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Everybody Knows.

Bernie was puzzled. The hospital where she worked had imposed a set of measures which would [staff were assured] ‘Improve morale, enhance the hospital’s reputation, and greatly contribute to the well-being of the local community we serve’.

The primary measure was the number of patients treated. But, reasoned Bernie, the more patients we treat means the more local residents are becoming ill. Is that what ‘well-being’ means?

"

At the local prison, Ezra and his colleagues were being given ‘good news’ too. The governor announced “The prison will be expanding to create 100 more places, in line with the national ‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’ policy of doubling inmate places by 2010.” Applause all round.

Ezra was known on his wing as a very helpful officer, who had many skills and much knowledge to impart to the prisoners. He often told this story to anyone who would listen:

One morning, a man was walking along the river, and he suddenly saw someone struggling to keep afloat in the fast flowing waters. Without a thought for his own safety, he jumped in, swam out to the woman, and pulled her back to the bank, lifted her out, and let her recover.

Gratitude was given, addresses exchanged, and after half an hour, he walked on. Then, unbelievably, he saw someone else in the river. ‘Oh well’ he thought, ‘here we go again.’ The second person was rescued. As both those he had saved were in a state of shock, he decided not to ask how they got in the river in first place.

By now he was pretty tired. He had to get to his destination by mid-day. He would have gone by another route, but the river path was the quickest. He dreaded continuing to look at the river. But look he did, and the screams of another drowning person were so loud, a number of other people had rushed to the river bank. He turned around to the quickly assembling group:

‘Will someone else please help that man? I’m exhausted after rescuing two others this morning. I’m off upstream.’

‘Why,’ said a bystander, ‘you are a strong swimmer, and it seems more people are ending up in the water, we need you here.’

‘That may be true, but I’m going to find out who is throwing them in the river in the first place.’

All Ezra’s colleagues had heard the story, and it left almost all of them unmoved. The attitude was ‘We can’t help it if people commit crimes; all we can do is keep them off the streets.’

"

At the town square, Prosperity Party MP Jason was flying.

‘You’ve never had it so good. Ten years of economic growth, rising property values, 1000 TV channels, record sales in the shops, cheap food, even cheaper flights, and six cans of beer for £1!’

He felt fireproof.

‘What more could you need?’

"

A life, sanity and the planet, reflected Peter. We have a world that tells us that greater economic growth can save the environment, more prisons solves increasing crime, more hospital admissions says we are healthier, factory farming means healthier, happier animals, more truancy combined with better exam results in schools, and longer licensing hours means greater freedom to enjoy cirrhosis of the liver, and we must trust those who ‘earn’ and own the most to decide our fate. How much is enough for one person? £10,000,000? £100,000,000? or £100,000,000,000?

Peter had been reading about a ten-year old story unreported in the press about an island for the criminally insane. He longed to read that it was where those who convinced the mass of the world’s population that war = peace, disease = health, prison = freedom and police state = nirvana were sent, but he knew he was dreaming.

Apparently a maverick psychologist had gone to an [Sanity] Island, and a couple of years later, violence between inmates and staff had stopped, staff absenteeism and sickness was at its lowest point, and many of the inmates had been released back into society, completely rehabilitated.

"

The wards in Bernie’s hospital which had retained their own cleaners [as opposed to contractors] who developed relationships with patients had much higher recovery rates and shorter bed occupancy times. The cleaners knew it, the medical staff knew it, the patients knew it, but no-one could make the connection explicit. It did not fit the government’s model.

In fact by having a fast food outlet on site instead of a staff canteen the hospital was creating future customers [patients]. Obesity, heart attacks, artificial sweetener poisoning and a range of poor diet-related illnesses would ensure government targets were not just met but exceeded for years to come.

"

Ezra’s mates down the road had no idea either, but MSG/Aspartame/Billy Burger diets made school kids bounce off the walls, get into trouble, remain illiterate and via the youth ‘justice’ system, become ultimately customers of the prison service too.

Poetic.

"

Across the seas on Sanity Island, the maverick psychologist, a descendant of the islands’ native people, was notching up more successes.

What nobody could fathom, was that the psychologist was absent from ‘normal’ island duties. He was rarely seen on the wards, had no direct dealings with inmates, but spent long hours in his office, on his own.

In his office he reviewed the inmate/patient files. While he looked at those files, he would work on himself. As he worked on himself, patients began to heal. After a few months, patients that had to be shackled were being allowed to walk freely. Others who had to be heavily medicated were getting off their medications. And those who had no chance of ever being released were being freed. Staff began to enjoy coming to work. Eventually more staff were employed than were needed because patients were being released. Wards were being closed.

Peter was amazed. Bernie and Ezra had attended one of his training programmes several years ago, and he wondered if they knew about Sanity Island.

Bernie had often wondered what got her into nursing in the first place. Along with Ezra [who she had lost contact with] she was a ‘people person.’ She couldn’t understand that this wasn’t the single most important criterion for nurse recruitment. How could you nurse someone unless you loved them? When patents died, it didn’t leave her devastated, unless it was avoidable. Death was a fact of life. She would often walk the wards saying ‘I love you’ under her breath to her patients, and anyone she met, as she knew it made a difference.

When Ezra was young, he came very, very close to stealing a car. Fortunately, he was too drunk to manage it. Had he got in and drove off, a crash was certain, and prison would follow; he may have even killed someone. As he spoke to his ‘customers’, he was grateful every day he had not followed the same path.

In a bizarre way, he would silently apologise to the inmates, saying, ‘I’m sorry, please forgive me’ silently as he walked around the cells at night. As he sought forgiveness for himself, he believed he was creating a connection between the soul of the prisoners and their victims.

Both he and Bernie would give thanks, again silently. Thank you. And Bernie herself would ask for forgiveness, as in her world, everything was connected, and she was individually and we all were collectively responsible.

"

Peter was desperate to discover how the maverick psychologist did it. When he found out, it wasn’t easy to accept. Just then the phone rang. It was Bernie-she hadn’t spoken to him in years. After sharing their mutual appreciation for each other, Peter couldn’t help but tell her about Sanity Island. Then Bernie butted in:

‘Am I responsible for my actions, yes? Being responsible for what everyone in my life does? Hmmm. Yet, as I take complete responsibility for my life, then everything I experience is my responsibility because it is in my life. This means that anything I experience and don't like is up to me to heal.’

‘Healing is what it’s all about then,’ reflected Peter.

Bernie continued.

‘Everything is a projection from inside you. The problem isn't with them, it's with you, and to change them, even the misled directors and politicians, you have to change you.’

‘Good God Bernie, it’s a tall order. But do you realise you have been thinking and acting in a similar vein to someone who actually healed dozens of criminally insane people?’ said Peter.

‘No I didn’t,’ said Bernie, ‘The good doctor [maverick psychologist *] is an amazing example to us all. His mission is to now educate others, mine is to help heal my patients. What about Ezra, the prison officer. I bet he is slowly making himself redundant.’

Peter confessed. ‘But what would happen if all those responsible for clearing up the mess-the nurses, doctors, healers, prison and probation officers, therapists, teachers, counsellors, police, armed forces, parents, children and families actually challenged those responsible for creating the mess in the first place? We would all be out of work.’

‘Perhaps we would perceive work in a different light then. Loving yourself is the greatest love of all,’ said Bernie.

"

One of Ezra’s inmates had been listening to Leonard Cohen. ‘Everybody Knows’ ** was the track playing:

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

‘Yes we might know,’ said Ezra to the prisoner, ‘but Cohen’s songs reflect his world. I like his song First We Take Manhattan [then we take Berlin]. You’re a rebel aren’t you, or else you wouldn’t be in here. How about doing something against the status quo that not only changes you, but everyone else for the better?’

‘Tell me more,’ said the prisoner.

‘I sometimes look at your files and say, I'm sorry and I love you over and over again, That's it.’

So, concluded Peter, it turns out that loving yourself is the best way to improve yourself, and as you improve yourself, you improve your world. If I fix my own leak, the captain won’t have to lie…

Jack Stewart, 2008.

* The inspiration for this story is a book by Joe Vitale, called Zero Limits. I’m sorry to his co-author Ihaleakala Dr Hew Len for calling him a maverick, as perhaps he is the only one who is ‘normal’. I love you.

** Leonard Cohen, from the album I’m Your Man, 1988.