Tuesday, September 30, 2025

A Dark Christmas Story and how we deceive ourselves

I remember a few things from when I was a kid.  Sometimes I remember the absurd.  I even remember the address in England where I lived for about two years: Two Pontifract Court, Ruslip, Middlesex, England.  We would hold huge bonfires in the field out back on Guy Fawkes Day.  I had the championship conker (game where you tie a chestnut to a string and smash someone else's to see which one survives) from a tree in a lane that was down past a building across the way.  I remember an anonymous man in a large house that backed up to the field where we played gave us apples off his tree, I suspect, mostly so we would not climb his fence and steal them. This was the same field where the grass grew so tall that when they cut it once a year, we could actually build forts and walls from the cuttings, so we could play and hide in them.

Our neighbor, a man by the name of Arthur, was a garbage collector, and then he became a driver for a soft drink company. I remember this because he used to bring me some cool toys from the garbage route that others had thrown away.  Later, "Uncle" Arthur took me on his route,ewhere I got to help deliver soft drinks. I was about 7 years old.  He also taught me some  Judo and how to fall and pull a full-grown man over my head and flip him using my feet.  I remember Arthur mostly due to the fact that he had a huge chameleon, and we would catch large blue-bottle flies so it could feed.

There are many other things I remember from this time; like the time a Coke bottle exploded in my hands, the time a goldfish bowl set the coffee table on fire, the two kids who had the exact same first and last names as my one brother and I, and the first time I ever pulled a Houdini and had to escape being tied up by a bully to a drainage piple, and resorting to using my toes to reach for a piece of glass. But these stories will have to wait for another time. This story is not about any of this; this story is about a darker time.

This picture is from my school across the street from our apartment. I don't think this was a happy time for me. I remember trying to get an adrenaline rush (I did not know anything about adrenaline at the time) by running across the street to beat the cars and seeing how close I could come to being hit, until one day I had my pants torn by the bumper of a car that came so close it almost killed me. I think back now to the horror I probably created in the minds of the drivers..  but I digress. My story is not about that; it is much darker than that.  



I remember this picture because I remember how upset I was at the time. I remember how stupid I thought that picture was. This was at a time when I would sing, "While Shepherds wash their socks by night all hanging on the line,.." while all the other kids sang, "While Shepherds watch their flocks by night all seated on the ground..."  When you think about it, to recall how angry you were because you felt taking a picture of yourself holding a Christmas bulb was a stupid pose, these many years later, there had to be something else going on in my psyche.  I don't know what was going on in my head. Things were building up over time. 

I remember the fights between my mother and stepfather. I remember fake crying on the stairs so they would stay together, as one or the other would threaten to leave (maybe my intention was not fake,  the feelings sure were not, but the tears were... I remember). What was very clear to me then and is to me now is that a very dark moment had entered my life.

The thing that I remember the most is the following. And sorry Mom, if you read this, but it is the truth, and I had to live with it for many years, and I had to learn to deal with it. 

This thing happened right before I went to South Africa. This was the year we witnessed Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, my soccer team, Leeds United, were the first Division Champions, and the Woodstock festival ("an Aquarium Exposition")  had been held in New York State, USA,  in the town of Bethel on Max Yasgur's farm in front of five hundred thousand concert goers.   

The weather for the month of December in London reached a high of 52.88 ºF and a low of  23.36 ºF. The first snowfall was on the 17th with a high of  35.6 ºF.  I suspect the date in question for my story was on Monday the 15th, the only day that was unusually sunny with 7 hours of sun. I remember there being sun, and I remember being outside a lot. It may not have been the 15th, it may well have been the 4th, the day they would switch the light on for the tree in Trafalgar.  I suspect it was not the 4th since we headed out early during the day, but it may have been. If it was, it was even colder; either way, my life was about to get cold in a different way, really cold, colder than the 1 degree Celsius that was to hit London that New Year's Eve.  The year was 1968.

This Christmas time, my mom told my stepfather that she was taking us to London to visit the Christmas tree and see the decorations in Trafalgar Square.  Both my brother and I were very excited as most children are when given the opportunity to hear carolers, see the celebrations and lights... a lot of lights.  The problem began the moment we got off the bus. My mom proceeded to tell us that this year, London had decided not to put up the Christmas tree, and unfortunately, there were no decorations, but we were not to worry, she had "a friend we could visit and would have a great time."  At one point on our journey, we passed a side street near downtown, and  I happened to notice some decorations further down the road.  I proceeded to point it out to my mother.  She told me I was mistaken, I had not seen what I knew I had seen. Something was wrong, very, very wrong.  Even at this age, I knew something was wrong.  I began to argue, but she insisted. Now, keep in mind I did not know the Trafalgar Christmas Tree tradition.

For those who do not know, the tree in Trafalgar Square is a tradition that has been going on since 1947. It was and still is a yearly gift of appreciation from Norway for the British support of Norway during the 2nd world War. This Norway spruce is huge, at a height of between 50 and 60 feet, and was cut down in November at a large ceremony that is attended by the mayor of Oslo and the British Ambassador to Norway.  Up until 2007, it was shipped free of charge to England by the Fred Oslo line. From 2007 on, it has been shipped by the DFDS Tor Line.  In other words, since 1947, there has never been a year that the tree has not been shipped and never a year that the 500 white lights of the tree were not lit in Trafalgar on the first Thursday in December by the Lord Mayor of Westminster.  

Mom began to get uneasy and even angry at my protestations that there were indeed decorations. Angry to the point I decided not to push it anymore. The only reason I was pushing it was because my brother David wanted to see the Christmas tree so bad. Barry, my other brother, was oblivious to all of this; he was still a baby and in the pram, sleeping.

Finally, we arrived at our destination.  It was a small apartment. We were quickly introduced to a man and then ushered out to the backyard to play. I remember being handed a yellow aeroplane and told to keep my brother David busy.  We played for about an hour, but it was cold outside. When I came back to the sliding glass door to get in, it was locked.  I knocked, no answer. I kept my brother busy for about another hour.  Finally, Mom showed up to let us in. As quickly as we came, we left.

At the bus stop, I proceeded again to tell my mom that I had seen decorations, hoping that she would at least take a look in case she was mistaken or misinformed, so we could still go and see if the Christmas tree was there.  She insisted I was wrong.  At that point, I told her I was going to "tell Dad" that I had seen decorations, and that she told me I was lying about it.  It was at that moment that things became very dark for me. It was at that moment that my life was to be affected in a serious way.  Mom grabbed me by my shoulders, looked into my eyes, and said, "If you tell your Dad that you did not see decorations, if you tell him that we went to that house, I WILL KILL YOU! You tell him you saw the tree, or he will be disappointed."  I remember it clearly as if it happened yesterday. I started to cry.  

It was not until years later, after my mom had abandoned us in the beautiful city of Port Elizabeth, South Africa, where the World Cup is being played as I type this, that I had the courage to tell my stepfather about the episode.  He suspected the man she was visiting was their best man at their wedding.  I will never know. In fact, I do not know if he was the reason she left us in South Africa to disappear and go back to England, as she had done when I was less than a year old.  In fact, it does not matter really.  None of it really does, as I have moved on. I give my mom no real blame. I do not know what was going on in her life to make her threaten me in the way she did. I have no idea what her childhood was like or what her relationship with my stepfather was like. Was she scared? Was she self-centered? Was she immature?  None of these I know.  All I remember is those words, "I WILL KILL YOU!"  Now, as an adult, I am sure she did not mean literally, but as a child, I was not so sure. My interpretation was probably very different than her intent. But again, none of that matters for this story.  My interpretation at the time as a young child is what counts.  

As said, I never held any animosity towards her due to this incident, but as I got older, I tried to understand it, not because I needed to, but because I was fascinated by what would make a mother say such a thing to her child. It is believed by many that there are two types of reasons when it comes to what many would see as poor moral judgment in a person:

Psychological egoism is the claim that people always act selfishly, 
to foster their own self-interest or happiness.

Psychological hedonism is the claim that people always act
 to attain their own pleasure and avoid pain. 

Was my mother simply selfish and wanting to foster her own self-interest, or was she avoiding her own pain? I do not think I will ever know. I lost touch with my mom from the time I was about nine or ten until I was about 22. The few times I have had interaction with her, she has never been forthcoming about her personal family history.  

My mother is usually too busy trying to cover her obvious guilty conscience by lying to share incidents about her own life. Silly lies, really, as she likes to say everyone around her is lying, but we know the truth. When I say silly lies, I mean things like telling us things in South Africa never happened, but how would she know? She was not there. My brothers and I knew since we experienced them together. One day, the silliest lie came out. She said we did not go to South Africa when we did. Finally, I pulled out my old passport that she did not know I had, and it proved the point. She even told my wife I had never ridden an Ostrich (something my wife has since done at the same Highgate Ostrich Ranch in  Oudtshoorn, where I rode one), I never saw tortoises on the way to school that were so big one could almost ride them, and I never caught chameleons on the way to school. How would she know? She was not there; silly lies that had no meaning other than to discredit me.  My brothers were there; they knew the life we lived.  My mom tried to divide my brothers and me by telling me the "lies that they told" and telling them the "lies that I told.". Frustratingly for her, she has never succeeded, as I have no blame for her; I had pity as these scenarios developed. I saw through the veil that subconsciously or maybe even consciously, she was trying to discredit us because if she could, then the fact she abandoned us in South Africa could be discredited too.  

The sad thing is that if she could discredit us by showing we were wrong about one fact, it would make no difference because what we experienced, even if we had misread it, was still what we experienced as young children and felt at that time. The exact same thing that happened when she used those words that haunted me for so many years. 


I have given my mother ample opportunity to move on, but her own pain, her own guilt, seems to keep holding her back despite the fact that her continued actions seem to indicate a bent towards psychological hedonism, and in the end, she is the one who continually pays the price. I still love my mom, although she was never really a mother in the true sense; she certainly is my mother by blood.  I love her for the fact that she gave birth to me.

"Self-deception is a shadowy phenomenon by which we pull the wool over some part of our own psyche. We put a move on ourselves. We deny, suppress, or minimize what we know to be true. We assert, adorn, and elevate what we know to be false. We prettify ugly realities and sell ourselves the prettified versions. We become our own dupes, playing the role of both perpetrator and victim. We know the truth, and yet we do not know it, because we persuade ourselves of its opposite." 
                                                                (Cornelius Plantinga, Jr., Not the Way It's Supposed to Be).

Most of you have heard one of the two following statements about lies:

"If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth, or "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it!"

These are actually misinterpretations of Hitler's 'Big Lie' from Mein Kampf. Hitler actually proposed that if you tell a big enough lie, others will have to believe it because it is so outrageous they will not be able to wrap their heads around the fact that someone could lie so big and it not be true, since they themselves lie small all the time.  The fact that these misinterpretations of the fact derived from Hitler do not make them any less true.  


Research has shown how to implant false memories in people.  First, you tell a story, next you ask a question about the story that did not happen. In further meetings, ask the same question in a different way.  Over time, the question becomes familiar to the point that the familiarity experience seems to be a familiarity with the story, and as a result, the person starts to believe the false item really was part of the story. For example, Elizabeth F. Loftus tried to create false memories in students by showing them a film of a simulated car accident that happened at a stop sign.  Half of the participants were given a suggestion in passing that the stop sign was actually a yield sign.  When asked at another session what sign they remembered seeing, those who had been given the false information claimed emphatically it was a yield sign, and those who were not given a false suggestion were much more accurate in stating it was a stop sign.

study by Saul M. Kassin and his colleagues at Williams College investigated the reactions of individuals falsely accused of damaging a computer by pressing the wrong key. Initially, these individuals denied they had hit the key.  However, when other students stated they had they had seen them hit the key, the individual's own guilt at the fact that maybe they were wrong, convinced them to sign a document saying they had hit the key. This even cemented further in their minds that they had hit the damaging key, so they came to believe they had.

What does this have to do with my mother? I think that she has repeated the scenario of abandoning us so many times and told so many lies about it, that she truly believes that she did not abandon us, despite the glaring fact that I was only nine years old and my brothers even younger.  The lie has been repeated in her mind so many times that she was a good mother that there is no way she can conceive she did this act, and certainly could not conceive that she used the words, "I WILL KILL YOU!" To accept this would mean that she would have to accept she was not a perfect mother to her children, and to do that would mean she would have to accept so many other truths. Truths that would change her way of thinking and, in reality, would make life so much easier for her, but to do this, she would also have to accept the guilt. The strange truth is you can't let the guilt go until you accept it.

But what would make a mother justified in using those words to a nine-year-old child? What would make a mother so impervious toward her own children? Yale University has used brain scans to study brains that drive good and bad mothering and has found a definite correlation between levels of neuron activity and what they call measures of "adequate" and "inadequate parenting."  Looking deeper into this, I found that Richmond University in Virginia has discovered that women develop a set of "Maternal Neurons" that operate as "Good/bad mother switches." They say that during pregnancy, there is a cluster of brain cells created and "switch on" after birth that correlate with good or bad parenting behaviors.  When my mom left her first husband, I was not quite a year old yet. When she uttered those words, "I will kill you!" my brother Barry had recently been born.  Was there some sort of bad switch turned on due to pregnancy, or does it go much deeper than that? Was it personal, or is it genetic?  Was there an unusually high release of stress hormones (adrenaline and noradrenalin) released due to stress with the situation between my mother and my stepfather, coupled with the guilt of the affair and anger at me for questioning her, that caused her to act so irrationally in that moment?

I probably will never know, and to be honest, it does not really matter. The sad thing is, so long as my mother denies she feels any guilt, she will never move on, and my brothers and I will never have a true relationship with her. That is the sad thing about all this.  The good thing.... the cycle has been broken.

Update: 

Since writing this in the summer of 2010, my mother and I had a conversation on the phone. She brought this topic up all by herself. For the first time, I found out some history. She was very forthcoming. She was abused as a child, and so was her sister.  She has no clue as to why or how she was able to abandon us. In fact, she finds it quite strange that her sister did the exact same thing with her child. She can find no excuse for it and finds it reprehensible. This was a shock to me as she has never shown true remorse in the past. Probably because she was too busy trying to hide from her own shame. Now she is accepting it. And that is the first step of letting the guilt go. Hopefully, this is a positive beginning for her. I hope so. She is my mom, and I still love her.

Update 2: 

Mom is back to her old ways.  Denies we ever had that last conversation. In fact h=she accused me of saying something in article written about my performing and my past, that was not true.  I knew I did not say what she accused me of as I say it the same every way, the exact same!  But hey, reporters sometimes get things wrong. I told her that I would go back and read the article and if it says what she said it did, I would aplogize to her,  even though I did not write the article, but if it does not say that, she would have to apologize for calling me a liar as she has done so many times or else, there was never any reason for us to speak again.  I went back, the article did not say what she accused. I sent it to her. She refused to apologize.  As a result, when she does reach out I simply reminder all she has to do is apologize for calling me a liar. She just can not bring herself to do so. Instead, asks why I would do that to an old lady?  It is a shame. But, it is what it is.  And I have been really trying to set healthy bouindries for myself.

Tied to a downspout.

 The Banachek Way:

 





Tied to a downspout from a 2-story building, his tiny hands bound behind his back, the six-year-old looked up as the bully sneered down at him, spat on his feet, and chuckled. “Get out of that, fuckwad.” the bully taunted, then swaggered away, never once looking back.

The boy’s eyes held a flicker of innocence—the faint, resilient smile of someone who knew it could have been worse. Despite the unusually fierce sun beating down on England’s gray sky, he felt a strange calm. For now, he was safe, because he understood one thing: he wasn’t beaten yet.

He watched the bully disappear into the distance and saw his situation as a complex puzzle—a challenge waiting to be solved. His eyes caught a glint in the sun: a broken piece of glass. Slowly, he rolled off his shoes, then, using his right foot, he removed the sock on his left foot. Stretching out, he carefully positioned his feet, moving closer to the perilous shard. Just barely touching the jagged edge.

He shifted, inching toward the glass, changing his stance many times. After what felt like an eternity—17 minutes—he finally reached a position where he could drag the shiny piece of shard towards his body, and then grab the glass with his trembling hands. He had reached the halfway point—the dangerous, crucial moment where he would know if he could succeed or fail. With the small shard of glass safely held in his hand, the real test lay ahead: cutting the rope that held him captive.

Another 20 minutes crept by, the boy didn't notice the sweat, the blood, or the burning ache in his hands. Only the rope mattered. With the blunt piece of glass, he furiously sawed at the stubborn strands. His muscles screamed, his vision blurred, but he didn't stop.


Then, with a final, desperate snap, the rope gave way. A tidal wave of adrenaline and triumph surged through him. He stood, tears of relief and joy streaming down his face. In that exhilarating moment, he learned two things: never give up when your back is against the wall, and always believe there's a way to win.

Two years later, the bully returned. The 13-year-old stood outside the 8-year-old boy's apartment, staring defiantly at the young man. He plunged a Bowie knife into the soft earth at his feet. The message was clear: “Fear me, I am going to hurt you, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

Just then, a window on the building slid open. The boy's stepfather peered out. "Steve, supper's ready," he said.

"But Dad..." The boy gestured at the menacing figure, feeling a sense of relief knowing his stepfather would surely fix the situation.

Instead, his father’s words sent a cold shock through the boy’s body: "Take care of that first, then come eat!" The window slid shut with an emphasized hopeless thump.

The bully grinned, advancing. With nowhere to run, the younger boy made a choice. He wouldn't fail. He charged, fists raised, a whirlwind of desperation and fury. The younger boy struck the older. The bully stumbled, then fell, and to the young boy's disbelief, the bully began to cry. No one had ever fought back before. The bully scrambled to his feet and ran, leaving his knife behind. The boy picked it up, cleaned it, and headed inside for supper. He had learned another important lesson: sometimes, the only way to win is to believe in yourself and go all out. In later years, when things got tough, the older boy, now a man, would take out the knife and stare at it as a reminder that there is always a way to succeed.

These instances are true. They really happened and set the stage for Banachek’s (formerly Steven Shaw) life.

He was abandoned in South Africa at the age of 9, left to raise his two younger siblings (1 year and 3 years old) with only an alcoholic stepfather who provided a roof over their heads but was hardly ever around. Most people would call this a tragedy. Banachek calls it freedom. It taught him to create his own moral compass and to always be a leader. He had to sacrifice a conventional childhood, but in return, he gained a unique perspective and a strong sense of right and wrong.

He worked three jobs in high school just to survive. He sacrificed a college education. Most people would call this a disadvantage. Banachek calls it an opportunity. He used it to find a love for entertainment, a passion that has taken him to every continent but one, every European country, most Asian and African countries, and along the way, he has met amazing people and had adventures that a conventional life could never offer.

In 1987, Banachek was chained and buried alive for a television special. It was a stunt so dangerous that even Houdini himself couldn’t complete it. Houdini had to be dug out, and his diary entry read, “The weight of the earth is crushing.” Banachek, like Houdini, knew it was the illusion of danger that was most important. His plan was to secretly slip out of the coffin into a hidden room while the cameras rolled, and men shoveled dirt onto the coffin for cover of the deception.  Once out, the bulldozers would come in and fill the rest. This way if the coffin collapsed from the weight, Banachek would still be safe. He would then tunnel back in 3 feet from the top once the hole was full. (Remember, Houdini only had to tunnel 2 feet and could not succeed.) When he arrived at the set, he discovered his partner had failed to follow the specific instructions for building the room. It was now a death trap. Banachek proceeded with the stunt anyway, but first he threw an extra 2 by 4 into the hidden room.

As the bulldozers began to fill the hole with dirt, the walls of the hidden room started to very slowly collapse. As Banachek started to tunnel back into the grave, a wall pinned Banachek in the small doorway, threatening to crush him. He never panicked. Reaching back, he wedged a two-by-four between the front and back walls, holding back the weight of the earth just long enough to continue his escape.

He tunneled back into the grave, closed the door, and waited. Forty-five minutes later, he burst to the surface, exhausted. The audience was in awe, never knowing how close he came to death. They also never knew that because of a bully when he was 6, he was able to think outside the box, never panic, and see each adventure through to its conclusion.  Banachek was always aware, panicking got you killed, clear thinking is what would save you.

Banachek never has nightmares about his near-death experiences because he does not see them as almost failures but rather as successful adventures. No matter the outcome, at the very least, he will always have a good story to tell. For Banachek, these near-death experiences aren't failures but triumphs. They are adventures that have helped him learn the lesson: never let your almost failures keep you from being your best self. See them as learning experiences that propel you toward success.

Reframe any negatives in your life to positives. You can always find a way.  By doing this, Banachek has become the most awarded mentalist in the United States, written nine best-selling books in the art of Mind-reading and every mentalist today uses at least one, if not more, of his creations. There is a reason Criss Angel, Penn and Teller, David Blaine, and others have sought out his expertise.  It all comes down to the fact Banachek believes in himself, and you should believe in yourself too. Life is too short to focus on negatives, and most often, a negative can be a positive if you look at it from a different angle.

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

The death of mankind due to population growth?

Have you ever wondered about the ever growing population when it comes to Exponential growth?



So let’s break it down with some simple ideas.

There is the story of a queen who asked what she could do for a subject? Could she give him food? Instead, he asked her to place one grain of rice on the first square of a chess board, double it on the second square on the second day, double that amount on the third day on the third square and keep going in this manner until all squares had been accounted for. Seems like a simple request right? Only if you do this he ends up with 18,446,744,073,709,551,615 grains of rice.  For those math minded, the equation is 2^64 - 1, since there are 64 squares on a chessboard.  By the way in words that is: 

eighteen Quintilian ,
four hundred forty six quadrillion ,
seven hundred forty four trillion ,
seventy three billion ,
seven hundred nine million ,
five hundred fifty one thousand ,
six hundred fifteen


Another example involved pennies and a month. Take 31 days, one penny the first day, double that the second day and so till you have reached 31 days. This equals to $10,737,418.23. That's almost eleven million dollars!




Or take a sheet of paper, fold it in half, fold it in half again. At 7 foldings it is about as thick as a notebook. At 12 foldings you will find you can’t fold it anymore but let’s pretend you can.  At 20 foldings you have passed the height of Mount Everest. Do this 42 times and you now have a sheet of paper that will reach the moon. Do it just 8 times more and now you have reached  the sun.  Amazing huh?



But it is very scary when you think about this in terms of the human race and population increase, and the limited amount of area and resources we have on this earth.  

However, there is more to this when you start to dig deeper.

Let’s start at the beginning. It took the human race from the dawn of man till about 500 BC to reach the 100 million people mark.

Around 500 A.D to A.D. 600 the population had doubled to 200 million.

By 1250 it had doubled again to 400 million. Shortly after this, we had wars and sickness and that took its toll.

Then in 1805 or 1887, we reached the one billion people mark (we do not know for sure when exactly).  Now think about this, it had taken us thousands of years to reach this point. But within 100 years, we doubled that number to 2 billion people. This happened around 1927 or so.

In 1959, the year before I was born, we hit 3 billion. The year of the baby boomers.  We progress from there to:

1974 - 4 billion people
1987 - 5 billion people
1999 - 6 billion people
2011 - 7 billion people
And as I write this today on Feb 28th at One O’Clock in Playa De Carmen in Mexico, the population clock says we have 7,487,607,851 With 218 thousand births and 90 thousand deaths.

The deaths are important because that does slow our growth rate, as we will see later in this blog.

It is believed that if we keep growing as we have, we will reach 9.5 billion people on our planet by 2050
The largest growth rate numbers that appear in the Sub-Sahara African nation area, and it is at an alarming rate where the population is expected to double by 2050 and to quadruple by 2100. 

Right now the world is adding 81 million people a year. This is equal to the size of Egypt or Germany.
So what does this mean for world population? This a much more complex question than it seems at face value.

It also opens us to many more questions.

1. At what point is growth and population too much? Mankind has already become an ecological force in this universe, much as weather, fire and the like. We affect the earth as much as any of these.
2. When will we exceed the sustainable point for man to survive, re food and water?
3. How many doublings can we take before there simply is no room for mankind to exist?
4. What can we do about this and should we do anything?
5. Will the humans constant will to survive be their demise in the end?

And so on the questions get asked. Everyone has an answer, and everyone has more questions than answers.

Now here is the thing, population growth does not grow exponentially, people die and it takes two children to replace two parents. But despite mortality rates, plagues and disease, our population does indeed still keep growing as you can see by the numbers earlier.

A Malthusian Catastrophe on the horizon?

A Malthusian Catastrophe is the situation where a society finds itself returning to a subsistence level of existence as a result of overtaxing its available agricultural resources. The theory was first put out by Thomas Malthus in 1779

There are many who say we have surpassed our sustainable point. That there is not enough food in the world, but this is not quite true.  A study at McGill University in 2012 said that we already grow enough food for 10 billion people. They also told us that the past two decades prior to 2012, the rate of global food production had increased faster than the rate of global population growth. This is a good thing. But there is a problem....getting the food to the people. 

The human body needs about 2,100 calories. In 1996 the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that the world was producing enough food to provide every man, woman and child with 2,700 calories a day. That’s 600 calories more per person than we to need to exist.

The problem of hunger is not the amount of food we are producing. It is poverty. And this is only going to get worse if we do not produce more food. The more scarce food is, the more expensive it gets. At some point, if the world growth keeps growing unstopped, we will not be able to sustain it.

Now here is the interesting thing. Before we all start to freak the hell out. The growth rate has slowed. It is moving down dramatically. It is in a freefall right now.

In 1968, we reached the relative peak in global population growth rate. We added 73.2 million to a world population of 3.54 billion. The world grew at a record 2.09 percent it was between 1966 and 1972 that the world was in a historical peak and the only time in recorded history when the world’s population grew above two percent.

In 1988 the world gained 93 million people, this year we will gain 81 million or so and it is projected that by 2020 we will be at a 1 percent growth rate adding about 76 million people a year and by 2050 we will be down to a 0.5 percent growth rate bringing us to 17th and 18th century numbers that were at about 46 million people. 

The good thing here is we have slowed down our growth but have not stopped the growth.  An estimated billion people every 15 years is still a lot of people.  Though there is a belief by some that at the year 2045 our population growth will halt at around 8 billion people. The U.N. believes we will peak at 9 billion people.

So why the slowdown? Our wars are bigger, more people alive, so more people die of disease, there are more people living in cities who have smaller families, price of raising a family limits the amount of family members in non-poverty families, the longer people live, procreating is not the center of a families world, and a myriad of other causes.

I believe that just because we see an end to the growth it does not mean that we should not be aware of it, be aware of our effect on this earth and try to leave it in a better place for our next generations. To not destroy it. Because I believe as we destroy it, we destroy ourselves, our very way of life and all the things we enjoy about our world. No one really knows the answers but we should think about consequences. Nobody wants to talk about limiting the amount of babies people can have. Nobody wants to talk about other solutions. We should talk about them, what is fair, what is not, what is humane what is not?  and we should discuss these options early and not wait till it is too late, this is not to say we should act,  But, we can talk about them now and doing so will allow us to brainstorm, to find real solutions or decide  if we need do nothing at all.

The world has been paying attention for quite a while now, in secret usually.  Atrocities have been inflicted. Dictatorial ideas have been put in place. But can we learn from them? Good or bad?

In 1979 China imposed a one child family plan. It allowed some exemptions, for instance, ethnic minorities were exempt, however with these exemptions by 2015, 36% of China’s population was subject to this one-child policy. And 53% were allowed to have a second child if the first was a girl. Fines were imposed and they even went as far as to force the policy with implanted contraceptives or sterilization.  This affected over 400 million Chinese. China claimed that over 400 babies were prevented that year. This number has been disputed by pointing out that 3/4 of the decline in the fertility rate was already being reached before 1970, nine years prior to the implementation of the one-child policy, and they point out much of it was due to the decline in economic growth. Ironically although many see this as a horrific policy, they say over 76 percent of Chinese supported the policy. This policy was phased out in 2015.  Jan 2016, China went to a two-child policy.

Vietnam has used “một hoặc hai con, which means "one or two childrenpolicy or the choice of a payment of government subsidies only for the first two children.

An interesting note on this, Vietnam has reduced its fertility rate to 1.8 percent (Births per women) which is lower than the replacement fertility rate of 2.1. The amount that it takes for a population to replace itself from one generation to the next.remember it takes two children to replace two parents so anything above 2 is an increase.  Looking at that it seems like a great idea until you realize the consequences. Families are fined, this affects mostly the poor. And even more sadly, abortion rates rise, Rich people are exempt, and there is a host of other complications that arise.

In the 1970’s in Hong Kong, people were encouraged through the campaign, “Two Is Enough” to have only two children or less. They did not enforce but highly encouraged it through education and a pride in responsibility. Currently. the birth rate in Hong Kong is 1.4 percent, one of the lowest in the world.

From 1990’s till late 2006 the Iranian Government stated that “Islam favored families with only two children.” In 2012 the Ayatollah Khamenei declared that the policy made sense 20 years ago, but it’s continuation in years later was just wrong.”

In July 2012. a think tank in the United Kingdom recommended what the Daily Mail labeled “a two-child policy”. They claimed that Britain’s high birth rate was a major contributing factor to climate change.

There are a host of extreme suggestions that people do not like to discuss. Many of them are difficult, horrific, defy human rights and just cruel. But again, to learn we should discuss them. Here are a few.

1. Right to die or forced age limits
2. Sterilizations
3. Eugenics

The fact that soon, by the middle of this century the average age of life will be 88, and by the end of the century living to a 100 may become the norm is definitely a concern for man and for the global population growth problem.

The right to die:

Six years ago, Taro Aso, the Japanese finance minister state that the elderly should be allowed to "hurry up and die." He referred to them as “tube people.”

Dr. James Beattie, a top Cardiologist in England believes that doctors resuscitate too many older people because society does not see enough death, leaving many people unwilling to accept mortality.  Now neither is suggesting that we let them die to enable population growth but it has been suggested by others and in serious terms and their arguments are used to support these claims.

Some claim assisted Euthanasia would help in a minor way with our population growth numbers. They argue that it is humane for those with debilitating painful disease and those faced with a horrible death. I agree with the latter but not sure I agree with the population growth association.

Sterilization:

India instituted sterilization camps in 1975. For 21 months mass sterilization was implemented. Women were persuaded to voluntarily go through this procedure with cash incentives.  Those that did not were forced to undertake it. It was reported that in one camp at an abandoned hospital in a rural part of India a doctor with unsterilized equipment sterilized 83 women in 5 hrs. Many women died as a result of this practice.

Other penalties were put in place, like not being able to hold an office appointment if you have a large family or owning a gun. Many of these women are so poor that the money they get is a huge incentive.  More recently India is finally looking at injected contraceptives. But again, poverty is an issue.

Uzbekistan is said to have secretly sterilized women at doctors offices without their knowledge after their second child. It is reported it was a policy starting in 2009.

And if you think that forced serialization was only in third world countries consider this. In Canada, yes Canada, two Canadian provinces, Alberta and British Columbia, performed compulsory sterilization programs in the 20th century with an eugenic agenda. The Sexual Sterilization Act" of Alberta was enacted in 1928 and repealed in 1972. The Alberta government apologized for the forced sterilization of over 2,800 people. Approximately 850 Albertans who were sterilized under the Sexual Sterilization Act and were awarded $142 million in Canadian dollars for damages. If you have read so far you have an even bigger surprise coming up about a practice in the U.S.A.

China, Japan, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Israel (on Ethiopian Jewish emigrants), Peru, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and even the U.S. have all been associated with secret sterilizations, forced, or encouraged sterilization of women.  Some for Eugenic reasons, some for racial and some for population growth.

Eugenics

Then there is another horrific belief still held by some today, “Eugenics. The word was first coined in the 1890’s by Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, and quickly gained support then. Galton, and others, believed that eugenics should develop from a science to a policy and finally into a religion.” There is that word; “Religion”, used to make something the law of the people.

Eugenicists believed that those genetically defective members of society were human "weeds" who must be prevented from passing on their "deleterious" genes.


And do not think for a minute that our good old U.S.A had it’s hands clean in this.  In fact during the Progressive era, ca. 1890 to 1920, the USA was the first country to undertake compulsory sterilization programs for the purpose of eugenics. See the map of states that held this legislation.

Eugenicists helped Hitler’s rise to power and gave him their support.  They were driven underground after the second world war. But they emerged intact under another name, Crypto-eugenics.  (And many do not know this but Planned Parenthood started in their offices.)  They also believe that the aging are a burden to society.  More recently we see them on many of the right to die cases.  The right to die is certainly a hot topic and has merits but Eugenicists have their own agenda, do not be fooled.

Many right-to-die advocates point out that World population will stop growing when the birth rate equals the death rate. Remember, It takes two children to replace two dead parents. Giving a person the right to choose if they want to die or not due to sickness is a humane thing to do and helps with population growth and food and medical supplies in the world. I believe they have a point. I certainly do not want to die in pain, hooked up to machines keeping me alive for what? To put money in the doctor's pockets, to make family members feel like they are doing something,  when the prognosis is a few months extra to live and the behavior will leave a family with debt and a memory of my long demise.  At this stage, I don’t think I am going to affect the population growth in any way at all.

More human ways to control birth rate but also are touchy to speak about are:

Abstinence

Banning divorce (the reason being people have more children with other partners)

Immigration

Birth control

Incentives

Fines

Taxation

Education

Pride in responsibility for your family and population.


For more on these look them up yourself.

Unseen Consequences of growth rate in a country. What do you do when your country is not making enough babies to support your country?



Funny aside to all this gloom and doom, in 2014 Denmark had a .4 population growth rate of 1.73 children per women (less than the two needed for growth). They were headed to a population decline and a possible labor replacement crises. (see there are other factors to look at.)  The Danish travel agency Spies Rejser was worried they would not have people to book travel and would lose business ..... sooo… they started an add campaign aimed towards adults with the slogan, “JUST DO IT!”  The commercial started with a voice saying, “Can sex save Denmark’s future?”  Then a sad elderly couple came upon the screen. Denmark’s population problem was described. Next, a young adult girl visits a hotel where she was conceived.  You then saw her try on lingerie and visiting Paris with her boyfriend. The Danes were then encouraged to take a trip by being told that they have 46 percent more sex when on Vacation. Even an ovulation discount was offered when booked through them and if you could prove you conceived while on vacation with them, you received three years of baby supplies

Singapore, when faced with declining population took up with the candy maker Mentos for an add that said, “Get your night on.”

When Romania was faced with the same issue they took it a step further. Their population growth was around zero in the 1960’s (I was born 1960). So Romania banned abortion and contraceptives, they made divorce almost impossible and imposed taxes on childless families. If you were over 25 and did not have kids you were subject to up to a 20 percent tax increase. Have a kid and you received tax incentive breaks. Have three kids and you had a 30 percent cut in your taxes.

In Russia from 1944 till 1986, if you had more than 10 children and raised them you were awarded the “Mother  Heroine”.  It was a way for them to increase their workforce under the guise of “looking out for the health of mother and child”. These women also received added retirement benefits, food and payment of public utilities. 430,000 women were awarded this title.

When South Korea reached the low 1.2 point they gave employees every third Wednesday “early closing time” for “family time.” Read into that, “go home and get your groove on.”



But hold on a minute, maybe we do need to “Freak out” for our future generations instead of getting “our groove on."    

Think about this.:


Even if growth slows down, technology is allowing us to live longer and this means less people dying. Less birth mortality, means more babies living. At some point, logically, the population growth rate will start climbing again and we are back with the problem we were all concerned about when I started this. Maybe we need to all be educated from a young age to be responsible in our family growth as a unit. Do we really need more than two children each, can we afford it? And if we can afford it should we? Do we want to lose the right to make this choice for ourselves? What is the family unit, what is healthy? AND SO ON... I certainly do not have the answers. But it is something we need to really think about before it is too late.


Unless…..

As Bill Gates points out, we are due for some big catastrophe; a disease, meteorite or comet crash, climate issue, a super solar flare (unlikely), a man-made catastrophe (more likely), or something that will kill large amounts of our population. Mother Gaia always seems to find a way to take care of herself, to rid itself of any pestilence, of which we have become one. Maybe Mother nature will take this problem into her own hands to take protect herself. Maybe? Or maybe we should check ourselves before this happens? Do something nice for the earth for a change.



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