The Will of the Dead

2^nd Iron Ore Truck Crashes Into Goldblatt’s

It's taken me a while to post this because I was fact-checking first. There’s been an interesting pattern of events going on here this year. On the only stretch of 4 lane divided highway in the country, there’s a steep and winding section that can be pretty treacherous. Eighteen-wheelers use it as well because it’s the only thoroughfare between the two major cities in the country, and it’s the route to the nearest border with South Africa from the capital.

The old iron ore mine was reopened late last year and trucks have been carrying their payload down the mountain to a town with a working railway line that then carries it out of the country and off to Asia for processing. So it’s currently being exported as raw iron ore dust.

In only 6 months 7-8 of these trucks have crashed on the mountain and spilled their load all over the place. Months later, the roads and median walls are still stained red. Miraculously, none of the drivers, nor anyone else, have been seriously injured in these accidents. One puzzling detail is that in this same period there have been close to zero accidents involving other large trucks. So what’s going on here?

For those who believe in these types of things, there is a hypothesis circulating that this odd series of events has something to do with the late King Sobhuza II’s proclamation before his death that no more iron ore would leave Swaziland unprocessed. Clearly, his desire then was that if the mine were to reopen the ore would be processed in-country, thereby providing more jobs and keeping more profits in-country as well. With the onset of these accidents where nobody is hurt but the iron ore is spilled all over the surrounding area, and no other large trucks are crashing, it makes one wonder.

Footnote: I drove by the most recent accident on June 18^th after it had happened, but my car was not passing by when the photo was taken. It was a matter of time to witness one of these firsthand.

Five Iron Ore Trucks in Malagwane Pile-up

Iron Ore Truck Crashes Into Goldblatt’s

Gifts from mysterious sources

Raise your hand if you’ve ever had a pet cat and the cat gave you a mouse, bird, lizard, etc as a present. Ok, I can’t see you raising your hand but I trust that you are.

While house-sitting for a friend recently, her utterly adorable and loving cat brought me a small agama—a type of common spiny lizard here. I was in the kitchen at the sink when I saw him walk in with something in his mouth. He passed behind me then set it down on the rug next me. I bent down and scooped it up. It was still very much alive so I didn’t examine it for injuries, since it had already been stressed enough, but just put it outside in a safe place to go hide.

Several questions came to mind that will remain unanswered unless someone develops the ability to read cats’ minds. But here they are anyway. Did the cat catch the lizard and bring it to me to show it off? Was he bragging in a cat way about what a great hunter he is? Was he really offering it to me as a gift? If so, did he catch the lizard and then decide to give it to me or did he decide he wanted to give me something and then catch the lizard? That’s my favorite scenario. He thought of me and decided to give me a gift to show how much he loves me. And men wonder why women tend to like cats so much.

Dollars Incense

 

In between my hair-raising and hair-pulling adventures, I do a lot of reading. Actually, I try to read while waiting in line, too. It’s one of the easiest ways to multi-task.

I just read a really thought-provoking article, "If the GDP Is Up, Why Is America Down?" published in 1995, and I think it will resonate with most Americans. If nothing else it has helped me finally be able to articulate why I hate Christmas and, more broadly, why I find America to be so miserable despite all the great things it has going for it.

I’ve read a few books recently about economics, and at various points the authors claim that painful or damaging activities and events are ok or possibly even good for us, but my gut rejects these assertions. For example, the authors insist that, in the big picture, job losses in one’s home country due to company relocation overseas is actually good in the long run. But the little voice in my head kept saying, “no, it’s not!” Now I understand why. These economists’/authors’ rationale is entirely based on the current measure of GDP, which as this article explains does not value the social fabric of society nor environmental goods and services that are being destroyed at an ever increasing rate in the never-ending pursuit of economic growth.

“The GDP is simply a gross measure of market activity, of money changing hands. It makes no distinction whatsoever between the desirable and the undesirable, or costs and gain. … As a result the GDP not only masks the breakdown of the social structure and the natural habitat upon which the economy--and life itself--ultimately depend; worse, it actually portrays such breakdown as economic gain.” Emphasis added.

The article goes on to pose such questions as “Is there a difference between mere monetary transactions and a genuine addition to a nation's well being?” I think there is. Do you?

In my humble opinion, the obesity, depression, and prescription drug use rates in America are indicators that something fundamental is wrong. Haven’t you ever wondered why poor countries are consistently rated as happier than many wealthy countries? By realizing how GDP is measured, where “only transactions involving money … count in the national reckoning” and accepting that wealthy countries have made sacrifices to achieve “developed” status, it suddenly makes sense. Poor countries haven’t destroyed their environmental and social foundations yet.

Now let me offer one tiny anecdote. I was at a small dinner party the other night, celebrating a friend’s birthday. There were 9 adults present all under the age of 50. It struck me later that during the course of the evening nobody made or answered a single cell phone call. Nobody sent or read any text messages. Nobody went on Facebook or anywhere else on the world wide web. And we hung out for several hours. I would venture to say this would be unprecedented in America in this day and age. Yes, all our cell phones were on, had coverage and battery life, and we all had friends and loved ones who were not present. Yet we did not feel the need to communicate with anyone who wasn’t there.

After this realization, I will no longer complain about the exorbitant calling and texting rates in Swaziland because at the end of the day it ensures that people continue to do more talking face-to-face. We use our phones to get together and then have conversations in person. The results? Well, no matter how stressed out I’ve been about things here, every time I visit the US everyone says they have never seen me so happy and relaxed. And no, it's not because I'm back in the US.

I just want to add one more quote from the article for you to think about. Two major categories have been excluded from the measure of GDP, “the functions of family and community on the one hand, and the natural habitat on the other. Both are crucial to economic well-being. But because the services they perform are outside the price system, they have been invisible in our national accounting.”

What impact has this had on your social life, your well-being and your health? If you’d like to read the whole article, the link is available at the bottom of the page.