have been again diverted by other happenings to write a long post. so will quickly mention a couple of things. i'll be on the "women's voices" radio show on planet fm being broadcast at 8.15pm tomorrow night. it's a more in-depth discussion about widows.
i found this release, a little too late, about a lecture that was held tonight on bilingualism. it was given by professor pauwels, professor of linguistics at the university of western australia. i'm sort of bilingual, in that i can speak passable urdu/hindi. just don't expect me to hold an in-depth political discourse in that language. i also studied french up to my second year of university. i can't speak it but i can understand quite a bit if it's written text. i also know a few phrases of arabic and a number of malay words.
the fact that this is unusual in nz is actually quite strange. most europeans speak at least three languages fluently. most indians as well, and many malaysians. in fact, in many parts of the world, bilingualism and multilingualism are pretty common. yet raise the issue with most nz'ers, and they think that learning 2 languages is too confusing for little children. in fact, that's not true. i've found from experience that children who grow up with 2 languages are quicker at learning other stuff.
the beauty of learning another language is that you learn another culture, as well as improving your knowledge of english. on top of that, it teaches you logic, memorisation, and self-expression. like the point made in the press release, it's important that we encourage bilingualism, to ensure that we don't lose languages in this age of globalisation.
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
Tuesday, 1 July 2008
community comes first
after a very hectic three days in wellington, i find i have so much to catch up on that i don't have time for a long post today. i was pleased to take part in the inaugural stakeholders forum, organised by the federation of islamic associations of new zealand. it was an opportunity for the community to interact with government agencies, and a very useful step in helping the muslim community integrate in nz.
the forum was preceded by the federation's AGM, which i attended. it was certainly an interesting weekend, with me being the only female in a room of about 25 muslim men. quite daunting you would think, but in practice it wasn't so. the men were all very chivalrous, would make sure i got my meals first, would offer me cups of tea and always listened with respect to anything i had to say. which was a really nice feeling. i recall meetings back in the 1980's which weren't always so! but even so, i can tell you that i was definitely ready for some female company after that two days. (actually, there should have been and usually is at least one other woman present, but the three that could have been there had various illnesses and family problems to contend with).
good news, no absolutely great news: gary mallett and his team were absolutely trounced in the wel energy trust elections which ended this weekend. this gives me great hope, because it means:
1. that splashing around a lot of money on full page advertisements doesn't mean you'll win;
2. that the people of the waikato were willing to put community interest ahead of individual interest.
which means that, despite what the polls are saying right now, there may be still be a good chance for a fourth term labour-led government.
the forum was preceded by the federation's AGM, which i attended. it was certainly an interesting weekend, with me being the only female in a room of about 25 muslim men. quite daunting you would think, but in practice it wasn't so. the men were all very chivalrous, would make sure i got my meals first, would offer me cups of tea and always listened with respect to anything i had to say. which was a really nice feeling. i recall meetings back in the 1980's which weren't always so! but even so, i can tell you that i was definitely ready for some female company after that two days. (actually, there should have been and usually is at least one other woman present, but the three that could have been there had various illnesses and family problems to contend with).
good news, no absolutely great news: gary mallett and his team were absolutely trounced in the wel energy trust elections which ended this weekend. this gives me great hope, because it means:
1. that splashing around a lot of money on full page advertisements doesn't mean you'll win;
2. that the people of the waikato were willing to put community interest ahead of individual interest.
which means that, despite what the polls are saying right now, there may be still be a good chance for a fourth term labour-led government.
Friday, 27 June 2008
auditing the auditors
won't post much today, as i have an early morning flight (yuk). an interesting development yesterday, with two auditors being censured by the disciplinary tribunal of the institute of chartered accountants. scary times for these two guys, cos the next possible step is for investors of the failed company to sue the auditors in order to recoup losses.
it may seems odd to you that auditors would be sued when in fact it was the negligence (or possibly fraud, given that they breached the trust deed) of the directors that caused the company to collapse. the auditors are often the ones sued because they have the money (especially through public liability insurance) and the directors are usually bankrupt at this stage of affairs.
however, the auditors do have a duty to carry out their audit with due care and following icanz standards. if they've failed to highlight issues that should have been brought to public attention (eg as was patently the case with the enron auditors), then they definitely deserve to be sued.
the down side to this is that i suspect audit fees are going to be going up quite a bit or else fewers firms will be prepared to do audits. already the number of accounting firms prepared or able to do audits has dropped considerably in the last 10 years. most not-for-profit organisations are struggling to find auditors, as the risks for doing that audit are just as high as a full commercial audit.
it'll be interesting to see what happens next, in terms of this particular case and any new cases, given "The institute said it was reviewing every audit file from every failed finance company". i used to do a fair few audits some years back. i'm so glad i got out of that line of work.
won't be posting for the next few days, probably will have something for you tuesday night. take care & have a great weekend.
it may seems odd to you that auditors would be sued when in fact it was the negligence (or possibly fraud, given that they breached the trust deed) of the directors that caused the company to collapse. the auditors are often the ones sued because they have the money (especially through public liability insurance) and the directors are usually bankrupt at this stage of affairs.
however, the auditors do have a duty to carry out their audit with due care and following icanz standards. if they've failed to highlight issues that should have been brought to public attention (eg as was patently the case with the enron auditors), then they definitely deserve to be sued.
the down side to this is that i suspect audit fees are going to be going up quite a bit or else fewers firms will be prepared to do audits. already the number of accounting firms prepared or able to do audits has dropped considerably in the last 10 years. most not-for-profit organisations are struggling to find auditors, as the risks for doing that audit are just as high as a full commercial audit.
it'll be interesting to see what happens next, in terms of this particular case and any new cases, given "The institute said it was reviewing every audit file from every failed finance company". i used to do a fair few audits some years back. i'm so glad i got out of that line of work.
won't be posting for the next few days, probably will have something for you tuesday night. take care & have a great weekend.
Thursday, 26 June 2008
when is three not a crowd?
i've posted at the hand mirror. oh, and it would be nice if you could take part in the survey below:
Dear Blog Reader,
My name is Andrew Cushen, and I am conducting a survey of New Zealand PoliticalBlog Readers. This survey is part of my research toward a Master of Arts inPolitical Studies at the University of Auckland.
As the reader of a blog that features postings related to political news,discussion and debate in New Zealand politics, I invite you to participate inthis survey.
Please follow this link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=EJI9pne1hZOuX5IjsKvKnQ_3d_3d
This link will take you to the survey and also provide you with furtherinformation on how and why this research is being conducted. If you would liketo ask me further questions about the survey or about my research in general,you will find my contact details listed on this page also.
I would appreciate it if you would complete this survey by Friday the 4th ofJuly.
Thank you, Andrew Cushen
Dear Blog Reader,
My name is Andrew Cushen, and I am conducting a survey of New Zealand PoliticalBlog Readers. This survey is part of my research toward a Master of Arts inPolitical Studies at the University of Auckland.
As the reader of a blog that features postings related to political news,discussion and debate in New Zealand politics, I invite you to participate inthis survey.
Please follow this link:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=EJI9pne1hZOuX5IjsKvKnQ_3d_3d
This link will take you to the survey and also provide you with furtherinformation on how and why this research is being conducted. If you would liketo ask me further questions about the survey or about my research in general,you will find my contact details listed on this page also.
I would appreciate it if you would complete this survey by Friday the 4th ofJuly.
Thank you, Andrew Cushen
Wednesday, 25 June 2008
don't forget to vote
just a few random thoughts today. good to hear that the academy of world business marketing & management development conference 2008 in brazil will no longer allow greg clydesdale to present his paper on pasifika new zealanders. bad that their reason is that he has already "published" his report prior to the conference. it would have been much nicer if their reasoning was based on the fact that the report is of poor quality. after all, other academics in this country didn't have difficulty in reaching that concluding (eg professor macpherson's commentary, which may not be available on the web).
i wouldn't have thought that an arch right-winger like french president nicolas sarkozy would have come out with these comments:
Sarkozy said peace with the Palestinians was possible if Israel stopped all settlement activity, lifted the checkpoints that criss-cross the West Bank, ended a blockade of Gaza and accepted Jerusalem as capital of two states.
"Create the conditions for movement," Sarkozy told lawmakers, urging them to back a proposal for settlers to leave the West Bank in return for compensation and rehousing in Israel.
"There can be no peace without a halt to settlement activity," he said, condemning "terrorism" and telling Israel it was not alone facing what he said was a military Iranian nuclear programme.
of course, he balanced all of that with some severe criticism of hamas and solidarity in the face of a nuclear threat from iran. nonetheless, he sounds like he takes palestinian concerns and aspirations seriously. of course, it means nothing until and unless there is some action on the issues he has raised.
brokering peace for israel/palestine seems to be the cool thing to do at the moment. tony blair wants to do it, condoleeza rice keeps popping over, the egyptians are working on it. it seems to be like the ultimate trophy, the one move that will ensure everlasting glory and a permanent place in history. my, i'm getting too cynical for my own good. hopefully, if enough powerful people keep at it, someone somewhere is going to succeed. if it's a right-wing xenophobe, then so be it.
finally, all you waikato people, if you haven't yet voted in the wel energy trust election, please do so NOW. i have a bias. being a trustee of two community organisations, i need the trust to continue its programme of donations to such organisations. in fact, it would be nice if the pool of grant money is increased, but at present the best outcome would be a retention of the current 90:10 split in favour of rebates.
act party president gary mallett is currently running on a campaign of wiping out community grants. his argument: if people want to donate their rebate to charity, they are welcome to do so. that would be their choice. but his will return all profits in the form of rebates. [the fact that such profits arise from overcharging electricity users is a separate issue altogether. you don't hear mr mallett talking about giving people their own money back, oh no. it can't be theft if a corporate does it!]
the nonsense in his argument is that all the hundreds of community organisations that benefit from wel grants do not have the capacity to contact the tens of thousands of electricity consumers, asking for donations. and the tens of thousands of electrcity consumers do not have individually have the capacity to vet each of these hundreds of organisations to see which is genuine, and whose need is most pressing. so of course a few major organisations might get some extra donations from increased rebates, but all the rest of those hundreds of sports clubs and social service organisations will miss out.
and who will be the poorer for it? well not mr mallet, that's for sure. he has plenty of money. in fact there appears to be no spending cap for this election, so his team have paid for a number of full page ads in both community newspapers and the waikato times. in addition, he regularly pays personally for a half page in one of the community papers to ponitificate on matters of interest to himself. he has the money to buy plenty of "free" speech. he won't need those social service organisations because he can afford the finest therapists in the world for his little darlings, should they need it. and he can afford the fees of any sporting code you can think of.
as for the rest of the proles who actually do benefit from community groups, well his "personal choice and responsibility" view of the world doesn't have room for them.
so please vote now, and vote carefully. for the loss of 54 cents worth of rebates, you can help support organisations like shama or community radio hamilton and many hundreds of others, all run by the voluntary efforts of people who care about their community.
i wouldn't have thought that an arch right-winger like french president nicolas sarkozy would have come out with these comments:
Sarkozy said peace with the Palestinians was possible if Israel stopped all settlement activity, lifted the checkpoints that criss-cross the West Bank, ended a blockade of Gaza and accepted Jerusalem as capital of two states.
"Create the conditions for movement," Sarkozy told lawmakers, urging them to back a proposal for settlers to leave the West Bank in return for compensation and rehousing in Israel.
"There can be no peace without a halt to settlement activity," he said, condemning "terrorism" and telling Israel it was not alone facing what he said was a military Iranian nuclear programme.
of course, he balanced all of that with some severe criticism of hamas and solidarity in the face of a nuclear threat from iran. nonetheless, he sounds like he takes palestinian concerns and aspirations seriously. of course, it means nothing until and unless there is some action on the issues he has raised.
brokering peace for israel/palestine seems to be the cool thing to do at the moment. tony blair wants to do it, condoleeza rice keeps popping over, the egyptians are working on it. it seems to be like the ultimate trophy, the one move that will ensure everlasting glory and a permanent place in history. my, i'm getting too cynical for my own good. hopefully, if enough powerful people keep at it, someone somewhere is going to succeed. if it's a right-wing xenophobe, then so be it.
finally, all you waikato people, if you haven't yet voted in the wel energy trust election, please do so NOW. i have a bias. being a trustee of two community organisations, i need the trust to continue its programme of donations to such organisations. in fact, it would be nice if the pool of grant money is increased, but at present the best outcome would be a retention of the current 90:10 split in favour of rebates.
act party president gary mallett is currently running on a campaign of wiping out community grants. his argument: if people want to donate their rebate to charity, they are welcome to do so. that would be their choice. but his will return all profits in the form of rebates. [the fact that such profits arise from overcharging electricity users is a separate issue altogether. you don't hear mr mallett talking about giving people their own money back, oh no. it can't be theft if a corporate does it!]
the nonsense in his argument is that all the hundreds of community organisations that benefit from wel grants do not have the capacity to contact the tens of thousands of electricity consumers, asking for donations. and the tens of thousands of electrcity consumers do not have individually have the capacity to vet each of these hundreds of organisations to see which is genuine, and whose need is most pressing. so of course a few major organisations might get some extra donations from increased rebates, but all the rest of those hundreds of sports clubs and social service organisations will miss out.
and who will be the poorer for it? well not mr mallet, that's for sure. he has plenty of money. in fact there appears to be no spending cap for this election, so his team have paid for a number of full page ads in both community newspapers and the waikato times. in addition, he regularly pays personally for a half page in one of the community papers to ponitificate on matters of interest to himself. he has the money to buy plenty of "free" speech. he won't need those social service organisations because he can afford the finest therapists in the world for his little darlings, should they need it. and he can afford the fees of any sporting code you can think of.
as for the rest of the proles who actually do benefit from community groups, well his "personal choice and responsibility" view of the world doesn't have room for them.
so please vote now, and vote carefully. for the loss of 54 cents worth of rebates, you can help support organisations like shama or community radio hamilton and many hundreds of others, all run by the voluntary efforts of people who care about their community.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
i don't care where...
tim shadbolt came to the university of waikato to give a speech when i was studying there. this would be back in the mid-80's. i have no idea what possessed me to go and listen to him, given that i found his personality rather annoying at the time. but i did go, maybe because of the celebrity factor - i believe he was a mayor in auckland at the time.
i have to say that i was quite impressed. mr shadbolt spoke about his student protest days, his various brushes with the law, the experience of nearly going bankrupt and working off his debts, and life as a mayor. i can't remember now what exactly it was that impressed, except that he seemed to be a man of principles and ideals which was he prepared to stand up for, regardless of the consequences. most of all, i think it was his "never-say-die" attitude, his ability to come back up fighting regardless of what life threw at him.
fast forward to march 2006, and i read in the southland times that mr shadbolt had said this:
"In its infinite wisdom and compassion, this Government decided New Zealand would accept Muslim refugees from the Tampa. Australia had rejected them as unsuitable immigrants. In sharp contrast they have decided to launch dawn raids on ... tourist resort workers in Te Anau," Mr Shadbolt said.
as you can imagine, i was less than impressed and wrote a mild complaint to him, in which (amongst other things) i said:
i may be wrong, but the above statement appears to indicate that you might agree with the Australian government that the tampa refugees are "unsuitable immigrants". let us leave aside the fact that mr howard had used the issue of the tampa refugees to whip up an anti-immigrant wave which he rode into power; let us also leave aside the fact that it now appears mr howard lied about some of these refugees throwing their children overboard. my main concern here is the fact that you may feel these refugees are unsuitable for new zealand.
mr shadbolt, i would like to invite you to meet with the tampa refugees. i will be quite happy to pay for your return airfare from invercargill to auckland, and to organise the meeting. perhaps you are not aware of the effort these people have made to become part of our society, and how they have embraced the country they now call home.
well, he was nice enough to reply to me a couple of months later, after he had been in a pretty serious car accident. here is what he said:
Thank you for your e-mail of 14 March.
Yes, I admit it was a cheap shot, but we do feel persecuted in the deep south. Our city had the fastest declining population of any city in New Zealand or Australia, and when we finally got some new citizens, the Immigration Department launches dawn raids. If you believe in karma I've been punished and will not be travelling anywhere for some time.
which was all quite nice, and my good opinion of mr shadbolt continued. however, within the past year, that good opinion has been sorely tested, and about yesterday, the little goodwill i had slowly petered out.
i can understand that mr shadbolt is very concerned about the safety of his city, in light of recent gang violence. i know he must be feeling particularly helpless and wanting "something" to be done. but the notion that we should move to american-style elected sheriffs is just bizarre.
the one place that gangs are truly out of control is america. in fact many of the gangs here are offshoots of or inspired by american gangs. of all the countries in the world, i would have thought that would be the last place to look for solutions. wouldn't you rather look at countries that didn't have gangs, and replicate what they do?
the fact is that there is not a quick-fix solution to criminal offending and organised crime. the solutions involve a long-term view, which take years to take effect. not much consolation in the short-term i know. i'd suggest that in the short-term, mr shadbolt let the police get on with the job of restoring order, catching the offenders and putting them through the justice system. the best thing he can do right now is to work with police and to provide a calming influence.
i have to say that i was quite impressed. mr shadbolt spoke about his student protest days, his various brushes with the law, the experience of nearly going bankrupt and working off his debts, and life as a mayor. i can't remember now what exactly it was that impressed, except that he seemed to be a man of principles and ideals which was he prepared to stand up for, regardless of the consequences. most of all, i think it was his "never-say-die" attitude, his ability to come back up fighting regardless of what life threw at him.
fast forward to march 2006, and i read in the southland times that mr shadbolt had said this:
"In its infinite wisdom and compassion, this Government decided New Zealand would accept Muslim refugees from the Tampa. Australia had rejected them as unsuitable immigrants. In sharp contrast they have decided to launch dawn raids on ... tourist resort workers in Te Anau," Mr Shadbolt said.
as you can imagine, i was less than impressed and wrote a mild complaint to him, in which (amongst other things) i said:
i may be wrong, but the above statement appears to indicate that you might agree with the Australian government that the tampa refugees are "unsuitable immigrants". let us leave aside the fact that mr howard had used the issue of the tampa refugees to whip up an anti-immigrant wave which he rode into power; let us also leave aside the fact that it now appears mr howard lied about some of these refugees throwing their children overboard. my main concern here is the fact that you may feel these refugees are unsuitable for new zealand.
mr shadbolt, i would like to invite you to meet with the tampa refugees. i will be quite happy to pay for your return airfare from invercargill to auckland, and to organise the meeting. perhaps you are not aware of the effort these people have made to become part of our society, and how they have embraced the country they now call home.
well, he was nice enough to reply to me a couple of months later, after he had been in a pretty serious car accident. here is what he said:
Thank you for your e-mail of 14 March.
Yes, I admit it was a cheap shot, but we do feel persecuted in the deep south. Our city had the fastest declining population of any city in New Zealand or Australia, and when we finally got some new citizens, the Immigration Department launches dawn raids. If you believe in karma I've been punished and will not be travelling anywhere for some time.
which was all quite nice, and my good opinion of mr shadbolt continued. however, within the past year, that good opinion has been sorely tested, and about yesterday, the little goodwill i had slowly petered out.
i can understand that mr shadbolt is very concerned about the safety of his city, in light of recent gang violence. i know he must be feeling particularly helpless and wanting "something" to be done. but the notion that we should move to american-style elected sheriffs is just bizarre.
the one place that gangs are truly out of control is america. in fact many of the gangs here are offshoots of or inspired by american gangs. of all the countries in the world, i would have thought that would be the last place to look for solutions. wouldn't you rather look at countries that didn't have gangs, and replicate what they do?
the fact is that there is not a quick-fix solution to criminal offending and organised crime. the solutions involve a long-term view, which take years to take effect. not much consolation in the short-term i know. i'd suggest that in the short-term, mr shadbolt let the police get on with the job of restoring order, catching the offenders and putting them through the justice system. the best thing he can do right now is to work with police and to provide a calming influence.
Monday, 23 June 2008
mountains and molehills
it looks like the kiwi party have enough signatures for their referendum about smacking. even though a police report out today shows that the repeal of s59 has hardly led to a rash of parents being "criminalised":
In total over the current six month review period, Police attended 288 child assault events, 13 of which involved "smacking" and 69 of which involved "minor acts of physical discipline".
All of the 13 cases involving "smacking" and 65 of the 69 "minor acts of physical discipline" were determined to be inconsequential and therefore not in the public interest to prosecute. Of the four cases prosecuted, one was withdrawn after successful completion of diversion and three are yet to be resolved through the Court.
so the repeal is working as it should - there aren't lots of new cases, and the defence of "reasonable force" is no longer available for those who seriously harm their children. what on earth is the problem with these people, all 390,000 of them that signed the petition? could it be that they don't understand the law, or how it's working? or is it that they think we have to wait a little longer for all their dire predictions coming true, of thousands of good parents languishing in jail* for the crime of smacking?
it all seems so much of a non-issue. yet now, we'll probably have this referendum, which will no doubt be used to push for a reversal of the law. i haven't yet seen national party policy on this - have they said they will consider repeal? or will they just do it if they get the chance and their is enough clamour for change by a vocal few? if they do, it makes a hypocrisy of that party's vote for the repeal.
on another note, poor old ross robertson is still trying to get a code of ethics set up for parlimentarians. i really have trouble seeing why anyone would object to this. it would be a really good look to articulate a set of values and behaviour, then to abide by it or face the consequences if you don't. as a chartered accountant, i have to abide by the code of ethics established by the nzica. all professional bodies have one, and even trades usually have one as well.
the fact that there has been a lack of support for this from other parties is highly suspicious. it makes them look like they are indulging is some highly questionable behaviour and don't want to be held to account or to public scrutiny for it. i hope the first part of the code of ethics will be a stop on the unanimous screaming that occurs at question time when one of the ministers gets up to answer (funny how most of the questions are heard in silence).
*i was going to say "or in home detention", but then thought that most of the people who signed this petition probably think home detention is a soft option that ought to be scrapped as well.
In total over the current six month review period, Police attended 288 child assault events, 13 of which involved "smacking" and 69 of which involved "minor acts of physical discipline".
All of the 13 cases involving "smacking" and 65 of the 69 "minor acts of physical discipline" were determined to be inconsequential and therefore not in the public interest to prosecute. Of the four cases prosecuted, one was withdrawn after successful completion of diversion and three are yet to be resolved through the Court.
so the repeal is working as it should - there aren't lots of new cases, and the defence of "reasonable force" is no longer available for those who seriously harm their children. what on earth is the problem with these people, all 390,000 of them that signed the petition? could it be that they don't understand the law, or how it's working? or is it that they think we have to wait a little longer for all their dire predictions coming true, of thousands of good parents languishing in jail* for the crime of smacking?
it all seems so much of a non-issue. yet now, we'll probably have this referendum, which will no doubt be used to push for a reversal of the law. i haven't yet seen national party policy on this - have they said they will consider repeal? or will they just do it if they get the chance and their is enough clamour for change by a vocal few? if they do, it makes a hypocrisy of that party's vote for the repeal.
on another note, poor old ross robertson is still trying to get a code of ethics set up for parlimentarians. i really have trouble seeing why anyone would object to this. it would be a really good look to articulate a set of values and behaviour, then to abide by it or face the consequences if you don't. as a chartered accountant, i have to abide by the code of ethics established by the nzica. all professional bodies have one, and even trades usually have one as well.
the fact that there has been a lack of support for this from other parties is highly suspicious. it makes them look like they are indulging is some highly questionable behaviour and don't want to be held to account or to public scrutiny for it. i hope the first part of the code of ethics will be a stop on the unanimous screaming that occurs at question time when one of the ministers gets up to answer (funny how most of the questions are heard in silence).
*i was going to say "or in home detention", but then thought that most of the people who signed this petition probably think home detention is a soft option that ought to be scrapped as well.
Sunday, 22 June 2008
mothers and daughters
have posted at the hand mirror today. i find that i'm still affected by some of the stuff i read yesterday, but that is a good thing.
in other news, good to see more protection coming in for temporary and casual workers. these are often the people least in a position to bargain in an employment relationship, so this is a really great development.
in other news, good to see more protection coming in for temporary and casual workers. these are often the people least in a position to bargain in an employment relationship, so this is a really great development.
Saturday, 21 June 2008
constrained
i found a new blog today (which i've now added to my blogroll) as a result of my post yesterday at the hand mirror. this is the thing i love most about blogging and the internet - the connections you can make with people who don't know you and who don't even know you're reading their words and are extremely moved and inspired by them.
i now feel connected to frida, because she's opened up new things for me. for a start, the work she has done in afghanistan and the photographs she has taken remind of where i want to be. as i read and looked, i felt ever so much more constrained by my responsibilities. responsibilities to my children, more precious to me than anything in the world, and who still need me here to raise them and nurture them.
but somehow i can't wait to break free from here, and be where she is and do what she's doing. i know i've written about this before, but it reiterated for me the fact that i don't want to spend my final days in a comfortable bed reminiscing over my life as it slowly ebbs out of me. i want to be where i can make a difference, a practical difference, to the lives of people who have been devastated by the destruction that human beings wreak on one another every day on this planet. i want my death to be of some use, as much as i hope my life will be.
it's not about making grand heroic gestures, and i know how perilously close that last sentence is to being the last words of a suicide bomber. but that's not what i mean. it's more the peaceful protest, the quiet gesture of defiance against oppression, which creates little ripples and improves the lives of a few people. i'm reminded of a photograph i've seen of a peace protester, a little woman no more than 5 feet tall, standing alone with arms outstretched in front of a tank, at a risky moment in one of the world's most volatile hotspots. what a beautiful moment of courage it was. incidentally, this woman died a year later of lung cancer, in her bed, in her home, in her country of origin.
thanks to frida, i found this speech by j k rowling. even if you've never read one of her books, or have read them and hate them, it's definitely a speech worth reading. and worth putting into practice. i think of my experience of last weekend, sitting in a room full of anger and vengeance, and i know that the thing missing was empathy. not empathy for the victim of course, that is too easy. but empathy for the offenders, which is indeed a difficult thing.
so i'm sitting here today feeling constrained, feeling as if i'm not doing what i want to be doing; but contenting myself with the fact that i can still do as much as i can, in the place where i live, to improve the lives of people in little ways. and there is always the hope that in the future, i'll be able to move to those more difficult places and make a difference there.
in the meantime, there are people like frida to do it for me. thank you.
i now feel connected to frida, because she's opened up new things for me. for a start, the work she has done in afghanistan and the photographs she has taken remind of where i want to be. as i read and looked, i felt ever so much more constrained by my responsibilities. responsibilities to my children, more precious to me than anything in the world, and who still need me here to raise them and nurture them.
but somehow i can't wait to break free from here, and be where she is and do what she's doing. i know i've written about this before, but it reiterated for me the fact that i don't want to spend my final days in a comfortable bed reminiscing over my life as it slowly ebbs out of me. i want to be where i can make a difference, a practical difference, to the lives of people who have been devastated by the destruction that human beings wreak on one another every day on this planet. i want my death to be of some use, as much as i hope my life will be.
it's not about making grand heroic gestures, and i know how perilously close that last sentence is to being the last words of a suicide bomber. but that's not what i mean. it's more the peaceful protest, the quiet gesture of defiance against oppression, which creates little ripples and improves the lives of a few people. i'm reminded of a photograph i've seen of a peace protester, a little woman no more than 5 feet tall, standing alone with arms outstretched in front of a tank, at a risky moment in one of the world's most volatile hotspots. what a beautiful moment of courage it was. incidentally, this woman died a year later of lung cancer, in her bed, in her home, in her country of origin.
thanks to frida, i found this speech by j k rowling. even if you've never read one of her books, or have read them and hate them, it's definitely a speech worth reading. and worth putting into practice. i think of my experience of last weekend, sitting in a room full of anger and vengeance, and i know that the thing missing was empathy. not empathy for the victim of course, that is too easy. but empathy for the offenders, which is indeed a difficult thing.
so i'm sitting here today feeling constrained, feeling as if i'm not doing what i want to be doing; but contenting myself with the fact that i can still do as much as i can, in the place where i live, to improve the lives of people in little ways. and there is always the hope that in the future, i'll be able to move to those more difficult places and make a difference there.
in the meantime, there are people like frida to do it for me. thank you.
Friday, 20 June 2008
world refugee day
haven't been posting this week because i've spent most of it in bed with a bad cold. and that was after having had a flu vaccination at least a month ago. i hate it when you lose a week of your life like that!
anyway, things are getting back to normal, and i've posted today at the hand mirror. and while on the topic of the UN, i believe today is world refugee day. a good time to remember the 11.4 million people who are refugees today, while we sleep comfortably in our warm beds and look forward to the weekend.
anyway, things are getting back to normal, and i've posted today at the hand mirror. and while on the topic of the UN, i believe today is world refugee day. a good time to remember the 11.4 million people who are refugees today, while we sleep comfortably in our warm beds and look forward to the weekend.
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