Someone was here!

                  She was here - on my TV.

                  She was there - on Kilroy,
                  you know: the debate programme on the BBC,
                  you know: the still public channel in Britain,
                  you know: Britain -

                  the country that opted out of the Social Chapter in Maastricht,
                  the country that demands stricter EU-regulation on animal welfare,
                  the country that saw militant action against the export of calves,
                  the country that has the EU's relatively largest prison population,
                  the country that tries to compete with South Korea on their terms.
                  You know?

                  She was there - the well-dressed, well-bred, well-articulated
                  lady of the vast middle-class.

                  She was there - speaking up against the use of animals
                  in scientific research.

                  A sympathetic cause, a complex question.

                  "They are not articulate as people are,
                  they cannot voice their complaints!" she voiced.

                  "Then how would you test new drugs that might help Steve?"
                  asked Mr Kilroy, who was there, too,
                  and pointed to a young man with a severe disability.

                  She sat there - and pondered for a short while,
                  before she articulated her answer:
                  "Well, why don't we test them
                  on the people in prison?"

                  Now, I have been pondering too, ever since:

                  What good is it to be articulate
                  if no one hears you
                  beyond the wall -
                  beyond any wall ?

           

                  Is someone there?

                  --------------------------------------------

                  5th March 1995, Claus Piculell