I have always been a de-clutterer. I have never held much sentimental value to objects, but there has always been one or two little things I have hesitated with in throwing out. One was a jacket that belonged to my late husband, which I kept for years, and the other, which I still do have, is the little name tag bands they put on new born babies, with their name and date of birth and weight. For some reason, that first little introduction into the world, with their name in writing, holds value. I keep them amongst hand made cards, and school soverniers that my children all bought home.
And then some years ago, I spent a short time helping in a maternity ward at a local hospital, and glanced again at those little bands. I wondered about their name, who they would be, and what would happen to them. I was also a little dismayed at the electronic tags that they also attached to new borns. This measure had been put in place to prevent baby snatching. At one point in the distant past someone had walked out with a baby.
Days were often spent therefore responding to these alarms when they would accidently go off. They were clumpy horrid little attachments. I wondered how long it would be before the insertion of the chip would take place. Would it be when parents complained enough, or would it be when they said nothing at all.
Now the first babies to be Bar Coded have been born this week in a hospital in England. At the moment, the bar code is still on the small tiny band. But it holds the name, mothers name, NI number, and blood type. This can all be scanned, thus preventing human error from eligable hand writing The ankle bar code also includes a heel prick blood sample label taken after five weeks, which proud new parents can take home with them in a little red baby book. Isn't that sweet! Bar Code and Blood. A wonderful keepsake.
I wonder often how long it will be before we all wake up to the reality, that we are all just commodities in this world. That the human race is valued by those who rule it, as just money making machines to feed their bloodthirsty lust. That we are all being designed and co-erced to be traceable and trackable and answerable? Maybe, I'll keep my childrens birth tags. To remind me that once they were born free. They had a name, and were not just a number.
