inspirations

it's going to be a bit of a linky post today, because facebook has been so full of interesting stuff today that i have to share.

first of all, this wonderful snippet in response to the notion of "political correctness gone mad":



it was put up in response to a lot of the debate around the broadcaster who shall not be named, but it tied in so well to some of what i was trying to say yesterday. the speaker's description of his experiences in his younger days is something i can relate to pretty well, and yes, i am as thankful today as i was yesterday that we are not back in that time & place.

then there is the always wonderful arundhati roy:



[transcript: To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.]

how could i forget her name in my list of motivators yesterday? i can only blame the lateness of the hour, which meant i wasn't thinking clearly. here she is again, in a lengthy piece discussing the situation in india in light of the commonwealth games, a piece called "the trickle down revolution". what a way she has of shining a light on reality.

and it happens to be mental health awareness week. it was nice to get a txt from a friend today, reminding me to take care of myself and take time out. hopefully i'll be doing that this weekend, after having had a busy couple of weeks. though i will be popping in to community radio hamilton on saturday evening, to catch up on local body election results. here's hoping that hamilton gets a new mayor, julie hardaker, as well as the new CEO we will have to recruit.

if you haven't heard the news, our ex-mayor who gave up his elected position to become CEO with triple the salary is now planning to take up an auckland supercity job. he wants to bypass his required three month notice period, and is being enabled to do this by the (hopefully outgoing) mayor. i have such little respect for michael redman at this point, i'm thinking that the city is probably going to be better off without him. the fact that he was willing to betray the mandate that was given him to be mayor, the fiasco & financial burden that the v8s have become, and the shutting down of tourism waikato were all marks against him. let's hope he doesn't do as much damage in his new home.

and finally, this was posted up by someone in honour of the la leche conference tomorrow:



a lovely tribute to mothers and daughters, while raising awareness of sexual exploitation and trafficking. i've just put up a post at the hand mirror about a grieving mother doing a fantastic job in trying to educate young women about violence in relationships.