Communist Thinking in a Capitalist World

“From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.”

People who are chronically ill, in pain or disabled often have feelings of uselessness, that they aren't full human beings or contributing members of society because they aren't able to do what they think is expected of them. For men, it is most often an inability to provide for their family that leads to this thinking. For women, it is more often an inability to nurture their family and care for the household that triggers it. These are very stereotypical role expectations, but even in our 'enlightened' society, this holds true for most people.

In a capitalist society, earning money is the prime objective. Until World War II, this meant men, women were expected to play a supporting role in this objective, by caring for the household and family. During World War II, so many men were at war, women were called upon to provide for their families, support the war effort from home, along with their usual roles. Many women discovered they liked working, they liked the challenge, the satisfaction of a job well done, the independence of earning their own money and the social contacts they made on the job. Men often took on some of the household duties to balance out the tasks, but women were generally still the person running the house. Hence, the roles that people feel most guilty about when not able to perform.

In a pure communist society, people are expected to work according to their ability, and they are given compensation according to their need. This sounds great, but human nature being what it is, some people looked for ways to give less than they were capable of, and/or to take more than they needed. Communism never quite works out the way it should.

So, back to my reason for writing about this topic. What if we could instill in our society's thought pattern the acceptance of the validity of this basic communist idea? I am not trying to restructure our whole society, just to change this one thought. Wouldn't it be nice if everyone recognized that people have different capacities and different needs, and that is okay? A person would be respected for who they are, not how much they produce or how much they contribute. It would be accepted that not everyone can work full time, go grocery shopping, vacuum or lift a child. It would be okay that some people need more sleep, more medical resources, or more help to do basic tasks. It could still be a capitalist world in which there was incentive to strive for excellence, for newer and better ways of doing things, but with a communist recognition that not everyone can do that. Those people are not any less valuable to the society as a whole, or to their families.

How does this play out in the real world? How can we apply this thinking to make this a better world for everyone? What can we change so that people with illness, pain and/or disability won't feel less than others, and/or less than themselves? These are questions worth pondering.

We, as individuals, don't have the power to change the thinking of society as a whole. We do have the power to change our own thinking, and to influence the thinking of those around us. We can stop thinking of ourselves as less than, as damaged goods, as inadequate. We can stop apologizing for not being able to do what we used to do, or what we think we are 'supposed' to be able to do. We can start empowering ourselves to ask for the help we need, and to accept it graciously when offered. We can start taking pride in ourselves as we are, for what we can do, and what we can offer to our families and our communities.

I could go on and on, but you get the idea.  Be yourself.  Be proud of yourself.

TED

I first learned of TED a few months ago when my brother sent me a link to a TED talk about pain.  More recently, I started exploring the TED website, and I AM HOOKED!  Here is a brief synopsis of TED.  Perhaps you will get hooked as well.  TED is by far one of the best ways I have found to keep my mind distracted and off of my pain and other issues.

So, you ask, what is TED already?  TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design.  It is a non-profit organization, whose byline is Ideas Worth Spreading.  It started in 1984 as a conference, where it brought together people from all walks of life, each of whom had innovative ideas to share.  To quote their website, the 2 annual TED conferences " bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives (in 18 minutes or less)."  Additional topics include science, arts, entertainment and business.   You can search for talks of interest to you in a specific topic, or watch whatever interests you of the talks that appear on the screen.  You can resize the talks that appear by most recent, most emailed, most viewed, most commented on, or by a number of tags such as most fascinating, jaw-dropping, beautiful, inspiring, humorous, and the list goes on.  I am learning interesting info on topics I am familiar with, as well as topics I never even thought about before.  

Many of these talks are available free at the TED website, with more added each week.  Another quote from the website: "We believe passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world."  One of the many things TED does is award a TEDprize annually.  This prize goes to a person with a big idea to change the world for the better.  This person is given $100,000 to do just that.  Looking through all the amazing things on the TED website, I feel like there is hope for the future of the world. 

To give you a taste, here are a few of my favorite videos I have found.  Check out the site yourself.  I think you will be as blown away as I was (am).

Pilobulos_Symbiosis (dance)     Evolution Photos    IPod Magic

This is just a small sample of TED.  When I started writing this blog post, I explored the website and found more and more areas I had not noticed before.  As I said above, I get so involved with what I am finding that my pain and other issues disappear from my mind.  TED is a great way to distract yourself from your illness, to learn, to be inspired, to be fascinated. 

Keeping Warm

Keeping warm is very much on my mind these days.  We are having our roof rebuilt, which was supposed to be done last spring.  In order to do this, the construction workers needed to take the heating/air conditioning unit off the roof for what may turn out to be two weeks.  This week the local temperatures decided to drop to their normal level of 40's and 30's, and down into the 20's at night.  (For those of you not in the US, that's Fahrenheit,  down to freezing and below.)
We have 2 space heaters, one in the bedroom and one in the living room.  The inside temp is around 63 right now, which is colder than I like.  I am wearing a wool sweater, and have a double-thick fleece blanket over my legs, and a cat on top of that.  My topic today is on how to keep warm when your surroundings aren't.
The first area I mentioned above is clothing.  The best way to dress is in layers, so you can take off and add on as needed.  I wrote quite a bit about warm clothing last year.  The next area I mentioned is my fleece blankie.  I also wrote about these blankets last year, telling how to make them.  There are other options for blankets besides fleece, though none so soft and comforting (in my opinion).    I will just mention a few, since there are so many.  Electric blankets are nice because they are not too heavy, and can be adjusted depending on how much warmth you want.  Another nice option related to this is an electric mattress pad.  We have these at our cabin.  They are great for when we get there later in the day, and the place doesn't get warmed up sufficiently by bedtime.  Wool blankets are warm, but some are heavy or scratchy.  Thermal blankets have air spaces woven into them, you put them between 2 sheets, your body heat rises up and gets trapped in the blanket to keep you warm.  Quilts of various thicknesses are another option.  If they are filled with feathers or down they are very warm but lightweight.  There are quilts filled with fake down, some are good, some tend to mat over time.  Flannel sheets are also nice, because they don't feel as cold on your skin.  When I was having a problem with night sweats, my doctor recommended flannel sheets as being more absorbent, and they don't feel as cold on the skin when wet.  (Sounds awful when I think about it now- I sure am glad I seem to be past that era). 
I also mentioned one of my favorite sources of heat, my cat.  Sharing space with another warm blooded animal, human or otherwise, is a great way to keep warm.  A good example of this is penguins.  They often congregate in large clusters, standing very close together to stay warm.  They take turns standing on the outer perimeter of the group, so no one has to be cold too long.  I'd rather snuggle with my one cat than a whole flock of penguins. 
A hot cup of tea or cocoa or coffee can be soothing in the cold.  I can't say that it actually warms me up much, though it does feel good to take in a mouthful of hot (but not too hot) liquid, and holding a hot mug in my hands warms my hands.  There are those who say that drinking hot tea is a good way to cool down in the summer, because it makes your sweat.  I can't say that I get a consistent heating or cooling effect from hot drinks.    Eating a bowl of soup or chili does seem to help me warm up, at least while I am eating it, especially if I hold onto the bowl.
Exercise or movement is a good source of heat.  If you exercise regularly, it not only heats you up for the time you are doing it, but it increases your metabolism, which keeps you warmer.  (Increased metabolism also burns calories faster, so you can eat more without gaining weight.)  Movement also decreases muscle stiffness.
Fire may seem like a good source of heat, and sitting by a lit fireplace has a magical effect on how I feel, but most fireplaces actually draw heat out of a room.  This is because the fire needs air to burn, and the air is pulled from the room and up the chimney.  Wood stoves, on the other hand, do heat a room, by radiating heat from the stove itself, and on some units, there are fans that increase the efficiency.   Our cabin is heated primarily by a wood stove.
There are a variety of space heaters, too many to cover in this blog.  I do want to mention a few personal space heaters that may be useful.  There are heated mittens, socks and slippers, both electric and battery operated.  There are also small packets that are self warming hand or foot warmers that heat by a self contained chemical reaction. They contain a device inside that needs to be snapped or broken, and then the contents of the packet shaken or squished together.  The different types last anywhere from twenty minutes to ten hours.  Some can be reused by putting in hot water to reset the device.
I'm sure there are heat sources I have not mentioned.  If you hve a favorite one that you don't see here, let us know by posting a comment. 

Art from Pain

Art and pain- a connection close to my heart (actually, my heart is fine- it is other body parts that are involved).  I  found a website I would like to tell you about.  It is the site of the American Headache Society, and a patient-health professional offshoot, the American Headache Society Committee on Headache Education, with the appropriate acronym ACHE.  The site has a good variety of info and links related to chronic headaches (something I can, unfortunately, relate to).  They have self help tools, forums, education, and, among other resources, an art gallery.
This art gallery has a collection of art created by people with chronic headaches, depicting how they perceive or experience their headache.  When someone says "I have a headache", the reaction often is "So, I get headaches, too."  Having a chronic headache, especially of the strength of a migraine, is not just a headache.  Just like any chronic pain, it can have a big impact on the individual, and pervades all areas of life.  It is hard for someone who has not experienced it to perceive what it is like.  The artworks, most of which have a head somewhere in the depiction, can tell more than words.  Seeing a picture of a head being squeezed in a vise, or with a jagged flash of lightening stabbing the eye says more than "I have a headache".  Van Gogh's painting The Scream would fit well in this collection.
There are other sites that have pain related artwork.  Two are: Pain Exhibit, which features art by artists with different types of chronic pain, and  Pain-Topics.org which has info about chronic pain as well as a gallery of art created by artists about their pain. The Pain Exhibit site gives artist statements, and divides the art into different topics, such as Pain Portraits, and But you Look So Normal.  The Pain Topics site gives explanations of the art.  Much of the art in the Pain Topics gallery come from the Pain Exhibit, but are presented in a different way.  Both these sites are interesting to explore. 
Looking at each piece of art tells a story about the person who created it.  To tell your own story, get paper, canvas or clay, or any other medium you would like to work with.  Sit quietly with your medium at hand.  Close your eyes, and focus on your pain.  What shape is it? What color(s) does it project?  What is it trying to tell you?  If an image comes to mind, create it.  If not, just start to experiment with your chosen medium.  Often, an image will create itself.  Don't try to direct your art, just let it happen.  Don't concern yourself with trying to make it look pretty, or perfect, or exact.
You don't have to be an artist.   In fact, sometimes artists have a more difficult time with this.  They are too focused on quality and their reputation as an artist to allow the art to be genuine and natural.
You now have a new way to express yourself.  Experiment with it, play with it.  Learn from it.  Let your pain flow into it, and hopefully, your art will ease your pain.