A matter of belief

Ugh...besides feeling sick from a cold I got a number of emails from an old friend of mine...

About 5 of them were sent with the same information - an itinerary that reads like a bad suspense thriller or a something that should be a part of a psychiatric assessment. In any case it made me sick to my stomach. After reading that I wonder if I what I write reads the same way and I hope to God my command of the English language is much better.

I hadn't contacted this person in years because of incessant requests to marry him that was tiring back then for me to put up with but I felt he was harmless enough to contact again. Besides, I missed his sense of humor and his stories about the Congo.

Although after reading his itinerary I am thrown back into an occasion in my apartment in London. After insisting once too many that I marry him I told him that he had no right to keep insisting and if I asked him to leave my apartment because he was bothering me with this and he didn't, I could call the police. That's when he went on a rampage accusing me of working for the London police. I had to explain to him that he misunderstood me, that I was merely explaining to him what the laws were - that in this culture, 'No' means 'No' and he had to stop harassing me with this question because I wasn't interested in him that way. Our friendship stopped for a number of months and resumed when he promised to stop asking the question.

Only now, after reading that email, am I wondering if it was a good idea to contact him. I am very concerned about what he has sent me because it involves a murder, detention in a jail, beatings, the Pope, rape, heads of State, Amnesty International, illegitimate children and a number of Universities in Ontario, France and the Congo. He forgot to mention the time he did at the University in Berlin studying linguistics where a friend of mine whom I've known for a number of years teaches with a professor that taught my Congolese friend.

But you have to wonder how does a person get to know the people they do and why is there a common thread in their lives?

From that Berlin friend I was introduced a number of years ago to a human rights activist for indigenous peoples in the State of Manipur, India. I met my Manipuri friend in 2004 in New York when he was scheduled to speak at an Indigenous conference at the United Nations. I thought it was a good opportunity to see New York and him at the same time. That visit had an interesting encounter with two hostile males in a New York subway on the way to Ground Zero. We were both terrified - but that's another story.

I learned about 3 weeks ago that my Manipuri friend was detained by Indian authorities and is allegedly being tortured. He was already detained previously in 2004 after he had 'pissed off' his government at a talk he gave to the U.N. in Geneva. It was the same situation this year but the government accused him of being in cahoots with a 'terrorist' organization.

Although he wasn't married when we met in New York, I think I sufficiently broke his heart and got married to a woman that shares his culture and fight. I wrote to his wife to inquire about the accusations of the government so I could write to the Canadian Foreign Affairs like I did in 2004.
I know that the government might have one small thing right - something I was told in a moment of intimacy that his wife wouldn't know. What India is doing with the Manipuri's is equivalent to having the War Measures Act imposed for about 20 years - without benefit of due process and the rule of law applied equally for Indigenous peoples of Manipur. But the Manipuri's want their independence so therefore, there are other concerns about how to achieve that outcome. I'm a sepratist myself but don't condone going about it violently.

But in any case, I wasn't going to put myself in a position to cover up for him and that depended on the group he was accused of working with. Since he was a lawyer he should be able to explain the charges with clarity and who the group is. I haven't had any correspondence further on this issue from him or his wife.

So it is today, that I read of the thread of similarities that have human beings tormented by each other's society's class system and sensibilities.

I read in the Hamilton Spectator about my own tormenter who has been elevated to a hero's status in a narrative by The Spec journalist Jon Wells glorifying the emergency medicine doctors at Hamilton General Hospital.

This is one hospital I am terrified of going to for fear that my life would be in danger.
As I have said before, I am not scared of terrorists but I am scared of Hamilton's doctors - they have far too much power than they are allotted by law.

In one instance we can make accusations of some types of people and they are assumed to be guilty but we can't make accusations towards others because it is assumed they are pristine elements of everything good and righteous in our society. Or if we do, then we don't believe the person with lesser status.

So is the case with Dr. Ali Hersi - who has committed fraud by fabricating a diagnosis and doctoring medical records just to cover his ass for his negligence. I am told by the FBI that they do investigate diagnosis fraud in the United States. Our authorities don't do it here.

But from the evidence on what appears on the medical records based he should be charged with fraud because the information that he left out and the information that was crossed out - shows that he anticipated his negligence would have cost me my life so he had to do something that would cover up any investigation by a Coroner. The Coroner would never question him once he read the medical records.

The attitude of Dr. Hersi and his accomplice, Dr. Krismanytch towards some individuals within the health care system seems to be underscored by a recent Ontario Human Rights Commission decision. The OHRC says the Crown discriminates against individuals with mental illness because the Coroner's Act didn't make it mandatory that a coroner's inquiry be launched to investigate the deaths of persons who have died in a mental health institution yet a coroner's inquiry has to be launched by deaths of prison inmates.

Why the decision? Because the doctor (or nurse) crossed out medical information in a deceased patient's medical records who was a resident in a mental institution. The family applied for their loved one's medical records, found the discrepancy and made their complaint. The family fought back and they one some very important rights for individuals with mental illness but not enough to have doctors or nurses charged with criminal negligence.

Not that I was in this situation, but I was suffering from withdrawals from an anti-depressant, in which Dr. Hersi thought the reaction was laughable and refused to treat me. I had to go to another hospital. Their attitude wasn't much better, but at least I was treated.

What makes it especially nefarious for me is that I have been complaining for years to the Hamilton Spectator that Hamilton has a problem with it's doctors - especially the likes of Dr. Hersi and the emergency management at Hamilton General towards certain individuals in the health care system.

Instead of reporting based on the principles of the Canadian Journalistic Association - they, The Spec, has allowed themselves to be compromised by private interests instead of reporting in the public interest. I'm not the only one who has serious concerns about how medicine in practiced in this City but The Spec isn't reporting on them.

So now, I look back on the stories of different individuals and wonder how different is mine? For me, it would help to clarify circumstances by having documentation to back up accusations. My Congolese friend has some wild ideas but I know his English isn't that good and his misunderstands things. My Manipuri friend told me that he wanted to start up an allegiance with Muslims to support his cause. I told him not to because it would only give him problems - that was back in 2004. Now he is accused of aligning with a group that is accused of terrorism.

I think the point is, the difference between being believed is the evidence to confirm the corruption that dispels concerns of just a wild story, a factual story that sounds wild but isn't written well, or a well written articulation of presumed knowledge based on deceit and lies.

And in lite of today's Arar Inquiry conclusions, which do you believe?