Reflections | Ayrwaves Online

Out of curiosity I composed five short verses starting with the line “Please take care as you exit the conveyor” and then set the same task for ChatGPT.
Of the resulting collection of ten verses that follows, can you tell which verses were composed by ChatGPT?

Verse A
Please take care as you exit the conveyor,
Where fleeting moments drift in the air,
A step, a pause, as time slips away,
The world spins on, in its endless ballet.

Verse B
Please take care as you exit the conveyor,
Where the world spins on, unaware,
Step softly, for the ground may shift,
And time slips past, a quiet drift.

Verse C
Please take care as you exit the conveyor.
Did you hear me? Did you heed me?
As you wheeled your trolley past.
Next time perhaps, not quite so fast.

Verse D
Please take care as you exit the conveyor,
A gentle step, a mindful prayer,
The world outside may rush and flare,
But find your calm, and breathe the air.

Verse E
Please take care as you exit the conveyor.
Is this the way of life and death?
All pulleys great and small?
That words we must use endlessly.
Thereby, perhaps, prevent a fall.

Verse F
Please take care as you exit the conveyor,
Where the world spins in circles, unaware.
Step lightly, for the path ahead may sway,
A fleeting moment where we all must stray.

Verse G
Please take care as you exit the conveyor.
Otherwise, you may, trip or fall,
And that we don’t want, at all, at all.

Verse H
Please take care as you exit the conveyor.
It’s not as if, it will bother me,
If you break your neck and die.
That’s not how I am, and I never ask why.

Verse I
Please take care as you exit the conveyor,
For life’s gentle whispers may fade into prayer,
With dreams on the rise and shadows to bear,
Step softly through echoes, find solace in air.

Verse J
Please take care as you exit the conveyor.
I’m made of steel and I’ve got no heart.
One false step, and I’ll tear you apart.

Christmas - A time more for presence than presents.

Saturday 14th December, I promised myself that I would sit and watch the film "A Christmas Carol" for old times’ sake.

"A Christmas Carol" recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, and the spirits of Christmas past, present and yet to come. In the process Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

According to the writer Oliver Burkeman “the average human life span is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short”. In his book "Four Thousand WeeksTime and How to Use it", he suggests we use those 4,000 weeks in a more meaningful way.

In last Sunday’s church bulletin in St. Paul’s Church, Fr. Donal Neary gave us some thoughts under the Pastors Desk section. I would like to share them with you. This was the third Sunday in Advent, otherwise known as Gaudete/Joy Sunday.

This mid-point of Advent alerts us to issues of justice and equality. The prophet John has been asked as a sort of trick by people who exploited others with tax bills, and soldiers who often used their brute force on others, how they should repent. His words were tough but quite ordinary - don't overcharge, share your surplus with the needy and don't exploit people. It's another, but more figurative way, of stating the basic demands of "Love one another".

Christmas can bring out the best in us to care for the needy. We are surrounded by charities looking for aid. Christmas also asks us to consider our honesty and integrity, for we know that many are poor, at home and abroad, because of the greed of others. Christmas is a reminder and a challenge that all can live with the dignity we have come to regard as human rights - education, safety, shelter, food, water, employment, freedom. The Christ child who was born poor, represents all the poor of the world, especially children. As he was born ordinary, he represents that God who meets, greets and helps us in the ordinary aspects of life. The one who is to come is the one who will live and love according to these truths of human dignity and equality.

Come, Lord Jesus, child of the earth, child of God. Come into our world of joy and sorrow. Stay with us always, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Fr. Donal Neary S.J.

At this time of year, it really is about presence, not presents. As the years fly by, the best Christmas gift you can give is your time.

On behalf of the Ayrwaves website team, we wish all our contributors and visitors a very happy and peaceful Christmas and every good wish for the New Year.

Margaret Maher

A Hard Fall

‘It seems that you have taken a hard fall”. That was the message suddenly displayed on my smart watch.

An alarm also sounded, and there was an electronically generated tap on my wrist.

If I did not respond by cancelling the message, the emergency services would be called within about a minute.

I immediately pressed the cancel option.

I had been vacuuming the floor under the kitchen table at the time, and the unusual movements recorded by sensors in my Apple Watch may have suggested that I had fallen.

In this case the algorithms had simply gotten it wrong, but there must be a growing number of incidents where lives have been saved by our new, increasingly smart, devices.

Whether we like it or not, technology has continued over many millennia to make us what we are.

We don’t think of the act of writing a shopping list for TESCO on a piece of paper with a ballpoint pen as using high level technology, but the development of writing was one of our first major information technology achievements.

Writing was invented as far back as 3200BC, in what is present day Iraq, and paper was invented in China around 105AD. As for the ballpoint point pen, it first went on sale in Gimbels department store in New York City in 1945

Without the invention of writing we might have neither the texts that comprise the Bible, nor the supposedly single text that comprises the Koran. Hinduism, another of the world’s great religions, predating Judaism, Christianity and Islam, might also not have endured without its ancient manuscripts.

It is not just the smartphone that is making such a difference to our lives. A relative newcomer is the smartwatch, sometimes keeping an eye, not only on how we move about, but also our heartbeat and the quality of our sleep.

The technology often knows not just who you are, but where you are, how healthy you seem to be, what you are doing, and how fast you are travelling; and not just by the hour, but by the fraction of a second.

There is now much talk about how artificial intelligence may change our lives. In fact it already has, if you include our use of Google Maps, Siri, Alexa and countless other applications.

The big question is what may happen if artificial Intelligence reaches the point where it achieves independence from human control and can, among other things, switch off our access to the internet and deprive us not only of Google, WhatsApp and Netflix, but also our water and electricity supply.

There is no end to the dystopian scenarios that can be imagined. Yet many of these scenarios are made a daily reality, not by artificial Intelligence, but by the species we have named homo sapiens. You have only to consider what we are doing to each other, as I write, in places as diverse as Ukraine, Gaza, Afghanistan and the Sudan. There must be very few species that have so mastered the art of mutual killing and destruction as well as we have.

It is worth considering if an independent form of artificial intelligence might not terrorise us, but instead help us to stop slaughtering one another, in conflicts that have roots not so much in history as in our jealousy, pride, and simple stupidity.

To put this to the test I recently asked a version of ChatGPT to provide a set of proposals with a very high probability of ending the present hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. (You can read its response at this link)

As we continue our search for intelligence deep into the cosmos let us hope that it will first be found on planet Earth - and meanwhile be grateful if our phone calls the ambulance should we fall down the stairs, irrespective of whether we are Christians, Muslims,Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Ukrainians, Russians - or even people who believe in neither God nor artificial Intelligence.

GC001

A Reflection on Summer 2024

Going for Gold

As we approach the Autumn, after the summer season (what summer you might say), thoughts come to mind regarding the month of September. What thoughts? We associate September with the return of pupils to various schools. Training returns in sporting groups like Ayrfield Soccer Club, and O’Toole’s GAC. The Circle of Friends and the Men’s Shed resume and continue to provide an excellent outlet for members. Dublin City Council and various colleges offer a variety of courses and Edenmore walking group look forward to returning to normality.

Whether you’re into sport or not, you must admit what kept us all going was the Olympics. We needed a boost and by God, we got it. People who know about sport and people who know nothing about sport (I know at least one person who falls into the latter category) can enjoy gymnastics, swimming, athletics and dare I say it, boxing. Personally, I’m not into boxing, especially women’s boxing. But Kellie Harrington’s achievement of winning the gold and her rendition of “Grace” won it for me. It brought back memories of a guided tour of Glasnevin Cemetery when I was requested to sing “Grace” by members of Ayrfield’s Circle of Friends at the graveside of Joseph Mary Plunkett. Even back then I struggled to remember the words. Ireland fell in love with Katie Harrington, the working class humble heroine who has never forgotten her roots.

The Olympics were not just about sport. They were about extraordinary young people, their life stories, sacrifices, characters, winning and losing. The spirit of Italia ’90 was rekindled when the whole country celebrated. The dust has barely settled on the recent Olympics and now we are back in Paris for more extraordinary physical feats of speed, bravery and skill during the Paralympics. There’s no excuse for not cheering on our heroes from the comfort of our armchairs.
Back to reality. The housing and homeless problems, refugee problem, layoffs in the tech sector, I could go on and on. And that’s only Ireland.

To quote the author and columnist Brendan O’Connor “something Irish in us is telling us not to lose the run of ourselves, that our comeuppance is coming. Ireland is full…full of joy, pride and togetherness”.

So, for now let’s enjoy this togetherness.

On Getting through the Pandemic............Peggy Connolly (October 2023)

Looking back on those 2 years I wonder how we got through them. Of course I had great plans to clear cupboards, wardrobes and paperwork. Sadly none of this happened and I just don't know where all the time went. One of the many good things about Covid was it made us more aware of friends and neighbours.I did catch up on letter writing, knitting and card making. Unfortunately lots of shops, cafes,restaurants etc did not reopen due to loss of revenue and a lot of the staff did not return to work. While the dreaded virus is still with us it is not as fearsome as it was and we are all protected with vaccines, I have just had my 7th jab and I intend to have as many as is deemed necessary.

Keep safe and God Bless

Peggy Connolly

In Praise of the Ukulele............Kieran Coyle (November 2023)

Like many people in Ireland, I started learning to play the ukulele during Covid, and indeed like many, I am still learning. (I suppose you could say it is a long term symptom.). The ukulele is a wonderful little instrument that can trace its origins back to Hawaii, influenced by the stringed instruments brought to the Islands by Portuguese immigrants and the rest, as they say, is history.

As an instrument, the Uke has many advantages.

1) It is relatively inexpensive to buy. €60.00 should buy a fairly decent soprano (the smallest sized) ukulele. While it is possible to buy one for as little as €30.00 these go out of tune very quickly and are really not worth the money. There are a number of sizes one can chose from,i.e. the Soprano, the Concert the Tenor, and the largest one, the Baritone, varying in price but a serviceable model in any size shouldn’t break the bank.

2) It is small, light and easily transported form place to place, or, if you play a lot, from venue to venue.

3) It is not difficult to learn, but it does require some dedication. While it has only four strings, it can be tricky enough to master the instrument. However, an investment of about 10 minutes a day for a month will give one sufficient mastery of the instrument to be able to switch between 4 basic chords and once these chords are mastered, there are countless tunes that can be played. An Australian group, “The Axis of Awesome” demonstrate the usefulness of these four chords on YouTube (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I Indeed Ed Sheeran did something similar on late night TV a number of years ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQKZfvet2mc) when he claimed he could play all the songs in the charts using four chords. So a little perseverance with four chords pays huge dividends.

4) Ukulele players are very social. Many Ukulele groups have sprung up around the country and welcome members and visitors to sing and jam along with them. Ukulele Tuesday in the Stags Head on Tuesday evening is probably the biggest (and craziest). Mind you, Ukulele Tuesday play everything in the original key so some of their songs are difficult to play. But like many other groups, they don’t care if you can play well, badly, or at all. In fact they will hand out ukuleles and encourage you to strum any way you want (See https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=559870084154184 for their rendition of Psycho Killer)

5) There are ukulele festivals around the country each year. The biggest and oldest is Dun Laoghaire’s Ukulele Hooley that takes place at the end of August each year. There is one in Skerries, Sligo, Cork and Galway to mention a few. These festivals have formal concerts, guest appearances, lessons and open sessions where anyone can play along.

6) There are many ukulele songbooks available online. Dun Laoghaire’s Ukulele Hooley publishes a songbook with words and ukulele chords for each festival. Ukulele Tuesday updates its songbook almost weekly (with special songbooks for Halloween Christmas etc.) The Kent Ukulele & Banjulele Appreciation Society (KUBAS) has in addition to its “normal” songbook a nice Beatles songbook, http://www.kubas.co.uk/Songs/Songbook_Beatles_KUBAS_PDF/1_Songbook_Beatles_Rev1_KUBAS.pdf. And other groups also publish their own songbooks.

7) There are many resources online. A good starting point is “Bernadette Teaches Music and especially, her 30 day beginner challenge. If you want to play along, there are many groups who record some of their songs and you can play along with them. One I particularly like is the Austin Ukulele Society (on YouTube) who play many well know tunes that are easy to play along with, and more importantly they show the chords being played on screen to help.

So what are you waiting for? Grab your Uke, waken the cat, annoy the neighbours and strum like you never strummed before!

Postscript: The four basic chords mentioned above are C, A minor, F and G

Kieran Coyle

The Patience of Job

(Submitted by Margaret Maher - February 2024)
When I first made reference to Job I didn’t really give him a second thought. I was referring to Kieran
Coyle's patience during his task of photocopying issues of The Echo and Ayrwaves, for the purpose of
displaying them on our website. That was until I listened to the first reading from the book of Job
while attending Mass in St. Paul’s Church recently.
A reading from the book of Job (Job 7: 1-4. 6-7)

Job began to speak:
"Is not man’s life on earth nothing more than pressed service, his time no better than hired drudgery.
Like the slave, sighing for the shade, or the workman, with no thought but his wages, months of
delusion I have assigned to me, nothing for my own but nights of grief. Lying in bed I wonder, ’When
will it be day?’ Risen I think, ‘How slowly evening comes! Restlessly I fret till twilight falls. Swifter
than a weaver’s shuttle my days have passed, and vanished, leaving no hope behind. Remember that
my life is but a breath, and that my eyes will never again see joy."

Now I’m no expert on the Liturgy of the Word, but I’d like to share Fr. Donal Neary’s, S.J
interpretation of the reading:

Pastors Desk entitled Darkness and Light.
The first reading is tough to hear, and we admire Job. We talk of ‘the patience of Job’. Job is the
example and the hero of depression. He just had it bad. All had gone wrong, and he felt no good, no
hope, no meaning. His family collapsed, his wealth disappeared, and he cursed the day he was born.
He went through all the depressions people have, but somehow kept that glimmer of light alive. He
never totally lost God, and God never lost him.
Depression is a huge illness. Many suffer; many are affected. Treatment can be of help, and the
listening times of friends as well as therapy is healing. A great priest wrote: "At the worst of the
burn out I couldn't say mass, never mind preach. Dry, empty, without light or life. Thanks again for
the card you sent. It means a lot to me now. Funny, in the worst of my anxiety, nothing, no
compliment, and no reassurance meant anything to me"
There are many helps on the human level. There is the help also of faith and prayer at times. And the
help of someone who, listens, sympathises, doesn’t judge nor give easy cures. Love from God never
ends even though it may not appear near just now. This is the Jesus of the gospel – bringing the
grace of healing, of freeing from any evil, of constant love.
Imagine a time of darkness in life; picture it in its colour and imagine the bright light of Jesus
penetrate that darkness. Ask for help and give thanks for help. Give light, Good Lord, to all who live in
the valley of darkness and the shadow of doubt.
Fr Donal Neary S.J