News, and comment from Denmark:
1. An ice tea brand called C-ice, which contains cannabis, has been examined by the Fødevarestyrelsen (Food Safety Board) but there is a slight problem. The amount of cannabis present is so small that it defies detection so the authorities can’t decide whether or not to charge the makers of C-ice for selling drugs, or for false advertising.
2. According to the newspaper Berlingske Søndag, Denmark has one of the highest proportions of psychologists per capita, in the world. According to the Amtsrådsforeningen (Regional Council Advisory Society) Last year the number of Danes referred to psychological treatment by the State Health Insurance System’s benefit agreement was 38,500 people, which is a rise of 11% over 2004. The private sector is not far behind either with figures indicating a rise of 20% more cases being referred over the last two years. Professor Bobby Zachariae of Århus Universitet has pointed out that the focus in recent years has been to reduce the stress levels by examining the working environment. This, he says, will reduce the amount of sick days making us all more effective workers and reducing the financial burden on the companies who have to pay for absent employees.
In the mean time, Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen has announced he feels the Danish people have come to a greater awareness of personal responsibility. “In ever increasing numbers, people today say they must take a greater part in the responsibility for their lives. The state is not responsible for everything.” He might be right, but at the same time, and in an unrelated interview, Professor Bo Jacobsen of the Sociological Institute, of Københavns Universitet has pointed out that Danes have gradually lost the urge to help each other. “We have gotten out of the habit of helping each other out and lost sight of the understanding that life is made up of suffering just as much as happiness. We don’t really allow each other to be in crisis, neither in private or at work, but prefer to call in a ‘repair person’.”
Århus Kommune (City Council) offered me further psychological treatment, but I declined their offer since I’m not sure I need any further help. I saw a Psychologist in 2002/3 and she was a great help for me in dealing with the death of my friend Føns.
Incidentally, it was Føns’s birthday three days ago. She would have been 34 I think. It’s been five years since she died now and the pain has dimmed to a small distant ache. She was the first woman I fell in love with.
I wrote a short poem about her death a few years ago.
Føns
Why am I still alive?
And the answer is a long monosyllable shadow, stretched across my floor, darkening the sun.
The loss of all things, illusion and reality, the heavy tread of angels
And where are you now, what became of our smiles, those stolen minutes of secret fun?
Can you hear that? That’s the tearing apart of you and I inside my heart.
A million or so seconds ago, in dark water, cold and colder, as salty as my tears.
What am I going to do now I’ll never see you again?
Without hope, without you, who can save me from my fears?
In premonition, I sought, I didn’t hear anything but the echoes in my head
The memories of days when we lay side by side, talking to the ceiling, just you and I.
I’m sorry the voice said, there was an accident, Annette Føns is dead.
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