Beware the banshee

The Banshee mournful wails
In the midst of the silent, lonely, lonely night,
Plaining, she sings the song of death.                                            (Old Irish poem)

The banshee tradition occurs throughout Ireland and nearby islands. The Gaelic term used most frequently to describe the banshee is the "bean-sidhe" (a female dweller of a sidhe, or fairy mound).

Originally the banshee would appear for only six important Irish families: the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, the O'Learys, the O'Gradys and the Kavanaghs. However, time and intermarriage has extended the list to a considerable length.

The banshee, when spied upon, will take on one of several forms: a young woman, a stately matron or a ragged old hag. She wears a grey, hooded cloak or a shroud similar to the garment of someone prepared for burial. Her long, fair hair is tangled and she has been seen combing it with a shiny silver comb.

Irish children are warned that, if they ever see a beautiful silver comb lying on the ground, they must never pick it up. It has been placed there by banshees to lure unsuspecting humans. Anyone who picks it up will be spirited away.

In Scottish legend, the banshee may appear as a washerwoman and is seen near a stream or river, apparently washing the bloodstained clothes of the one about to die.

The most distinctive feature of a banshee is her cry. Legend has it that she will wail around a house if someone in the family is about to die. The first night, only the one to die hears a series of low moans. They are warnings to get one's affairs in order.

The second night the family will hear her howling for an hour or more around midnight.

The third night the banshee comes and shrieks, with keening screeches that will break glass. Everyone in the vicinity knows that a death will occur that night. It is said that a banshee's wails will cause its hearers to break out in cold sweats and experience a great sense of fear.

It is possible that the legend of the banshee arose from a mixture of traditional Irish funeral customs and their belief in the supernatural. When a citizen in an Irish village died, a woman would sing or "keen" at the funeral. Music in those days was often connected to spirits or fairies. Possibly, the ritual and the superstition merged to create the legend of the banshee.

The knowledge of these mythical creatures survives to this day, along with that of fairies and leprechauns, although few will admit to having any personal experience with these supernatural entities.

Gaelic oral traditions were passed down for centuries, and many were written down only in the last five hundred years, so there are many versions of tales and legends about fairies, banshees, leprechauns and other Irish sprites.

It's been suggested that the banshees emigrated with their chosen families: the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, the O'Learys, the O'Gradys and the Kavanaghs, their offspring and their relatives.

Just because you no longer live in the ancestral homeland, is no guarantee you'll never be visited by a banshee. Now, at least you'll know the message they've come to convey.

Should America intervene in Syria?

Syria is presently in a state of civil war. President Bashar al-Assad is attempting to quash a rebellion by cruel attacks on his enemies. Many innocent victims, including innocent women and children, are being injured and killed. In western nations, pressure is mounting for America, with or without its allies, to intervene and halt the slaughter. This writer believes this would be a mistake for the following reasons:

* Intervention in Syria does not meet the criteria for a just war

Syria is involved in a civil war between two factions within its borders. The country is not a direct threat to the safety and security of the United States. In addition, in this day of modern weapons and advanced technology, many more innocent civilians will be needlessly slaughtered if an outside nation causes the intensity of the battle to escalate.

* The US cannot afford it.

The U.S. debt is presently over 15 trillion dollars and that amount is increasing every minute. The country is trying to dig its way out of a recession and it simply cannot afford to take on any other projects or responsibilities at this time.

* Each nation has the right to decide its own destiny.

From 1861 to 1865 America was involved in its own civil war. No other nation interfered, stepped in, or tried to dictate the outcome. In the end, justice prevailed and the United States endured to become the greatest democratic country on earth. American politicians, and their allies in NATO must allow the Syrians the freedom to work out their differences without interference.

* Intervention in another Arab conflict will further damage the American image.

America's foreign policy has already made it extremely unpopular in the Arab world. After the invasions of Iraq, Afghanistan, and the killing of Osama bin Laden, resentment against US and its leaders is at an all-time high.

* Charity begins at home.

Within the United States, there are 1.5 homeless people, Many children and adults don't know where their next meal will come from, and numerous citizens of all ages can't afford necessary health care. Returning veterans with emotional illnesses lack treatment to help them resume normal lives. State and local governments are cutting social programs because of large budget deficits. It seems only reasonable that the country should get its own house in order, before rushing off to help those in a distant land.

* Intervention is likely to be a useless endeavor.

America backed the pro-democratic Egyptian rebels as they deposed dictator Hosni Mubarek. What was gained? Following the first election, there are rival claims to victory between Mubarek's ex prime minister, and a member of the fundamental Islamist Brotherhood, neither of whom is likely to be friendly to the United States.

The U.S. military spent about 1 billion dollars backing Libya’s revolution against dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The Libyan Transitional National Council has been recognized by the United Nations as the legitimate governing authority for Libya. It announced that Transitional National Assembly elections will be held in June, 2012. Whether or not that will actually occur remains to be seen.

Syria's revolution is indeed an tragedy, but the Syrians must be allowed to settle their own problems. There are American citizens who exist in dire need each and every day,  and that is where its priorities must lie.

Strangeness in the night- on radio

Sunday evenings were special at our house when I was a kid. Then, several eerie radio shows, originating from a Buffalo radio station, were beamed into a darkened bedroom in Ontario, Canada. My sister and I, crouched on a quilt on the floor, wedged in between the wall and the side of a bed, listened with rapt attention to tales of "Boston Blackie," "The Shadow," and "Inner Sanctum".

Wintertime was best for this activity because the early darkness added to the atmosphere of mystery engendered by the programs. It enabled us to enter more fully into the dastardly plots unfolding into our eager young ears. With no visual images to act as distractions, our imaginations were free to run rampant, and mine usually did.

Were we frightened? A little, perhaps, but there was always a comforting corner of the mind which knew that the stories were only make-believe. We were never too scared to munch on cookies or slurp a Popsicle. We knew that we would be able to hear "The Fred Allen Show" later in the evening, when the sound wafted in from our parents' radio in the living room. The comical characters inhabiting "Allen's Alley" had the ability to dispel from our consciousness any troublesome, lingering images.

Years have passed since those days. Now, in the retirement phase of my life, I wonder if I have entered that notorious stage known as "second childhood". Once again, I find myself curled up in the darkness, listening, enthralled to an eerie program beamed into the bedroom from a radio station in St. Catharines, currently CKTB.

Now, my program of choice is "Coast to Coast A.M." The presiding host this evening is George Noory. This program airs from 10:00 P.M.- 5:00 A.M. in our area, admittedly a difficult time to tune in, but an ideal time to let the imagination wander through the convoluted corridors of the paranormal.

In the blackness of night, I have considered topics such the possibility of extraterrestrials visiting earth, the existence of the abominable snowman, the reality of demonic possession, the accuracy of end-time prophecies, and hair-raising accounts of conspiracies threatening every aspect of life as we know it in the Western World. My comfort factor now is the proximity of the warm body of my husband sleeping beside me.

I discovered this program several years ago, while coping with a period of sleeplessness. My spouse found that the light from the reading lamp on my side of the bed woke him up. Reluctant to get up and wander the house alone again, after several nights of wakefulness, I grabbed my walkman radio, hoping to find some soothing music which might lull me back to "The Land of Nod."

Hardly! I encountered Art Bell and one of his more gruesome guests. Nights have never been the same since that time. Insomnia is no longer a problem!

They say you can never go back and recapture your childhood, but I believe I've succeeded in recovering one of the pleasures from that long ago period of my life. I will lie in bed tonight again and let my imagination run wild. The host tonight is inviting any time -travellers to call in and share their stories with listeners.That should prove interesting.

You know, day-to-day life in retirement is good, but the nights are full of fanciful adventures. There's no harm done. After all, it's only make-believe, staged for entertainment value, isn't it? Well, isn't it? Anyway, you'll have to excuse me now. I'm overdue for a prolonged afternoon nap.

How to simplify your life

Have you ever felt like mouse on a treadmill, running in endless circles, longing for a chance to rest and recharge your batteries? For many people, the stress of modern living gradually depletes their resources until a physical or emotional breakdown forces them to stop, alter their habits, and adopt a simpler lifestyle.

Living a simple life means eliminating everything except what is essential, trading stress for serenity, and spending your time doing only those things which are important and enjoyable to you. Here are five practical steps for accomplishing this goal.

1. List your priorities

On a piece of paper or a file card, write down the five things in your life which are most important to you. They may be family, career, friends, hobbies, or creative activities. In any case, the five items on your list are your core values. Anything which does not contribute in a positive way to these priorities should be eliminated.

2. Review your commitments

Most of us do things which we feel we should, but which in no way contribute to the quality of our lives. In fact, they add to our stress levels. To simplify life, it is necessary to resign, drop out, and leave every one of these irrelevant activities. Devote the time saved to things which make you happy. Resolve to say a firm "No" to future requests which will mean unwelcome incursions into your precious time and energy reserves.

3. Get rid of excess "stuff"

It's easy to accumulate extra things which simply clutter up your living space and complicate your life. Take one room in your home at a time, perhaps on weekends, and purge every item, large and small, which you haven't found useful in the past year. Donate it to a worthy cause, give it to a friend or trash it;  just get rid of it.

Trim your wardrobe to basic, coordinating pieces with a few complementary accessories. Minimize the number of items stored in drawers and closets. This exercise will give you a tremendous feeling of satisfaction, and as a bonus, your home will be easier to clean.

4. Simplify your financial affairs

Cut up your credit cards and pay cash for all purchases. Establish a checking account and a savings account at a local bank. Eliminate impulse buying and concentrate on the necessities.. Make up a menu of nutritious meals each week in advance, and only shop for what you need at the grocery store. If you can discipline yourself to follow this plan, you'll be amazed at how much you can save.

5. Be your own best friend

Limit communication devices and technology. Check your e-mail twice a day and restrict yourself to fifteen minutes each time. Plan your computer and television use so that they contribute to the well-being and promotion of your core values. Take advantage of the silencer feature on the telephone, and place practical limits on the length of those calls you choose to return. Learn to be perfectly comfortable in your own company, and take advantage of the welcome calmness and peace in your life to develop your spiritual capabilities.

You can't totally simplify your life in a week or even a month. It will be an ongoing process during which you take one step at a time. However, as your stress level steadily declines and new blocks of free time open up, you will be eager to do ever more to banish extraneous distractions, and enjoy your peaceful and serene newly-discovered existence. In addition, there will be other unexpected rewards.

"To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life."                                                                                             John Burroughs

Twelve steps to achieve your dreams

Most of us have many dreams. It's unwise to tackle them all at once. It's easier, less stressful and more effective to work on one dream at a time. Here are twelve suggested steps to success:

 1. Mentally define your dream. Choose the one goal you deem most important to your health and happiness at present. The others will wait until a later time.

2.. Write your dream down in detail. When, where, and why will it be achieved? How will your life be different and better if you succeed? How will it affect family members and close friends? If there are negative repercussions for others, you may need to make some adjustments.

3. Research to find out if the dream is achievable and if it is likely to be all you hope it will be. Talk to people who have already achieved it. Are they content? Is there any additional objectives they wish they had accomplished along the way?

4. Make an action plan. Outline a series of small steps which will lead to the ultimate fulfillment of your dream.

 5. Set tentative a time limit for each step, as well as when you hope to achieve your final goal. Be kind to yourself. You don't want time constraints to add needless pressure to your efforts.

 6. List the equipment and resources you will need. Assemble everything possible before you begin. You won't want to be delayed later by having to hunt up necessary information or equipment.

 7. Solicit help and support from friends and family. Communication skills are keys to success, and everyone can relate to working toward a goal until success is achieved. Listen to their stories, and make a commitment to them to do your best as you seek to achieve your dream.

8. Chart your progress. Keeping a journal or charting each day's events can be encouraging, or these tactics may point out strategies which need adjustment.

9. Reward yourself in an appropriate manner. For example, if you're trying to lose weight, a chocolate bar is not a suitable reward. Treat yourself to a good book, or a new outfit.

10. Revise your action plan as necessary. Robert Burns observed that the best laid of mice and men often go awry. As you strive to complete your action plan, life sometimes has a way of inserting obstacles and delays into your schedule. Don't give way to discouragement. The important thing is not that you stumble, but that you pick yourself up and keep going.

11. Practice patience and perseverance. Keep a positive attitude. Others have succeeded in this endeavor, you can too. If needed, call on the support team you solicited in #7. They will give you the help and encouragement you need to achieve your dream.

 12. Help others who are pursuing their dream. When you succeed, others will notice. Take the time and effort to support them as you were helped.

Remember, this is only one dream of many, and as you proceed to work on others you have tucked away in heart, you will need all the help you can get.

"A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality."                     Yoko Ono

How to deal with the office know-it-all

Every workplace has one or more: the know-it-all. There is no topic under the sun with which this individual will admit to being unfamiliar. Moreover, the know-it-all's mission in life is to impart his superior wisdom to all those intellectually-inferior beings in his environment.

A know-it-all can be recognized by his or her arrogant, opinionated, condescending manner, his lack of humility, and his poor listening skills. His determination to come out on top of every discussion is a form of verbal bullying. He is greedy for attention and affirmation.

When challenged, he may become sarcastic, vitriolic or even start yelling. Since such behavior is not conductive to a peaceful and productive office routine, it is well to think up options for avoiding or discouraging these annoying performances. If all or even several of his colleagues agree to use similar tactics when he starts his tirades, he may begin to understand that this type of interaction with his co-workers is unacceptable.

Here are several strategies to employ:

* Avoidance. When you see him coming, turn and go in another direction. If you are cornered, quickly excuse yourself for an urgent washroom break. If he comes to your desk, explain that you're too busy to talk at present, then return to work and ignore him.

* The know-it-all feeds on conflict. Refuse to rise to the bait. At the first sign of opposition, give in. Reply casually, "Whatever you say," and return to whatever you were doing. This promptly stops him in his tracks, and robs him of the satisfaction of an argument.

* When he butts into, and tries to dominate a conversation in the staff room or at the water cooler, try to pin him down to specific details about his supposedly superior knowledge. Know-it-alls are adept at using generalities to bolster their arguments, such as "Everybody says...", and "It happens all the time...".

Challenge him to name one or two persons who actually said that, or to relate one specific occasion when the incident under discussion occurred. When he becomes flustered, leave before he turns nasty.

What's the worst that can happen? He'll avoid your company in the future. Lucky you!

* The know-it-all often manufactures details as he goes along, in order to impress those present with his knowledge. If the subject about which he is emoting is based of provable facts or technological issues, ask him to cite his sources. If he can't, ask him to look them up and get back to you, because you'd like to do further research. At least he'll be kept busy for a while.

* As a last resort, wait until the know-it-all runs out of steam and there is a brief pause in his tirade. Then, stare fixedly into his eyes for ten seconds. At the end of that time, let out a snicker, which will quickly turn into a full-blown belly laugh. In the midst of your mirth, turn on your heel and walk quickly away.

It's the ultimate insult; not only did you not appreciate his wisdom, you had the audacity to laugh at him! You may lose his companionship for the foreseeable future, but as we said before: lucky you!

Know-it-alls are tiresome, boring and annoying anywhere, but they are particularly troublesome in an office setting. Everyone has work do, and it is best accomplished in a calm, relaxed atmosphere. These characters do not contribute at all to that type of beneficial environment. They may have a negative effect on vulnerable employees' self-esteem and they will definitely waste every one's valuable time with their long-winded raving.

For the benefit of the business, the employees and even the know-it-all himself, his dreadful and detrimental behavior, especially at the office, needs to be stopped.

Biography: Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale, the inspiration and guiding force behind the nursing profession of today, was born in Italy on May 12th., 1820. She was the daughter of a wealthy English landowner, William Nightingale. She spent most of her early years in Derbyshire, England. Having no sons, Florence's father treated her as his friend and companion and gave her an excellent, thorough classical education.

From 1837 to 1839, Florence and her parents travelled in Europe, where she witnessed many incidences of poverty, sickness and suffering. During this period, she became interested in nursing and insisted on visiting hospitals whenever she could, as the family continued its travels.

After returning home, Florence refused the attentions of several suitors. At age 25, she informed her parents she wanted to become a nurse. They were completely opposed to her plan because, at that time, nursing was considered an unattractive, menial occupation, performed by untrained, lower-class personnel.

However, her resolve to be a nurse was strengthened by Elizabeth Blackwell, whom she met at a hospital in London. Miss Blackwell, having overcome a great deal of prejudice, was the first woman to be qualified as a doctor in the United States. She encouraged Florence to pursue her dream.

In 1851, Florence's father finally gave his permission for her to train as a nurse. Now 31, she studied for two years at the Institute of Protestant Deaconesses in Kaiserwerth, Germany. When her training was finished, she was appointed resident lady superintendent of a hospital for invalid women in Harley Street, London.

In 1853, Britain became involved in the Crimean War. Nightingale volunteered her services and was eventually given permission to take a group of 38 nurses to Turkey. Arriving at the army hospital in Scutari, she found the conditions appalling.

The staff lacked supplies, the wounded soldiers were filthy, and diseases such as typhus, cholera and dysentery ran rampant. Actual war wounds accounted for only one death in six. Under Florence's direction, efficient nursing procedures were established, and strict standards for cleanliness were imposed. The death rate dropped significantly. Florence worked in her hospital until the war ended.

In 1856, she returned to England and was greeted as a national heroine. She was dubbed "the angel of the Crimea". In honour of the many, long nights she had patrolled dark hospital aisles, lamp in hand, to check on her patients, she became known as "the lady with the lamp".

Florence immediately began to reorganize the army medical service in England. She helped hospitals arrange for better ventilation and drainage systems. She oversaw the hiring of competent, trained orderlies.

She introduced a system of precise record keeping, and published two books to publicize her reforms: "Notes on Hospitals" (1859) and "Notes on Nursing" (1860). The latter was the first known textbook for nurses and was translated into many languages.

In honour of her service in the Crimea, money was raised to build the Nightingale School and Home for Nurses at St. Thomas' Hospital. The graduates from her school soon opened nursing schools in other hospitals, and thus, Florence's effective new method of training nurses spread rapidly. Thanks to her influence, nursing became recognized as the respected medical profession it is today.

During her later years, Florence's advice was continually sought on matters concerning everything from designs for hospital construction to policies of public health. Besides receiving many honours from foreign governments, she became the first woman to receive the British Order of Merit in 1907.

Florence suffered poor health in her later years. In 1895, she became blind. Soon after, she lost the use of other faculties and needed full-time nursing care. She lived as a complete invalid in London until her death in 1910.

Florence expressed her deep conviction about the wide scope of responsibilities a nurse should properly assume:

" I use the word nursing for want of a better. It has been limited to signify little more than the administration of medicines and the application of poultices. It ought to signify the proper use of fresh air, light, warmth, cleanliness, quiet, and the proper selection and administration of diet all at the least expense of vital power to the patient." Notes on Nursing (1860)

Miss Nightingale was a great lady who practiced what she preached. Hospital patients since her time have reason to remember her with gratitude.