Love on the NHS (40 page)

Maybe it could be understood if a landlord requested no people on benefits if there were jobs available for everyone - and if they also made the allowance that severely disabled and ill people were an exception. That would be dependent on there being adequate support in workplaces for disabled people who were able to work - but if such a system could be successfully devised and ran, then it would make sense. But instead discrimination existed in workforces and schools; people became stuck in poverty; and meanwhile thousands, if not millions, of human beings who made money as landlords were so petty that they would rather ruin the life chances of these unfairly maligned people than show the goodness of their heart. The situation in the United Kingdom could have been different had it gone down the route of the Netherlands - or Germany - where social housing had not stopped being built and had been invested in enough to make it reasonable to live in. Yet Luke thought the best solution was to build more social housing as the need for it arised; but crucially also to build it in small blocks near other kinds of housing; and furthermore to mix social housing tenants in with private tenants in blocks of houses and apartmetns so that there was less of a harsh stigma attached to needing housing.

Not being able to find somewhere better to live was one of the worst feelings for Luke. He considered catching a train to Dorset, knocking door-to-door on farms. When he had read Tess of the D'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy he had realized there was a certain beauty about that rural county of England. Dorset was one of the few places in the world today that did not have a highway running through it. It had minor roads but none that were very large. That meant the pace of life there was a bit slower and easier to digest. If everyone had a little more time, Luke thought, everything could be sorted out.  He noticed his appetite had become greedy since moving to the city too. To live in one place, settled, would be heaven. No more interminable bus journeys with so many tedious "thank you"'s said to the driver when people got off. How wonderful it could be to escape the crowds of ill-mannered people in Woecaster, the peacocks who sashayed in their branded clothes, and stopped abruptly in front of him to adjust their shoes without even checking if anyone was behind.

Ah, to get away from the jealous people whose eyes seered into him with hatred if he wore a shirt or had a smarter hairstyle than them. Such poverty had developed in Woecaster and it was only getting worse. Moving to a better environment made perfect sense. It was treating the causes of problems instead of the symptoms. Unlike doctors who lazily put out their hand with a prescription for a pill for any problem (with their other hand receiving a bonus payment from a drugs company) the real answers could be found in common sense: A  good home that was safe, a town that did not contain too much inequality in its citizens' incomes (ah, but a pipe dream in the United Kingdom of Luke's youth) and decent schools and local services. All of those were available in a few fortunate areas - mostly in the country - and if he could get to one he could reincarnate himself; be reborn and renewed into a purer individual, able to live again.

Food presented a dilemma, however. It tore Luke apart in his attempt to decide whether to make the move to the countryside or not. Many rural locations did not have many gluten-free options for sale in the shops or cafes; and adhering to the specific carbohydrate diet could be very difficult indeed - he would hope it would be possible, but he would certainly need a bit of luck! It all depended on how it would unfold. Supposing the shops around him did not sell meats or vegetables that were of a decent quality or free from added ingredients, he would be in a pickle - yet he may well be alright if he could find local farmers to buy directly from. He had heard people did that. And of course it was a good idea to get away from Woecaster with its neverending population of drunkards, gamblers, unemployed people mired in hopelessness in racially divided ghettoes... but it was a gamble, he could never be totally sure.

LXII

It was another harrowing day so Luke called in to the Samaritans where a young woman with a headdress answered the door to him.

"Hello, do you need someone to speak to?" the brown-eyed lady asked.

"Yes. I feel terrible," he replied.

She motioned him to take a seat. She sat by his side. "What's the matter?"

"I'm lonely. I don't feel right. I can't stand living in this city."

"Oh dear, that sounds really bad," she said sympathetically; and she mulled what he had said for a moment, then continued, "Is there anything in particular that's made you feel bad today?"

"Well, I have no friends. I've lost the love of my life. I don't think I'll ever get a job. I don't know what to do." As he explained his situation, she began to get to know him and he told her about how he had become fond of reading Thomas Hardy's novels - how they resonated in their bitter wisdom with his experience of life. Her face lit up and she exclaimed, "Thomas Hardy, oh, wow! I love Thomas Hardy. Have you read The Mayor of Casterbridge?"

"Erm, no, I haven't read that one," admitted Luke.

"Oh, it's good that one. What about Tess of the D'urbervilles?"

"That's my favourite. What a love story. That's what life is all about."

"Yeah, it's great. I love that book." She began to laugh and recalled, "I read so many of Thomas Hardy's books in English in school. And we did Shakespeare too. Did you do Shakespeare in school?"

"No. I didn't. I did A Christmas Carol by Dickens."

"Ah, yes. So many good books to read. Thank you for reminding me about Thomas Hardy, though. I haven't read him in ages. I will have to have another read."

They talked for forty minutes and he told her about how at times he felt he had no more strength for this life. Then he left and for the rest of the day smiled, knowing that there was hope yet in this life if such an unexpectedly fortuitous turn as that could greet him.

Thomas Jefferson inspired Luke. His ideas about democracy were unparalled and Luke was proud to share the same last name. Thomas Jefferson, as one of the great American forefathers, was a major figure in laying down the foundations of American democracy; the democracy that would inspire and lead the world. His vision for America though did not quite turn out how he might have expected. It was sad to think that when people talked about democracy they forgot it was supposed to take place, as Jefferson envisaged it, within a society in which people owned and worked on their own land. The idea was that people would be somewhat self-sufficient and that the state would never grow so large as to become tyrannical - which was precisely what had happened.

Thomas Jefferson of course was not the only person to be opposed to large government. So too had been Leo Tolstoy who argued that it was inimical to what was good in human beings. The two great thinkers of two countries that often collided essentially agreed. The way Luke saw it, perhaps there was a necessity for a government to provide certain things. If it was necessary to have a large, well organised force to make sure certain facilities operated effectively so be it. But where the government became tyrannical and against the interests of the people was when it interfered too much in people's lives. What Thomas Jefferson imagined for the future of America was based on the idea that people would live in decent homes in small communities. He did not want America to be a country with large sprawling cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, Los Angeles and Miami. As such urban centres had become so influential, more people were living in small and confined spaces.

In such a situation people's lives became very controlled. Signs were erected that said "no ball games" or "this is a tow zone". The jobs that these urbanites did were also very controlling. They had to sit in an office in which etiquette was closely monitored and kissing up to the higher-ups was more important than doing a good job. Dating was done in an endless variety of bars that offered a cynical world of mirrors for self-conscious, city slickers - places in which to throw punches at each other and start arguments over trivialities, just how oppressed people do. The way Jefferson had seen it people would have been able to form their own manageable communities in which they had things in common with other residents: and they would have had large homes with land and freedom to make their own minds up about a lot of things. This was a vision worth fighting for; but of course today the world had six billion people. Where to begin? The answer could certainly not be to kill people nor deny people the right to have children. That would be fascist. Then it would seem there was no solution at all and that people must let nature take its toll.

It was likely that as oil and gas stocks got lower, and prices higher, people would gradually find life more and more challenging. The result would be that it would be less worthwhile to have children. It could be possible that the population would eventually reduce that way. There was still a question that begged to be asked. What Luke always wondered was: would there ever be a hope of people challenging the rich to share more of their money? Was it not the case that the 1%, as they had recently been called, could afford to own several homes, boats and private jets? - while most people could not even afford to pay off the mortgage on one nice home!

Change would come as it ever does. Revolutions always come, sooner or later, though people do not expect them. Every system believes it is strong enough to last. Kings and queens, emperors and dictators, corrupt presidents and crony ministers - all believe their lot will last. Yet everything under the sun from the worm to the coral reef comes and goes with the tide. No matter how many laws are passed, how much violence and fear is used to stifle dissent, where people believe there is a better way sooner or later they will set about creating it. History has repeated itself many times. It would seem people never learn from it. People would witness so much humiliation and slaughter and lies and then they would rise up. To live otherwise was too empty - there was sexual pleasure, the joy of fine food, the warm glow of friendship and precious laughter; but all of those grow old without a laurel to crown them with. While humans have always lived for surface pleasures, so too have the depths within us often demanded to be satisfied.

Capitalism as the world knew it was dying. The question was: what was next? The struggle for who controlled the world was not limited to the economy; but also to people's social lives. Some Muslims wanted the world to be more according to their vision, some Christians more to theirs and others saw the religious nature of society as it currently stood as something to start a revolution over. Luke did not like religion, not any of them, and his own opinion was most religious people were trapped by tradition. If only they could see how much life had to offer beyond, they could be so much happier. Immigration was producing an awful amount of stress in working class communities due to different religious - but the upper- and middle-classes tolerated immigrants because they worked cheaply as maids, chefs and fast food servants.

Luke tried to keep an open mind about immigration though it did bother him immensely when he bought alcohol in supermarkets and  staff who were immigrants - clearly from a different culture - treated him disdainfully. Luke considered that part of the problem with immigration was that people of different races and religions sometimes went to separate schools. Some religious families also forbid their daughters from dating or marrying men from outside their religion: such an approach was apartheid no less than how sending black people to separate schools years ago had been. With the natural impulses of human beings to explore and due to the spontaneous nature of love, such restrictions were doing more harm than good.

While for some businesses, immigrants were an invaluable source of cheap labour, immigration was also useful to the progress of mankind. It led to innovation and many great people who had changed the world had been immigrants - from scientists to writers to cooks to traders. And so, one had to wonder was immigration really such a problem? Or was it only the fact that the rich controlled all the wealth? If the wealth of the world had been spread out, very few people would need to immigrate - and so people could just live wherever they wanted, with the weather or culture they liked. In such a fairer world, it would be likely such a large number of immigrants would cease and more moderate flows would occur. It would surely still present challenges but if the economic desperation was taken out of the equation, it got a lot simpler.

If all countries could offer high quality education and health services and there were plenty of luxuries to go around, all that bother with starting over a new might not be so appealing. From what he had read of history and philosophy, Luke was sure more revolutions would come: unless power was more equally spread. He could only hope any rebellions or revolutions would be as bloodless and as virtuous as possible. Furthermore that they could be avoided - it would be far better not to have them at all; but that depended on the rich and powerful being wise and listening more to people. Revolutions could begin in prisons where people who challenge the system are hidden away such as in the storming of the Bastille; or in a schoolyard - after all it was only a young teenage boy who assassinated Franz Ferdinand and set off the first world war. They could be initiated from the suicide of a defiant person unwilling to accept a tyrannical law; a roadside vendor had set himself on fire in Tunisia after an altercation with a policewoman in the Arab Spring.

Or it could begin from an overreaction to a peaceful protest by the police; who would despatch their tortures of choice: pepper spray, water cannons, tear gas, tasers, rubber bullets, horses and dogs. No matter how many deaths had occurred in the past few years of people tasered - or any other form of brutality the defenders of the state used - they would never accept any responsibility for any deaths, adding fuel to the fire. This is turn would eventually only infuriate people more against the police and other agencies enforcing law and order as with great power comes great responsibility. There were the recent Buddhist monks who killed themselves in public in a protest against China's suppression of their belief system; and Jan Palach from the Czech Republic who had set himself in flames in protest against the Soviet Union's control of his country: a mass uprising ended the Soviet colony shortly after. It could form in a university as it almost had in the nineteen-sixties; or through an army coup, a common occurrence in east Asian countries. Though it could be argued America had already been seized in a quiet coup by the military there - half of Americans' taxes were spent on it and it was not a democratically accountable organisation. Even a truckers' depot or on an internet chat room could be the starting point. No one can tell what the future holds. There is no stopping the invisible hand of fate manoeuvring us onwards.