tee up

There are so many references

in a life spent with eachother.

dad and I play golf.

he's great with the occasional dud shot

I'm dud with occasional greatness.

playing today on a spankingly beautiful winters sunday

standing in the middle of the fairway

in the middle of a beautiful golf club

in the middle of the greatest city in earth

turning to him and raising my arms to the azure sky

I smiled and said

"this is another fine mess you got me into"

and in that ironic way it was true.

you see it was a family day

and dad and I were out there hacking our way round 18 holes

with another grandfather and his grandson

and not playing too well, but loving it.

people bag golf

elitist, obsessive compulsive

uppity and pointless

a place for wankers.

but they miss one of its central points

golf is a metaphor for life.

its difficult, long, you often fuck up a shot

and in the end you only play yourself.

its also only about

relationships. 

4 hours, no phones, no distractions

and only exercise and conversation

meditation

philosophy

self control

and obviously with my dad its about love.

not bad for a stupid

impossible game

where you can spend hours putting a white ball

in a little hole.

one time

just that one time

if you never learn to swim, and you fall in the water

if you don't learn to drive and you hit a slippery patch

if you don't learn self defense and get attacked

if you don't learn to read 

and miss the turnoff

to life

to love

to happiness.

everything is important

sometimes only once

so perhaps its important

to keep learning then..

blind faith

recently

my mind has found a disturbing similarity

between religion and medicine.

both, in abstract terms you could say

have the best interests of humanity at heart

but in the real world

where interest is often not of the heart

both fail in spectacular and 

relatively

unaccountable ways

despite preaching love

religion employs the language of hate and 

division.

medicine has the monopoly on health

but should it?

c'mon now, time to 

come clean.

after teaching us for the last 40 years

that fat is bad

it turns out all along that its sugar and carbs

that are the bad guys lurking in plain view

giving you

dementia,

diabetes,'

obesity,

heart disease,

cancer,

but just try eating modern food without them

stop buying anything in a packet

give up the humble sandwich, pasta, pastry, muffin

go on a road trip and try to avoid them, 

i dare you.

the sad fact is you cant.

i've tried.

lets talk about cancer.

and chemotherapy.

i've seen my patients waste away

the life sucked out of them

by medically assisted and ridiculously expensive

chemotherapy.

i read posts on facebook

and articles in the paper

on the brave fight

of those poor desperate people

who succumb.

but what really kills them?

is it the cancer

or is it the saviour?

everyone has a theory

and i have spoken to the chemists, the oncologists

the saviours.

they admit that in many instances

all they are dispensing

is a form of hope

in the face of death.

its expensive, toxic, barely survivable

and righteous.

just dont talk about natural therapy

because that stuff has no scientific evidence 

to back it up.

and if you dont do what the doc says

you are going to die.

(although if you do, you'll die as well)

don't read the fine print, 

don't ask too many hard questions.

had a patient in last week

talking about breast cancer

he said he had two friends

both of whom were diagnosed

the one that chose conventional medicine 

is dead.

the other who was abused for not 

taking the conventional route

is alive.

ask yourself why the survival rate is 

5 years?

why dont they publish the rate for

10 years?

not such good statistics.

obviously we all must make 

the choice.

and obviously there are certain cancers that are treatable

and there are some that aren't.

its a duck shoot. 

steve winwood sang

Seems I got to have a change of scene

Cause every night I have the strangest dream

Imprisoned by the way, yeah, it could’ve been

Left here on my own or so it seems

I got to leave before I start to scream

But someone's locked the door and took the key

Feelin' alright, (uh oh)

Not feelin' too good myself, (uh oh) 

Feelin' alright, (uh oh)

Not feelin' that good myself, (uh oh)

Boy you sure took me for one big ride

Even now I sit and I wonder why

And when I think of you I stop myself from cryin’

I Just can’t waste my time I must get by

Got to stop belivin' in all your lies

Cause there’s too much to do before I die

Feelin' alright, (uh oh)

Not feelin' too good myself, (uh oh) 

Oh no, Feelin' alright, (uh oh)

Not feelin' that good myself, (uh oh)

(Feelin’ alright) Don't you get too lost in all I say

Yeah, but at the time you know I really felt that way

But that was then and now you know it’s today

I can't escape I guess I'm here to stay

’til someone comes along to take my place

With a different name and a different face

blind fucking faith