That's Scary & The English Woman~Show 3a

Now we're recording.

Yeah, we're recording now.

I love how you do that with your thumb. There is actually a little red recorder recording message on the screen for me so I can see that you're doing it.

Yeah.

But yeah, I know we were talking about that earlier this week, that my brain was full of things And it feels like every day I wake up and it's more full of things, it's not less full of things. So I don't know, I don't know what's going on other than the news and, you know, inside, when you're inside, that's what you do, I guess.

Yeah, I think it's It's so unsettling, I think, because we don't know any answers. There's no firm answers. And I think as humans, we struggle with the unknown. Yeah, we have to feel secure. And I know we talked earlier, and I'll talk about it again, is the fact that, um, yeah, fear of the unknown is one of our greatest fears, I think. And I think One of the things I'm noticing is that the younger generations, they really struggle with uncertainty more than maybe some of the older generations. They've grown up in a world where everything's certain. They can— there's instant television, they can choose any program. I mean, how many programs are just generally, but if they've got Sky or other kind of other, other packages, like the world's their oyster. They can have it on demand. They can have— if you want to know an answer to something, you just Google it. You get an instant answer. It might not be the answer you want. And I've spoken to a client recently and she said, "Yeah, the answer— I will keep searching till I get the answer I want, not the answer I need." And then even that can lead to confusion because you get so many things on, so many permutations on Google or something, that you can frighten yourself to death with something if you're looking up a symptom or something. And I guess that's the problem, is that youngster, young people, they have an instant phone, they can contact their friends, they can't get away from their friends almost because it's It's there in their faces. So that sense of uncertainty or waiting or not knowing, although it's tough for anybody, I think it's much tougher for the youngsters.

Yeah, well, I posted a— I'm doing a daily little, um, 1-minute video message daily just for, just for fun, actually. I'm doing it, but, uh, I thought, well, I'll post them on my YouTube channel. And I posted them on my YouTube channel and I got a message yesterday from a guy. I don't know him, but he said, uh, he said, excuse me, 15 days isn't going to be enough. He says it might be 2 or 3 months before anything happens. And then he said, because he believes that we're all going to get the virus, period. You're all— we're all going to get it. And then once you get it and you recover from it, your immune system is better so that when you get it the second time, it's not as bad. Whoa, that guy's got it down. He knows exactly what he's talking about as far as number of times, and I'm going, I don't think I want it anytime. I don't want it once. I, you know, he's saying I'm going to get it twice no matter what happens.

Oh gosh, yeah. And I think that is, that is the danger, isn't it? That we, we're plugged into social media, we're getting so many people, experts on TV telling us what's going to happen, but actually We don't know what's going to happen. We can't plan any of this. Yes, I think it is a known fact that if you contact a particular virus, if you contract it, you build immunity towards it afterwards. The same with, you know, kind of, say, bacteria, you know. Yeah, but viruses, and then the other one, I can't— why won't it come to my head? But you know, colds are viruses and therefore all the antibiotics will not help it. So it's— the best way is to build our own immune system. But for some people that could be really quite devastating.

Yeah.

So I think that's why— but yeah, that's why I think we all need to be a bit careful and It is, I think we can only do what we, you know, what feels right for each of us.

Yeah.

I think for some people it's self-isolation, for some people it's, they're happy to go out and about, and I think if that works for them, then the rest of us, I'm self-isolating basically. I think I've got to do what's right for me, and if others aren't, then If I'm in contact with those people, I don't want to be in contact with them. No. I've got, you know, I've got a weakened immune system, so I don't need it. No.

I mean, to me, I don't call it self-isolating. I call it staying at home.

I like that.

I don't like that phrase, self-isolate. No, I know. It's too medical, and I just— I'm not into that. Terminology. I don't think it feels too much like prison. So I'm just gonna say, you know, I'm just gonna stay in at home and indoors for a while and relax and chill out. And I never watch— I never watch the news. I never watch the news. I only watch YouTube.

Oh, do you?

YouTube News, which is, I can select the news channels I want, and they're always 7 or 8 or 4 or 5 hours at the earliest old. So they're not current.

Ah, okay.

So I can kind of page through what I wanna watch and who I wanna watch versus if I just turn on BBC or ITV or whatever. Whatever, I'm kind of stuck with their programming and it's usually, usually pretty overwhelmingly negative. So yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't watch any of it ever.

And no, me, I never do. I gave up watching the news years ago. Yeah, because I started counting on the fingers of one hand how many— when it got to second hand. How many bad pieces of miserable depressing items there were on there and I just thought I don't need that in my life.

No, no.

So I don't, I don't watch the news. I have a different tactic. I will just plug into certain, like BBC News, I'll just look at the headlines and decide if I want to read any further. Sure. But generally I'm quite happy in my own little bubble. I don't care, I'm not interested. You know, if something drastic happens, I reckon I'll be told about it. Oh yeah. But why do I need to worry about what's going on in another part of the world where I can't do anything about it? No, it's a— it just leaves us feeling helpless.

Yeah, yeah, I already kind of feel that way anyway.

Yeah, yeah, I do generally. I'm generally— yeah, I can feel for people. I can feel sadness that a natural disaster has happened, um, but actually following it and, and creating stress in myself, it doesn't help. No. And you and I, we, we support others who are vulnerable or struggling or have problems. So why would we need to make ourselves more unhappy and miserable to help them? We can't do that. No, we have to keep ourselves as robust as possible so that we are there to support others. Otherwise, we'll both fall apart and we won't be good to anybody.

Yeah, then I turn into the useless human I used to be. Really?

You don't say that when I've got a microphone.

I don't know that I was ever really the useless human that I was in the past. I don't think that's a proper title for me, but there's just those times that that's crossed my mind in the past. And I don't know that it's me now. I don't think I'm the useless human. I just got another letter from a lady on my email saying, we and the kids saw you at a festival in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Nice.

It has to be 15 years ago. And the kids were so impressed, she said. Oh, and we just love to see you. We loved what you had to say, and I've been following you ever since. And so it's kind of cool. That's what these little, these little 1-minute videos that I'm talking about. Yeah, uh, people watching me don't realize how many people really watch them. And that's what that did, is it spawned her to say— spawn a word?

Hey, what?

Spawn? Yeah, it's a weird word. It spawned, it created, it caused her to speak up and say, yeah, yeah, okay, yeah, that, uh, she might not have even, and I, and I would have gone along. But it's nice to hear from the people in the past, you know, that what you do helps people. And, um, so I don't know that I'm useless yet. I'm not quite useless.

I'm That's a really hard judgment to make. Really hard.

Well, it's a joke, and I play that, you know, I actually love playing those jokes on people in England more than I do in America.

Ah, because?

Because I think the people in England are extremely liberal and they're very into caretaking. So, and I'm not saying that's a negative, I'm just simply saying that that's what I've noticed. And, and, uh, yeah. And so when I say things like that, they want to come out and rescue me. They want to rescue me and they want to tell me, no, that's not the way you are. And I'm going, I'm kidding, I'm joking. And they— but if they jump right to it, I think it's funny to, to watch.

Ah, yeah, okay.

Not all of them, but a lot of them. There's some—

I mean, you do catch me on occasions because I get caught up and think, oh, hang on a minute, what's going on here? Because I guess so many people are so self-judgmental anyway, and so maybe insecure, I don't know, but they don't need to be put down any further. So I always, I guess, I always try and reassure people. That's the way I've developed, I think, over the years. But yeah, I think it's— I will quietly show someone or ask them why they feel that way.

Well, I had a— I don't know what to call her. I think she's a Methodist preacher. She's a vicar. I don't know what the name is for them here in England. Okay. Really nice lady. But we have the Methodist Church.

Uh-huh.

1, 2, 3, about 5 buildings down from us. So it's down there all along, you know, and it's there, you know, and every Sunday— used to, and they don't, they didn't have services Sunday.

Okay.

But, uh, She heard I was going in for a knee operation, see, because I had the knee operation on Monday.

Yeah.

And she said, "Well, we'll be praying for you." And I thought, "Well, that's kind of cool." I never had a whole congregation or a church or a vicar or the head of the church tell me they're going to be praying for me. And I'm thinking, "That's incredible." I mean, that's, to me, You know, I don't go to church and I haven't been to church for a long time. What's weird about that though is I get hired by churches to come and talk.

Oh yes.

Oh, you know, whenever I used to speak at the Christian churches, they all thought I was a Christian.

Oh, right.

And when I would speak for the Jewish religion, 'cause I would be hired by the Jews in synagogues, they would think that I was connected to the Jewish faith. So, and when I was hired by the Muslims, they thought I was Muslim. So it's really weird because everybody has their own set of thoughts and rules based on what they live. And so everybody thought whenever I was in that environment, that's what I was. And even when I was hired— this is a weird one— when I was hired by the United States Air Force, the military, in Andrews Joint Air Force Base. Now, I don't know if you know where that is. Andrews Joint Air Force Base is the Air Force base in Washington, D.C. Wow.

Okay. Washington, D.C., which is useful.

Washington, D.C., this is where they house, uh, Air Force One, the president's jets, and the helicopters, and all the things that have to do with Washington, D.C. and the president. Well, they invited me to speak to all the generals and the colonels and the majors. At Andrews Air Force Base, Joint Air Force Base. And I didn't realize, but the guy that picked me up was the colonel in charge of the religions for the Air Force in Washington, D.C. I'm going, this is crazy. So here I am gonna talk to this group of commanders. Yeah, and he picks me up from the airport, and him and his assistant right away assume that I'm a Christian.

And that's an interesting one, isn't it? Because we make assumptions. Oh yeah.

No, I'm not saying that's a bad thing, and I didn't say—

I don't know the guy.

I, I just— I just— and he tried to get me to say things about Christianity, and I wouldn't.

Okay, yeah, and I think he had a hard time with it. Yeah, I bet, I bet he did. But isn't that what human beings do? We make assumptions, we make it, we make it up in our head. So somebody had— whoever it was, whichever church, they had an assumption that you were of that religion. That they had no information about you apart from you were going to speak there.

Yeah.

But that's what, that's what we do as humans. We make an assumption, we make a judgment on somebody based on the information we've got at the time. Well, all they had was that you were invited to go and speak, so in their heads they decided that that's what, that's what they, you know, that's what you were.

Yeah, and I, and I, I, I had a— I didn't say anything about Christianity or being Christian or anything in my talk. It wasn't even about religion, um, but his assumption of who I was as a person was what he was.

Yeah.

And I told him that Whether I am or aren't isn't the issue. That's what I said. He said, well, what do you mean? I said, I can't commit to you or anyone else one religion or not. And he goes, well, what do you mean by that? And I said, because if I say to the world in my life that I'm a Christian, then the Hindus and the Jews and the Muslims, who are— those are all people— won't want to hear from me, and they won't want to talk to me. They won't want me to come and speak to them. If I declare myself a Muslim, then the Christians and all the other people won't speak to me. So I says, because inherently, like you just said, judgment is judgment, and people make those judgments based on So I told him, that's why I don't say I'm this or I'm that. I like to pretend and say I'm all of you and I'm all of that. And of course that didn't make any sense to him. He was still friendly to me and all, you know, but it was really weird and difficult. And I've had that experience before in the religious world. But what I was getting at was the Methodist church, which I really love the people there. They're really cool people. The vicar, she's really cool. And the manager, his name is Ray, he's really cool. They've tried to get me to come down and participate at the church a few times, you know. And I said, no, the closest I'm going to get to participating in your church is when I come out and pick up the litter in front of it. They look at me like, are you trying to cause trouble? I said, no. And they know I pick up the litter in front of their church and up and down the street. Well, when it wasn't the coronavirus, I was out every day picking up litter. And they were so grateful that I picked up litter. Guess what they did last Christmas? They gave me a Christmas present. Oh, wow. And they said, thanks for picking up the litter. I went, this rocks. You know, but you know, I have to also say this, of all the businesses on the street that I clean up in front of, they're the only ones that said thank you. So isn't that interesting? Now I'm sure the other ones maybe are somewhat grateful. Maybe they're not. I don't know, but they never say. So there is something to say about religion, you know. I'm not saying negative or positive, but they're, they're saying good things to me about it. And they say, hey, we noticed this, thank you very much, we really appreciate that. And nobody else has ever done that.

It's very interesting, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yes, I, I do, I do, I always, I often think about this. Because I think people feel that once the litter has left their hand, it's not their responsibility anymore.

No, no, I think they go one step further. I think they think once they buy something, they paid for it, they can do what they want with it. Yeah, they, they're entitled to do whatever they want.

Yeah.

And it's not my job after it leaves my hands.

Yes.

So because of the self-entitlement and the lack of responsibility and respect, it hasn't been taught along the way. You're right, it leaves their hands and it's not their job and it's not their responsibility. It's someone else's. They get paid to do that. And how do I know that? You're absolutely right. Because I was picking up the litter on the street one day, and I do it for a lot of reasons. Number one is to keep the streets clean, but number two, to meet people. And then also I'm doing it like a social experiment and psychological experiment with people. And you don't know how many times I've had people come up to me and say, do you get paid to do that? I said, no. They go, why do you do it then? And I go, well, I do it because I live here and I don't want to look at the litter. It bothers me to think that I live in a tip. And they look at me like, huh? Their heads kind of cocked like a dog, you know. And I said, well, they pay people to do that. And I said, well, I'm just trying to help them out because there's so much of it. There's so many people doing it, throwing the things on the ground and not even thinking about what it means. I figure that, and I live here, so I'm going to do something. I'm not going to wait around for it. And what it does is if I don't, if I, if I wait around, I then start finding fault with people like you. That's what I tell them. I says, I then become negative to look at it all the time and to see it on the ground. I get into my negative thinking about how horrible people must be to be able to do that. And so I don't want to be like that. I don't want to be negative. So I just, I be very positive and proactive and I take care of it and eliminate it off the streets. And I still see people do it, and I go, maybe they'll get the message by seeing I'm out there picking it up. Maybe they won't, but I don't care. It's like you said, I don't care, I just do it.

Yeah, and that, um, that's a lot. It does. While you were talking, I was saying it does bring up that negativity in me too, because if I see people dropping litter, or I see litters being dropped, I feel that negativity towards others just like you. I've got a nature reserve, little one, near close to where I live, and I go walking there, and it's just nice to get out in the sunshine, and it's usually empty, but now and again I'll come across some litter, and I pick it up, but then— and I'll put it in the bin while I'm on my way out. I think, well, why?

Why?

Or even when neighbors, they see litter right outside their door and yet they never ever pick it up. And it does, you're right, it brings out in me that negativity about others. And yeah, judgment, judgment blows my mind.

That would just, just happen in the news too yesterday. I don't know if you heard about that one. A gang of youths, teenagers, a gang of teenagers. Did you hear this?

I definitely—

This to me speaks very, very highly, I think, of today's world and what's really going on in it. Forget the coronavirus. That's just symptomatic of what's going on. But This kind of stuff is just, to me, is extremely frightening. It's more frightening to me than the coronavirus. A gang of youths in Yorkshire, and it could have been Leeds, showed up at an accident scene where there were law enforcement, police officers, and, and other, um, service-oriented people helping. And the gang of youths showed up and started spitting their saliva at and on the people trying to help the injured and the other people. And I went, "Just when you think you've seen it all, that happens." And I'm going, "What is going on with these people?" that think— because now they think they've got a weapon, see? Yeah, the coronavirus, see? So they think that, uh, well, and I'm going— and they're immune from it. That's what they probably think. They're not going to get sick, when in reality 40% of all the people in Italy that were sick and died were between 20 and 55. I don't know if you know that.

No, no.

Well, there's a statistic you could chew on. Now the difference is They got sick later on. They didn't get sick and die early. That's what the vulnerable do. They got sick later on and died. So this is a disease that even those kids on the street had better listen about because it's extremely powerful and it is very— there's no, there's no known cure for it yet. There's no known cure. There's some things they're working on that I think can subdue it and slow it way down and change the direction of it once it's in your body. But it's nothing to mess with. It's really serious stuff. But here they are out there doing that purposefully. And I'm going, that's unbelievable. I can't— my mind can't even fathom that. Thinking.

No, no, I don't know.

I'm from a different world, I guess, because I'm 66 years old, going to be 67 this year, and I, I can't imagine— now I've done horrible things in my life, but I can't imagine intentionally harming other people.