Fragrant Toxicity

Ministerial Meandering

Fragrant toxicity

 Strolling through a Bangkok market - as you do on a weekend off - you become gradually aware of a foul miasma that is beginning to cling to you.  Clearly something has died nearby - or worse - you stepped in it.  Checking your flip-flops for signs of decomposing organic matter, you discover nothing - but the smell is worse.  Looking around for the dead buffalo or a forgotten and deceased street-pedlar covered in flies and maggots under a tree, you can only see bright-eyed children selling prickly-looking fruits the size of a small melon.  The dreaded durian fruit has struck again!

Bought by the ton by the affluent Chinese, these pungent fruits cost more than caviar, and form a significant part of the Thai economy.  But they are the reverse of what I want to write about today.  Things that look offensive but taste (apparently) delicious are but one side of the equation.  Things and people who look lovely, and in days (now regrettably) past, would also have worn attractive fragrances - can hide the most vicious and toxic characters you would never wish to meet.

We all know that ‘you can’t judge a book by its cover’, but in recent years, it appears that increasingly, you can no longer judge any person on their appearance.  - or by the persona they project.  That is just the silky dress and Chanel or Dior.  Too often Cruella DeVille lies behind those bewitching eyes - waiting to steal your puppies.

We had a saying in the Johannesburg Hospital Trauma Unit; WYSIWYG; What You See Is What You Get - and it referred to the information received from the paramedics and retrieval team when a mashed, shot, and bleeding human was brought in in kit-form into one of the Resuscitation bays.  Knowing where to start was always key to successful resuscitation, and our protocols were well honed and practised endlessly - the flow never stopped.  But so often we wanted to know more about the injured person’s physiology to be able to correct what was helping him or her to die in front of our eyes.  Sadly, our acronym came to the fore at such times.

Staff came and went in the Trauma Unit; it was not a training ground for the faint of heart, and those who came with a know-it-all attitude soon found out that they had better learn - or take up dermatology.

Pretty boys and girls arrived from the student body and nursing staff cadre, and if they had not learned to roll up their sleeves, get down and dirty, and become a team player by the end of a week - then a quiet word might be had with their supervisor - and they would just as quietly disappear.

This is, of course, just me saying, in another roundabout way, that you have to learn to walk the walk and not just talk up a storm.  When the guano flies into the air-conditioning - that is the time when WYSIWYG really applies.  That’s when you learn who your true friends are - no matter what their appearance, and you see that the attractive and fragrant is often just a cover for hidden venom - then you will happily wade into the durian market - and come out with a smile on your face and peace in your heart - even if you don’t smell of roses.

Philip+