|
Writings
Saturday January 21, 2006
I know I’m a bit late on this one PolarB, but I was out Friday night (our time) and by the time I read it, Saturday is half over.
Facts about Madeleine:
- I’m short only 5’2” tall.
- I was born and raised in Canada and didn’t come to Australia until I wa 25.
- I looooooooove animals and have always had animals.
- I love Italian food. I think I must have been Italian in another life. When we were in Italy, I ate spaghetti 3 times a day, cause it was the cheapest thing to eat. It wasn’t a hardship.
- I hate cooking. Which is quite amazing considering how much I love to eat. See there’s two facts in one.
Madeleine
Saturday, 21 January 2006
| | Posted by Gezunda at 1:05 AM - | |
|
|
Thursday January 19, 2006
Social
Contact
Depression
is on the increase. I suspect it has a lot to do with decreasing social
contacts amongst human beings. Children spend more time indoors now than they
used to. They spend more time on non-social activities. Depression is on the increase
in children.
I
took my dawg for a walk this morning. Different place. Different people.
Different dogs. I met an older man. We walked and we talked. Our dogs played
together. He is single. Lives alone with his dog. However, he takes his
neighbour’s dog with him. When I arrived, he was talking to someone else. While
we were walking he exchanged greetings with another walker. He talked a lot
about himself, and I know a lot about him now. I know that he won $1600 on
Lotto a while back. I know that he is going back to England shortly for a wedding and a
christening. I know he loves his dog and he takes good care of her. I know he
enjoys the company of other human beings.
For
me, after my walk, I felt tired, but good. I had had social contact. It only lasted
about 45 minutes, but I feel better for both the exercise and the social
contact. I think this man has got it right. Talk to people when you are out. I
know much of our society today is about, don’t trust strangers, there is danger
behind every smile, ignore people, pretend you don’t see them, don’t talk to
strangers. However, human beings are social creatures. We are pack animals.
Talking to people, anyone, improves our state of mind and our psychological
well being as well as that of the other person.
Have
you ever just walked down the street and smiled at someone. Give it a go. Check
out their reaction. The world can only change if people decide to change it. To
make our world a more friendly place, smile at someone, say G’dday to them, watch their reaction. Some
people will look away. Many will smile back. And many will go home with a smile
on their face.
Change
happens from the bottom up. I write this blog. Two people who read it smile at
2 people. Of those 2 people, 1 thinks about it and smiles at someone else. See
the chain reaction. Suddenly, smiling at people becomes the norm rather than
the exception.
Remember,
any stranger is a potential friend.
Madeleine
Thursday,
19 January 2006
| | Posted by Gezunda at 6:32 AM - | |
|
|
Tuesday January 17, 2006
I’ve just taken my Ally for a walk. And like a good Australian dawg walker, I take along my poo bags to pick up her little droppings (I’m really glad she’s not a big dawg. They do really big poos and I’ve only got small hands). There are a number of reasons why we are expected to pick up our dogs excrement. These include: other people using the area might step in it, it is dirty, it is bad for the environment etc. And as a good little Australian Dawg Walker, I take my little yellow poo bags with me wherever Ally and I go.  However, I know that before poo bags came into existence, the number of times I stepped in poo was minimal and it was usually my own dawg’s, in my own back garden. I am also told that carnivorous animal excrement is less biodegradable than the dropping of herbivores, which is why people faeces is considered “bad” for composting. In Perth, many of the dawg walking parks supply these lovely little poo bags with which the Good Little Australian Dawg Walker is meant to pick up their pet’s faecal matter. And, as a Good Little Australian Dawg Walker, I do just that. However, I have been wondering for some time: What is environmentally more friendly, my dawgs’ waste produce or the plastic bags I am expected to put them in? Madeleine Tuesday, 17 January 2006 | | Posted by Gezunda at 5:47 AM - | |
|
|
Sunday January 15, 2006
Survival of the fittest
I am listening to the news. A bus crash in Cairo has killed a number of Australians. I feel for their families and friends. I know I would be devastated if it were me. But……………. shit happens!
One of the things we tend to forget is: people die. Shit happens! Darwin’s theory was about the survival of the fittest. That people die, for the protection of the species. The less fit die out, the more fit, survive. This happens constantly in the animal kingdom.
However, in human society, governments are working very hard to take away any risks people can take. People are not allowed to take risks, and the responsibility of those risks, without someone jumping in and saying: “This shouldn’t happen. Someone should do something about it.” That someone is usually the government, regulatory bodies and so forth.
Another incident over the weekend. A man jumped out of a plane and was killed when his parachute failed to open. “Oh, dear”, say people, “This shouldn’t happen. The government should do something about it. We need more regulations, more rules to protect these people”. Why? This man knew that jumping out of airplanes was a dangerous sport. He takes his chances as do I every time I cross the road, or do risky behaviour. He chooses more risky behaviour than I do. His chances of getting hurt/killed are greater than mine. However, if I step out in front of a truck and get killed, I feel for my family (or I would if I were alive), but it was my decision, my mistake, not to be more careful. I don’t expect the government to make more rules to stop my risky behaviour and to protect me from my own behaviour.
We are an overpopulated world. One of the ways that nature keeps the balance is by death. Human beings constantly fight death constantly. Human beings want to live forever. Human beings are taking natural selection from the equation. Humans also feel they have a right to have children, as many as they want. They believe that they have the right to clone more human beings, to have IVF if they have trouble conceiving, that abortion is wrong. Hence, our world becomes more and more overpopulated.
One of the ways that nature chooses to keep the world population under control is with tsunamis, hurricanes and other such natural “disasters”. Are they disasters, or are they nature’s way of keeping some of the balance.
Yes, disasters are tragic. Losing family members and close friends is tragic. However, it is part of being alive. Not being able to have a baby, is part of being alive. Falling over a cliff and drowning, is part of being alive.
Let’s stop trying to change nature. Let’s stop spoiling our world by putting in more rules and regulations to keep people alive. It is natural for people to die.
Madeleine
Thursday, 12 January 2006
| | Posted by Gezunda at 2:12 AM - | |
|
|
Friday January 13, 2006
Personal Space
I was just remembering an
incident at a garden party many, many years ago. I was talking to this guy, a
real talker he was, rather nice, when I realised that I had backed into the
hoist, and had to come to a stop. Why did I do this?
Why did I back away from him when
I was enjoying his company?
I realised that he was invading
my personal space. Each time I moved away from him, he would move closer to me,
closer than I felt comfortable. So I would back away again. And so the
situation continued until I couldn’t go any further, and I realised what was
happening.
An interesting concept – personal
space. Why do I allow some people to stand/sit physically closer to me than
others? I know people who are “touchers” that I love being touched by; and
others that I cringe every time they touch me. I’m sure you’ve all had this
sort of experience. You meet someone; they stand too close to you or they touch
you and your whole body feels uncomfortable. Other people I like when they
stand close to me.
It seems to be almost instinctual
because the initial contact is often with someone you don’t know, certainly
don’t know well enough to have formed a like/dislike opinion about.
For quite some time, I always
felt that if I gave one person in a room a hug, that I should hug everyone, so
no one felt left out. I have hugged some really yukky people in my life! Over
the years, I have learned that it is okay for me to be a bit more
discriminating and can put my hand out for a shake as quick as anything !! A
very nice alternative to physical contact with someone who gives you the
creeps.
Public transport and lifts are
interesting phenomena. We are in crowded spaces, our personal space is being
invaded, so we pretend the other people aren’t there. Don’t make eye contact.
Don’t look at anyone. I find it fascinating to watch how people avoid making
physical contact with others. The London
tube was fascinating. No one spoke to other people or made eye contact. I kept
watching to see how people did it. They just looked past others or around them.
An interesting study in people who are forced to have their personal space
invaded and how they deal with it. Pretend it is not happening. Pretend all
those other people don’t exist.
Apparently country people have a
larger personal space than city people. Country people are used to more space
being available to them and when they come to the city, they often feel hemmed
in. City people, when they go to the country, often feel quite alone because
the spaces are so great.
There is another personal space
issue coming out in our current culture. The personal space of someone using an
ATM or EFTPOS. Now I don’t know what they are called in other countries, but I
am talking about when using cards to get money from the hole in the wall
machines or using them to buy things in the shop. Have you ever had someone
stand too close to you when you were putting in your pin numbers in a shop?
Have you ever had someone stand too close behind you in a queue for the hole in
the wall money machines? Very disconcerting, isn’t it? These are new personal
space issues of the 21st Century.
Another 21st century
personal space issue is the mobile phone. Have you ever noticed how people
react when someone receives a mobile phone call in company? Unless invited into
the conversation, other people around will turn their backs and will carry on a
pointed conversation with each other to prove they are not listening to the
conversation. I don’t know about you, but I always have half an ear listening
to see if the conversation is interesting. But then, I’m a nosy person !!
Different cultures will have
different personal spaces and when travelling, you need to know the rights and
wrongs. I know when I was in London, I was chatty to the sales people – something
I always do here in Australia.
I don’t know if it was just these particular people, but I got the cold
shoulder. I assume I was invading their personal space.
There have been studies done on
personal space and they (the ubiquitous “They”) have actually numericalised (if
that’s a word), specific cultures and how much distance they feel comfortable
with.
Whatever the number, whatever the
distance, each person is an individual, each person will have their own
personal space and this will vary from person to person and from relationship
to relationship. Watch it. Look at it. See what other people do. It is very
interesting to watch.
Madeleine
Sunday, 8 January 2006
| | Posted by Gezunda at 10:01 PM - | |
|
|
Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
| |
Have you checked out the
new Blogstream site,
Question Stream.com?
Many Blogstream members are there
already! Quotes from members: "It's like blog lite!" -- "I like the instant
gratification!" -- "Stop spectating, get in the game!"
If you have not joined in, you are really missing out!
|
|
10629 Visitors
|
