause to worry about death. A fit European child without any known medical problems, death should be an extremely long way off. Living in Switzerland, her life expectancy at 4 must be one of the best in the world: 82.25 years from birth, as far as I can gauge second only to Japan at 82.93 years, despite all that cheese. Clean mountain air, perhaps? Whatever, she allowed her young mind to be clouded by dark thoughts. What really troubled me was that after a tortuous explanation of how she's going to have a long and happy life (how do I know?), marry and be a mummy herself ('boy and girl, ay?'... no, '2 girls!') and then the bit about going to heaven and meeting up with granny and grandpa again (can I be sure?), after my lengthy positive reinforcement, she just stared at me with those big sceptical eyes then burst into tears again and said: 'after... I don't want to die after!'

Heartbreaking, but what does one say? What can one say? And look what happened in the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14th 2012, one of the blackest days in American history: twenty first graders and six teachers shot dead in cold blood. And one of the most horrific... no, evil... events I can recall. It's not just about numbers (nearly 300,000 people, children included, were killed by the Tsunami of 2004 - haven't yet seen 'The Impossible', but will do), it's the fact that children were deliberately targeted. Compared with other animals, humans do some pretty evil things but for me the Newtown shootings went to the very top of the evil scale. The gun lobby's response? Well, those of you who watched the news channels at the time will remember the man who said, 'the only way to deal with bad guys with guns is to use good guys with guns' (or something similar!). Sir, would you please define a 'good guy' with a gun. Would you happen to be one of those yourself? Well done, Obama! Your press speech was magnificent... and good luck with those red-necks down south.
Something must be done, for I also have two lovely granddaughters in Texas who attend a lovely school and frankly the thought of a gunman getting into that school, whether or not policed by 'good guys with guns', fills me with horror. I want them to live their statistically allotted lifespan (78.24 for the USA... one of the lowest in the developed world, and we probably know why (guns and an inefficient insurance based health service... I've worked as a doctor in the USA so I do know what I'm talking about, you Tea Party people).

So, a few thoughts please. What do you say to a child frightened of dying when living in a country with great survival prospects? What do we, the human race, do about the killing of children in USA?

Life can be worrying...

...and life can be confusing, particularly where feet and specs are concerned.

A place to look for answers?

A horse with a telegraph pole attached to its ear... listening in?
By the way, the bread in Switzerland is very good. Does that contribute to the longevity of the Swiss, perhaps?

A depressing thought for Swiss cows who must surely believe the answer lies embedded in Swiss cheese:

Or is it shovelling snow that keeps the Swiss fit?

Or the Swiss mountain air?

And meanwhile in Texas, please God look after my beautiful granddaughters in their lovely school...

Bye bye, wheelie bin...