These two men have been top news stories, along with young Sophie that I wrote about last. Cave in, one man died, two were trapped. I guess this has been one of the most incredible stories of the last few years and it’s terrific to hear positive reports on the news for a change.

The man who was killed, will be buried today, the same day his mates are rescued.

The juxtaposition of feelings. The families, friends, and rescue workers along with all of Australia were watching the story as it unfolded. The man who died, forgotten momentarily. Now he is being mentioned again. The family of the man who died must be having some incredible feelings. Why me? Why not them?

I came home from work to discover that these two men were in hospital for a matter of hours, and then walked out to their family cars and home. Life. One of them attended their mates funeral later that day. Death.

Life and death. What an incredible illustration of life.

Madeleine

Tuesday, 9 May 2006

 News tonight. A little girl was hit by a car. Happens you say. Sad as well. This little girl was only 5 years old. She was being pushed in her pram by her carer. They were crossing the road on a pedestrian crossing. It happens. The irony of this story is that this little girl, only 5 years old, has already been in a car accident. Less than 3 years ago, she was trapped under the burning car  that crashed into her daycare centre. She lost both her feet, some of her fingers and suffered disfiguring burns to 85% of her body.

 It is tragic. It is totally unbelievable that this little 5 year old should have had so much happen to her in her very short life. News is that she will live. That she’s not as badly hurt as first thought. She will however spend some time in intensive care.

 So I am pondering. I am pondering life and what it throws at some people. Everyone who reads this will put their own slant onto it to give themselves the “Why” of these sorts of happenings. Some will say “It is God’s will.” Others will say “This child has something to learn in this lifetime.” Human beings seem to need to rationalise happenings such as this. My response: “Shit happens”. “It’s just bad luck.”,  “Wrong place wrong time.” Some people just get the short straw. Every human being will have shit happen in their lives. Someone they love will die or become disabled; they will lose a job or a house; have a car accident. The happening will vary from person to person. Some people cop more than their fair share of the bad things in life. And I can already think of a cliché for that: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. Tell little Sophie’s parents that. Won’t help them at all.

 Life is not fair. Life has never, and never will be fair. So if you are waiting for fairness - for the bad guy to get his/her comeuppance, for the good person to get their reward, don’t. Because sometimes it will happen; sometimes it won’t.

 Life is not fair sometimes.

 Unfairness is part of life.

 Madeleine

Friday, 5 May 2006

 Tom began his talk. He made some interesting points. A fair bit about religion; some about love and peace. A bit about how dogs can be trained in England and dogs in the USA will learn quicker because the dogs in England had learned the tricks first. I don’t know what else. Some interesting little stories. I’m not quite sure what the point of his talk was, but it was interesting.

 I did get some pointers on how not to give a talk and I thought I would share them.

 So here are Madeleine’s tips on what not to do when you give a talk:

•  Make sure you do not have a title or subject for your talk. This ensures that whatever you talk about is fine. It also means that you can bamboozle the audience no matter what you say.

•  Make sure you do not have a beginning, middle and end to your talk. This way no one can say you missed out on anything, cause they really have no idea what you are talking about. It also means you can talk about your latest hobby horse.

•  Never answer questions. In fact, if anyone asks a question, it is probably unanswerable, cause no one really understands what you are on about anyway.

•  Make sure your notes are unreadable, even by you. This allows you to flutter notes around and look like you have something intelligent written, if only you could read them.

•   Make sure your audience is very polite. Then they too will pretend that you have said something profound, and everyone will feel good about themselves.

• Always use the group’s catch phrases or lingo. This will mean that whatever you say will be seen as meaningful and intellectual. The audience will nod their heads knowingly, pretending they understand what you are saying.

  Madeleine

Friday, 28 April 2006

 The course was called “Structure thought and reality” or STAR as we called it. Part of it were interesting. For instance, during one session, we proved (don’t ask me how, I am mathematically challenged) that 1 + 1 does not equal 2. They used some incredibly complicated mathematics which went right over my head.

 Part of the course blurb says “The theme that binds these topics together is that of humanity's millennia-long search for reality. The unit should prepare students to understand better debates about the construction of reality as we enter the twenty-first century.”. So I guess it’s a bit out of date considering that we are now 6 years into the 21^st century.

 The bit that I found the most interesting was the idea that nothing really exists until we form a concept of it.  For example, drug addiction cannot exist until someone decides that there is a thing, or a concept, called drug addiction. Then people spend millions of dollars and many study hours proving it exists, deciding what it means, and how it should be dealt with.

 Prior to “addiction” and “drug” being put together, people used “drugs” recreationally. Marijuana was legal. Opium dens existed. Some people obviously had problems with them, but society as a whole didn’t see it as a problem. It was simply something people did.

 The same with cigarettes. When I was growing up, part of becoming an adult was that you smoked. It was like drinking. It was part of the rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. Now, of course, someone in their wisdom has decided that smoking is a problem.

 Graffiti is another interesting one. Kids have been writing on walls for as long as I can remember. Suddenly, over the last 10 years or so, it has become such a problem that someone has decided to study graffiti. There is now a Centre for Forensic Science: Fingerprinting Graffiti Tags. So someone is getting money to study graffiti tags to see if they can identify the people involved. Suddenly we have a whole new area of study, and to decide what it means and how it should be dealt with.

 These examples are only a few. I wonder what will be next? I wonder what I am doing now, that in 5, 10 or 15 years time will be seen to be a problem, studied, proved to exist and then how to deal with it.

 The interesting thing is: Nothing is a problem until someone decides it is a problem.

 Madeleine

Friday, 14 April 2006

Trust

 According to the news reports, there is a bogeyman behind every tree. You have to avoid drunks  who are lurching down the street, cause they will do something nasty to you. Women are not safe anywhere, according to the reports. They will be raped, pillaged and murdered if they don’t lock their houses properly. Every child is in danger of the paedophile who lives around the corner if they walk to school on their own.

 According to the news reports, there are dangers around every corner. A car can run into your house and kill you while you are sleeping. Plants and critters are all around you, just waiting to jump out and bite you. The world, according to the news reports is an incredibly dangerous place and getting more and more dangerous as time goes on.

 I guess I have a problem with all this drama and danger. I still believe that humans are basically good. I still believe that the world is a physically safe place to be. I still believe that the drunk walking down the street is just out for a good evening, and is probably so drunk that even I could take him down if I needed to.

 My experience in the world is that there are nasty people out there; there are natural disasters that happen; there are cars that plough into someone’s bedroom while they are sleeping. What I trust is my ability to cope with these things should they happen. I’ve been around the world. I’ve been in some hairy situations in my life. I’ve had some pretty shocking experiences. I know that, although at the time they are not pleasant, I can survive them and I don’t have to spend my life worrying about the drunk who walks down my street. I don’t have to stay in at night with all my doors and windows locked. I don’t have to avoid the world.

 Because for every person who is out there to do you harm, there are another 100 (at least), who will be there to help pick you up.

 So stop listening to the news. Stop listening to the dramatics that the news presents. Good stories don’t make money. Reporters are not out there to give you the facts. If they were, they would present some of the good things that happen in this world. But good does not make money, only bad does. Trust in your own ability to cope with life and what it presents. You can.

 Madeleine

Sunday, 9 April 2006