Cancer is no longer a death sentence

Dr. Grace Wang  (L)  poses with six-time survivor Jackie

On Saturday 10th March, I got a great opportunity to see close up the great work being done by the cancer society, survivors, their doctors, nurses, and caregivers, to totally abolish the idea that this disease is a death sentence.

 As one who has long subscribed to that theory, my eyes were opened when I  met a lady who has so far survived and lived a fairly normal life for fifty-one years since her operation. 

Further reinforcement came from a long-time friend Jackie Simmons with whom I had lost contact, but who now brought me up to date on her own victory over six different cancer surgeries over an eighteen year period. These ranged from breast to stage four "inoperable" lung cancer in 2009 when she was given seven months to live. 

Jackie credits her survival to the loving care of Dr. Wang and Dr. Sudana Shaheb.

 Dr. Wang is a world-famous Oncologist at the Miami Cancer Institute who Jackie said has for decades, gone way beyond the call of duty to ensure not only her survival but also that of the hundreds of the patients whose care she had responsibility for.

 Dr. Shaheb an Australian medical doctor and anthropologist of East Indian descent, is a professor of medicine at the University of Havana, who regards an appropriate diet as the perfect cure for all diseases. He is on retainer from several Native American tribes who have become susceptible to numerous diseases because they have moved away from the kinds of foods which had nourished their bodies for centuries. Jackie credits him with having also saved her life after her lung surgery, by redirecting her to consume the foods that are compatible with her particular gene pool.

After only a few hours of assisting in the Jamaican booth at the event and listening to Dr. Wang, I am now totally convinced that most people unnecessarily over-react and do themselves serious psychological damage, from the very moment they get the dreaded prognosis, thus defeating or retarding their own recovery, simply because they ignore or are ignorant of the exciting advances being made in treatment and the current  phenomenal survival rates.

I must admit though that my own ignorance about the disease is partly because I have never really had close family affected, apart from an aunt who whose death certificate said death from pancreatic cancer although she was over ninety years old and had already contracted several different illnesses during a prolonged period.

So Saturday I learned about many aspects of the disease, the research and up to date developments at this Relay for Life, held at the Baptist Hospital in Kendall, Florida. 

Relay for life is held worldwide to raise funds for cancer research and I also gathered from the address by Dr. Wang, that the Cancer Society of the USA had funded forty-one

scientists who were awarded Nobel Prizes for cancer research. She also outlined some of the latest revolutionary and life-saving drugs which are now available as a result of experiments facilitated by funds raised at events such as Relay for Life.

At this event Jamaica featured large, under the leadership of both Jackie Simmons, a former Jamaica Tourist Board executive and Dr, Wang herself, along with strong support from volunteers, both Jamaicans and others, drawn from survivors and friends. 

Our booth was the largest and the most beautifully decorated with flags and banners, some hand painted and donated by friends and well-wishers and of the $250,000 overall target set for the day, we raised a whopping $68,000!

While a large bulk of the funds came from donations and the silent auction, our booth also buzzed all day as patrons flocked to buy our world famous beef, chicken and vegetable patties, rock cakes, Tortuga Rum cake, banana chips, gizzada etc. Another best seller was a large selection of orchids.

Jackie leads the 16 and over batch of survivors

In the afternoon, survivors (you are considered a survivor if your cancer is in remission for five years or more) medical personnel and other caregivers walked silently around the hospital grounds.

The survivors were grouped by the number of years they had survived ..... five years and over, 11 years and over, 16 years and over followed by a batch that had survived less than five years so far.

This while all the lights were dimmed but the surroundings glowed with candles lit in memory of those who had passed.

Candles honoring survivors light up the surrounding

For me personally, it was an extremely educational yet enjoyable day.

The dangers of Mistaken Identity.

Have you ever been the subject of mistaken identity? I imagine every single human being has been mistaken for someone else at some time or the other as so many of us have common features. However, most of us have been fortunate in that these incidents only cause us a minor inconvenience at worse or a good laugh.

Here I am with my big afro.

I have long concluded that I have a common face for hardly a week passes without some stranger who I have never seen before in my life, saying to me "Where do I know you from” or worse "Hey Joan, didn't I  jst glimpse you in .....last week"  (a place I have never been or visited recently) or even calling me by some other name. 

However, my most dangerous experience of being mistaken for someone else occurred in Germany many years ago. This was during the period when that country was split into distinct parts, communist East Germany and West Germany.

I had been traveling in the west and although this was long before 9/11 which brought in escalated security checks at airports, I noticed that every domestic airport I went to, I was body searched before I took off and after I landed.

I started to wonder if it could be because at the time I had a wonderful body, why every German security person wanted to touch me up!

However, at the third domestic airport, I was disabused of this by a German-speaking friend who told me she overheard an officer saying, "She looks just like Angela Davis."

Regrettably, I had never seen Angela in the flesh but I certainly knew who she was. However, I never saw a resemblance between myself and the person I had seen on tv and in the newspapers apart from the fact that we each had large afro hairstyles. She, however, seemed much fairer than I and even appeared to have freckles.

I guess to most white people though, all black women with afros would look alike!

For the benefit of those who do not know who that famous and extremely brilliant lady is, she is currently a law professor at a leading university in California but in the late sixties and seventies,  during the civil rights struggle, she was a force to be reckoned with.

At that time, she and numerous other black people in the USA, did not see any sanity in Marin Luther King Jr's strategy of peaceful resistance which only caused unarmed marchers to be attacked and mauled by vicious dogs, beaten with  batons by police or even murdered by armed white terrorists and members of the security forces.

Angela and others of her ilk, therefore decided that it was better to go down fighting. In other words, death before dishonor.

At that time, the USSR was the other superpower and as the USA practiced apartheid at home and supported it in every form abroad, the USSR took the opportunity to project itself as the savior of the oppressed by giving practical support to civil rights and black liberation struggles all over the world.

 It wasn’t surprising therefore that Angela and many who struggled against these ills during that era converted to communism.

To put a stop to her activism in the USA, law enforces in California charged her with purchasing the weapons which were used in an assault on the Marin County courthouse in which four persons were killed. However, once tried, she was exonerated so by mid 80's when I was traveling in Germany, I assumed she was no longer considered a dangerous person as she had long returned to teaching.

I, therefore, found it quite amazing that the Germans still had her on a "watch list" and mistook me for her. In retrospect though, I now suspect it was because she had been a vocal and dedicated communist, they weren't taking any chances. And I guess the fact that I had traveled to East Germany and had my passport stamped didn't help.

So although that experience reminded me of the possible complications and dangers that can arise when one is mistaken for another, I have been very lucky.  For we all have seen reports of how, before DNA evidence was accepted by the courts, hundreds and possibly thousands of people were incarcerated because they were mistaken for someone else and worse many were even put to death!

Yes, there are lots of people all over the world who bear more than a passing resemblance to others but thank heavens it has caused no harm for the vast majority of us.

I can't help wondering though how life was for anyone who was mistaken for an Osama Bin Laden when he was considered the most dangerous man on the planet and how dangerous it must be for anyone in the USA, who is unfortunate enough to bear even the slightest resemblance to Kim Jong-un!

Big Cypress Nature Preserve

Thanks to the Happy Hoofers chapter of the Florida Trail Association, under the leadership of Steve, some 48 of us happy troopers enjoyed an invigorating 7.5 mile huke at Big Cypress Nature Preserve.

Photo of  the happy troopers (photo provided by Steve)

The preserve is located in Collier County around fifty miles from Ft. Lauderdale on the way to Naples and Alligator Alley.

Because it is part of the Everglades, the area is rich in flora and fauna.

This was the dry season so luckily we were spared the insects but in terms of animals, we only saw quite a few large and small gators and one turtle.

The gators which seemed quite well fed and shy, were all by the water bank  which we hiked beside when we first set out going south.

                                                                                                                                                             After we reached approximately 

One of the large gators we saw

 halfway, we had a bathroom stop  where women  were directed to the bushes at the east side and the men to the west).

We then headed inland towards Carpenter campsite, where we had lunch which we brought along and hung around fr a while, getting to know each other.

A discarded pot left hanging

While there, I noticed that someone had hung a saucepan on a tree. I guess after cooking they just couldn't bother to lug back that utensil! Or maybe they had burnt it so badly on open fire it could no longer be used.

After lunch we headed back towards our parking lot by a much more forested but dry area,  minus gators.

In this section, the numerous fallen trees lying across the trail reminded us that there had recently been a hurricane in Florida. As we wended our way slowly, we met a gentleman who had been hiking with a young boy and two other adults  who stopped by a large fallen tree along the track to help the ladies go safely over it.

I asked him if he was a boy's scout and he replied "I try to be." Very helpful and pleasant young man.

Christina (Cuba) Terry (Guyana) Sue (Uganda)

The best part of these hikes in my book is meeting new people and Florida is quite a melting pot.

 Celia (Romania) Stephanie (New Zealand)

The interesting thing is it is a state of migrants as very few people living here are actually born here or even in the USA.  I spoke at length to quite a few people along the way but only one was originally from the state. Four were from  Kentucky, Puerto Rico, Pennsylvania and N. Dakota but the others were originally from overseas......... New Zealand, Romania, Cuba, and Uganda and of course me, Jamaica.

I really don't know how come Trump has his favorite (?) home in Florida when he hates immigrants so. Oh well, I guess he only hates non -Aryans so  he can survive here!. (Now why did I spoil my thoughts of a day pleasant day by thinking of him! Darn)

Back to more pleasant thoughts. I was excited to learn that the Bietram's (Terry from Guyana and his wife Sue from Uganda) had just recently returned from a safari in Kenya, which I plan to visit later this year so I really picked their brains about what to see and do there.

I just love the great outdoors. I love hiking, I love going to new places and most of all, I love life.

Another great day in the magnificent outdoors.

The domestic violence epidemic

Because women tend to be physically weaker than men, domestic violence at the hands of their partners and even loved ones, is a terrible pestilence that countless women have been forced to put up with since the beginning of time. And because these women more often than not, have had to suffer alone and in silence, the perpetrators have usually gotten away with it.

Since this practice can filter down in homes from one generation to the next, it has now reached epidemic proportions in the USA (which keeps good statistics) and most likely the rest of the world, if the report published by the Huffington Post on December 6th 2017 is to believed. For according to that newspaper, the number of American women who have been murdered by current or ex male partners between 2001-2012 was 11,766 nearly double the  number of US soldiers killed during the same period in active warfare Afghanistan!

The statistics put out by the National Coalition Against Domestic violence are equally mind boggling as they declare that each year, one in three women becomes a victim of physical brutality by an intimate partner, resulting in one woman being assaulted or killed by a partner every 9 seconds!

I am sure that not even women who are themselves victims, had any idea that the practice within families was so widespread for many may have thought it was only happening to them.

Well, as they say, behind every dark cloud lies a silver lining and if there is to be a silver lining behind the recent debate on the Rod Porter affair,  it is that the refusal by president Donald Trump and his minions, Chief of Staff Kelly, Sarah Sanders and Kelly Ann Conway to firmly and unequivocally condemn domestic violence while praising the perpetrator, Porter,  has elicited near unanimous condemnation and brought the issue from out of the shadows and placed it firmly on the front burner. 

This, plus the stiff price Porter has had to pay since his double life has been exposed, will hopefully cause potential abusers to think twice when they have the urge to abuse women, for now they know it will most likely eventually come out and destroy their careers for the days of their devious actions being forever kept secret, are gone.

For those who are not aware of the Rod Porter affair, he is a former aide to Trump who had access to classified material although he could not get security clearance from the FBI, as his Jekyll and Hyde character left him open to blackmail.

When his record of beating his two wives and girlfriend was leaked to the press, he had to resign immediately although his disgusting supporters at the white house would have happily kept him on, were it not for public outrage, especially by women. 

With other men seeing how the career and reputation  of this otherwise brilliant and from what we hear, hard working and effective  employee,  disintegrating immediately because of his secret, undercover and despicable penchant to destroy those whom he had pretended to love, hopefully they too will get the message.

And if evolving from this issue too, there were  enough legislators courageous enough to push for laws to criminally charge the organizations that keep people employed, after they have evidence that they have committed acts of domestic violence, that would send an even better message that domestic violence will never be tolerated. For when people are not only named and shamed, but also lose all chance of making a living, I guarantee that most will think twice about ever raising a hand at weaker partner.

Indeed, society has a duty to do everything, both criminal and civil, to protect the weak from harm.

INSECTS? HECK, WHY NOT!

How and what we eat has primarily to do with culture. 

I grew up as an unapologetic carnivore who hated vegetables. You see, I grew up on a farm where we had a lot of livestock, goats, rabbits, chickens cows etc and I observed from an early age that the animals ate green stuff like grass and green while we humans  ate the animals. So  naturally, the only vegetables I favored were those processed in the stomachs of the farm animals and I have never changed that diet! 

However, as I have matured, I started to have serious qualms about eating the poor animals. You see, I love  all  animals (that are not going to make a meal of me!) and have always tended to make pets of those that would allow me to. As a child, among my favorites were ducklings, rabbits, dogs and cats and although  I ate rabbits and ducks with relish, had for years tended to criticize those who ate cats and dogs.

However, I am now badly conflicted at the thought of eating all animals, as these creatures being slaughtered for our pleasure and convenience, have flesh, blood and feelings. This has also led me to become more understanding of how culture affects our diets, thus whereas cats and dogs have a special place in the hearts of some of us, so do cows to Hindus, so they would never think of eating them.  So the people who eat what we consider animals specially designed as pets, are no more evil than we are, for they have never contemplated using them as such but have always raised them only as food.  Who are fellow carnivores to condemn their culture therefore?

While, because of my culture,  I had once considered the very thought of consuming insects repulsive, I have warmed to the  scientists who are now seriously promoting this idea, (which is not at all new as it has been practiced in countries like China and Vietnam for centuries), as it seems to be not only nutritious but practical and useful.

For the fact is, most insects with the exception of things like bees, are nothing but disgusting pests that have no flesh or blood so probably feel no pain and worse, they bring a lot a of discomfort  and diseases to us humans!

 I am therefore positive  that where these can be tastily and  hygienically prepared, I would be able to consume them with not only delight, but a sense of satisfaction because I would be helping to  rid the world of dangerous pests, while eating healthily.

However, these are some insects like the cockroach, which, while I would like to help to eliminate from the face of the earth,  I would give a wide berth to, Yuck! 

That Holland America cruise

I have been on some 14 cruises, but the Holland American cruise line is the worst I have ever used, or rather, the Zuiderdam ship was by far the worst ever.

The thing is though, we had a wonderful cruise IN SPITE OF THEM, when at  the end of December  2017, I headed out with eight adult friends and five kids.

It was the camaraderie that did it.

Great travel partners

What I found as a really horrible first impression from we embarked was the fact that they never even had a small welcome package in the staterooms. They remind me ever so much of Spirit airlines, for once you pay your fare, you have to pay for almost every single thing. For example, I have never been on a cruise where you go to the gym and pay to even cycle! Dinners in certain dining rooms you had to pay for and in some recreation areas, you had to pay to even enter! Yuck.

To make matters worse, the new year's eve party music was terrible and they even started the countdown almost 2 minutes after midnight and only gave out free champagne after people grumbled loudly.

Anyway their saving grace is their staff, all of whom were wonderful and also their entertainment, especially the Trinidadian steel bank Island Music.

Half Moon bay, Bahamas

I liked the choice of ports of call too, Bahamas, Aruba, Curacao, Cartagena, Panama Canal and Limon, but that is what attracted me in the first place and caused me to take that particular cruise.

I started out enjoying wonderful tours all the way to Cartagena, then because a man had sneezed on me for about 15 minutes non-stop at a show the night after news year's day, boom, I was hit down with an influenza virus.

First I went through it was a coughing spell for an entire day, for which I took lozenges. Then feeling better, went on the tour of the "Walled city in Cartagena," when bam I  fainted on a sidewalk with 103 degree fever.

What a shock.

However, having friends around was what saved my life as in no time they secured my belongings and had me back on the shuttle to the boat and right to the hospital doctor. I was in isolation for two days but was happy and animated after that and enjoyed the rest of the cruise, thanks to the great company.

Back to the tours before the drama.

The first stop was at Half Moon Bay, one of the 700 "islands" of the Bahamas. This one is owned by Carnival Cruise but its just a small cay surrounded by a white sand beach. I swam but the water was cold brrr. Then the rain poured.

That was a forgettable port stop.

A section of the scenic Arikok National Park

ARUBA

I liked Aruba which reminds me a lot of Antigua,.......flat, lovely beaches all around and hot.  As it is a very dry island, they grow very little and import much.

Apart from tourism the only other industry they have is aloe vera farming, processing and export.

What  really caught me though were the caves and the fabulous rock garden.

The best caves are  in Arikok national park. That area reminds me of our own Hellshire in Jamaica.

The Guadirikiri  cave was very impressive  with its fabulous  stalagmites and stalactites and interesting formations which challenge the imagination.

The other cave we stopped at was Fontein but because of the delicate bat population, we couldn't take photos inside.

The island itself is tiny and  less than seventy miles from Venezuela and they take tourism seriously, even giving us helmets and flashlights to tour the Fontein cave. It is unique  too with a population of just over one hundred thousand but made up of ninety six nationalities. They also have a high literacy rate as education is compulsory and most people speak a minimum of four languages.

They remain part of the kingdom of Holland and have an ambitious green program to go totally renewable by 2020. To achieve this the airport is covered with solar panels and they have quite a large wind farm and are serious about recycling.

What I really fell for though was  the Rock Park at Ayo which was once a sacred ground for the indigenous Arawaks.

This area is close to the town of Santa Cruz in the center of the island. I have seen really spectacular rock foundations in my time in Nevada, Utah, Colorado etc, but this was even more awesome.

The backdrop to this Rock park was mount Jamananota, only 620 feet high, but when you are on a really flat island, even a little hill like that looks high!

To get to this point we had driven through an eerie, deserted area where the guide said the French had murdered a number of Indians and according to him, at nights, if you drive though that area alone at nights, ghosts enter your vehicle!

Obviously bunkum but a timely constant reminder of how vicious the European invaders were towards the indigenous people throughout the western world when they arrived.

Curacao

Curacao is also part of the Dutch kingdom and interestingly, like Aruba, it also has a female governor. The governors have to be locally born people though.

It is however larger and more industrialized than is sister island Aruba, even being a banking haven,. It also has the deepest deep sea harbor in the Caribbean, so does a great deal of trade, especially with its neighbor Venezuela.

Venezuela is currently being devastated by a socialist experiment which has led to chronic shortages so people from that large, powerful neighbor, visit in droves and work in Curacao to send money back to their relatives.

 

The Venezuelans even operate a floating market at the port in Curacao where you can buy any agricultural product from the barges then they load up on scarce imported goods to take home.

In general Curacao is a shoppers haven for all its Caribbean neighbors. Because it has so much going for it, tourism does not appear to be as well developed as over in Aruba.

We took the island tour and visited  the Hato cave  near Willemstad but it was nothing close to those in Aruba although better lit.

Cartagena

My first impression of  Cartagena was that  it is  not only a dirty city but also unsafe as most homes are grilled. Unfortunately because during the tour of the walled city  I collapsed I never really got  to see much, so that’s a lasting impression.

The "walled city" is  an old district full of impressive colonial architecture and heritage sites and surrounded by thick stone walls. It was founded by the Spanish in the 16th century after an attack by Francis Drake. It took two centuries  to be  completed, as the city faced frequent damage from storms and pirate attacks.

Today hundreds of people make their living selling wares and offering services there. Some women even dress in  traditional costumes and charge to take photos. You can also get a horse drawn tour of the city. I was really enjoying this outing until I had to be unceremoniously evacuated, but that's life.

After that, I stayed on ship after coming out of isolation, but really enjoyed the rest of the cruise hanging out with my group of dear friends, the Simmons, Simmonds and Green and even getting beaten badly in drafts.

The entertainment on the ship was really good, especially the magician and Island Music steel band from Trinidad. They really enjoy entertaining guests and it is by far the best steel band I have even seen in my life.

So despite the flu setback I enjoyed myself immensely for the company, the tours, he entertainment, the workers made up for the lousy cruise line!

Think I am going to give Central and South America a break for a while though. For about two years ago when I returned from Brazil, Guyana and Surinam  I also had a fever and was isolated at Medical Associates in Jamaica as they thought I had brought back malaria to the island!
Fevers and I are not doing too well with Latin American travel somehow!

SCENES FROM MY BALCONY DURING ISLOLATION. THIS WAS JUST OUTSIDE THE PANAMA CANAL

SCENES INSIDE THE WALLED CITY BEFORE MY DEMISE!

 

Sexual predators and the new revolution

I am an unapologetic admirer of the American media, for here the major media houses employ some of the most fearless, independent and determined journalists and give them a free rein and the necessary resources to get to the bottom of matters of public interest, regardless of where the chips fall.

This is not new though for even during the civil rights struggle, I dare say the battle that Martin Luther King Junior and other leaders fought for desegregation and equality, would have been much more difficult and possibly unachievable, had not courageous persons in the media been prepared to join in highlighting the atrocities in the society and fearlessly bringing pressure on reluctant politicians to amend the laws.

I see a similar pattern now emerging in the quest to expose and change the culture concerning the pervasive sexual exploitation of women. This is something which has plagued us women and children from the beginning of time and made our lives a living nightmare. For make no mistake, this is a direct result of patriarchal domination and the religious doctrines developed by men, that determined that women are men's property who were put on earth to look after the home and most importantly, provide pleasure for men.

No women suffered more from this doctrine than imported African slaves who were not only valued as factories for producing an unending supply of workers for the plantations but also, importantly, for the sexual pleasure of their masters and their teenage sons who were supposed to be taught how to enjoy sex, by slave women.

The high percentage of mixed race people in former slave societies is a permanent reminder of those terrible days.

What the American press is beginning to do today as they have done so many times in the past, is to take the lead to bring about a change of culture. Hopefully this will have worldwide implications, for in general, when America leads the world follows.

We therefore cannot allow ourselves to be sidetracked by the loud, perverted voices who want to resist this cultural change. For example, it was shocking to read in the Washington Post that Rupert Murdoch, owner of Fox news, an organization where the sexual exploitation of women was apparently accepted as a perk for senior persons and media celebrities for decades, said in a recent interview that the outing of his news organization was largely political because "we are conservative."

This is absolute nonsense as predatory men of all political stripes are being exposed by the media.

On another plain, we have other apologists who are seeking to cloud the issues by putting flirting, sexual harassment at the workplace, adultery between consulting adults, rape and pedophilia all into one barrel. For example, I was horrified to hear people who should know better, trying to downplay the despicable actions of an alleged pedophile running for the senate in Alabama, by categorizing him as a sexual harasser. Pedophiles are the very lowest of sexual predators and I totally agree with Ivanka Trump that "there is a special place in hell for men who abuse children."

I have also heard others trying to resurrect Bill Clinton's confessed adultery, an immoral but non-criminal act, and comparing it to that of the current president who has openly boasted about groping women an action confirmed by some fifteen women have come forward to affirm that they have actually been his victims.

While every type of sex crime is serious and deserves in-depth investigation, persecution and criminal penalties where possible, every incident has to be dealt with on its own merit.

The current attack on predatory behavior by men who stymie the progress of ambitious women, causing mental trauma and destroying lives forever, may have elicited concerted and  perverse attempts to downplay this real problem and provide cover for those who have committed these harmful sex crimes no matter how long ago but I reiterate, this should not be allowed to succeed or detract from the issue.

Among the strategies I see at play by some persons seeking to derail the movement to expose powerful men who previously used their money, dominance in their organizations and even the media, to attack and destroy their victims is to belligerently denigrate the valiant women who had to suffer in silence for even decades. An even more pernicious strategy is to try and even paint the independent press as purveyors of fake news and go as far as to try to set them up by having them publish false claims as was exposed recently when Jaime D. Phillips from Stanford, Connecticut approached the Washington Post with a false accusation that she had been raped by Senate candidate Roy Moore. 

However, the American press is proving itself to be far too sophisticated and resilient to be taken in by such devious ruses devised by deplorable people but we still need to stand firm and support them.

We women have to be careful however not to jump to the conclusion that most men or all men are sexual predators, for those now being accused, though popular and powerful, are just a small fraction of the total number of men who hold similar positions in the society. 

What distinguishes perverts from the decent men in positions of authority, is their penchant to abuse power, something most powerful men never do. I therefore disagree with those who declare that one solution simply lies in more women being elevated to senior positions.

Of course, I am all for women who wish to do so, to become managers based on their ability, but women can also abuse power and have been exposed for doing so, therefore that cannot be considered the solution.

We must instead salute the good journalists, many of whom are men, who seek out and work with the victims to bring irrefutable evidence to expose that small minority of even some of their most popular and powerful colleagues, Hollywood celebrities, media bosses and importantly too, the organizations that shielded them over the years. 

By encouraging and allowing the brave women to share their stories, the media has put a roller coaster into motion that is unstoppable because the predatory men now have to pay a real price, not only in terms of being named and shamed but also, because the society is evolving culturally and they are losing their livelihood and positions of power. Yes, many will miss facing criminal consequences because their crimes were committed decades ago and are not prosecutable because of the statute of limitations, but at least now they are paying a real price with their pockets, careers and reputation, for past misdeeds.

Another nudge in the right direction came via a report in the New York Times of December 16^th, which revealed that Senator Robert Mendez proposed an amendment to the tax bill to the effect that any settlement, payout or lawyer’s fees related to sexual harassment or sexual abuse could not be deducted as a business expense if such payments were subject to a nondisclosure agreement.

This may not be a revolutionary amendment but at least it is a good step in the right direction considering that in the past, even taxpayers had to pay hush money for predatory congressmen.

Yes, this cultural revolution is no “nine-day wonder” but the beginning of necessary change, in attitudes in the USA.

However, despite what appears to be rapid progress because there are almost daily reports of the unmasking of new, powerful perpetrators, unfortunately this is a revolution which will take decades before it is totally effective in all sections of the society. For while high-profile white-collar female workers in top professions now have a voice, it will probably take decades before women in lower paying and menial jobs will have the confidence to come forward in numbers to expose their exploiters. For in many instances, in their field of work, there are numerous takers for their jobs and most times they are the sole bread winners in their families or may often be insecure in their immigration status.

As we start on this long journey however, a method has to be found to shine the searchlight on their plight too and that of the twenty to thirty-six million sex slaves (it is estimated) living in hell today throughout the world.

This is an awesome task but every journey begins with the first step so hopefully this cultural revolution will continue to shine in every dark corner throughout the world until all women are free.