82 Not Out!  17^th September 2016

The Good the Bad and the You’ve got to be kidding!

Heaps of good going  on up here in Qld.  Boy they grow them tough up here!First YEAH!  YEAH!   YEAH!  the COWBOYS and a yeah! yeah! to the Broncos. What a great game and Yes, this academic recorded Elizabeth for gentler viewing later!

More good news that 17 year-old offenders will no longer be sent to adult prisons in this state-and not before time!

International good news – Loud cheers for great actor Gerge Clooney instrumental in the organisation The Sentry. It has been following money trails for several years and has released news of leaders in corrupt countries (Sudan is one noted) who are keeping wars alive simply to profit by them.Guess money trails around wars always lead to profit for someone somewhere.

On money  stuff  great to listen to Everard Compton ( amazing fellow Not Outer!) addressing the Press Club stressing that pensioners arn’t all alike, that they can’t be stereotyped into one basket.  He stressed that continuous Aus. governments have missed the forest for the trees and that social and ethical contracts have diminished when it comes to fair and adequate pensions. Shocking genuine stats and thought provoking anecdotes of deprivation given.

Gee I’m glad I have two of my own  teeth left to grip very old dentures after hearing how many Australians have to blend their food because of dentistry costs.! Yes JCU training centre I will be heading your way sometime soon.

OH THE REALLY BAD news...Need I embark on it. The world is truly in one hell of  a mess  and close to home so is the Senate...so No I am not going either topic today  Won’t use energy to enter or listen to what I would have  kicked my kids out of home for saying!

Now the You’ve got to be kidding section.One news item upset me somewhat and I’ve only seen it on screen once.That whilst United Nations  accepts the legal responsibility it is refusing the moral obligation to pay compensation to Haiiti for the cholera it introduced there.

On a different note speaking to another writer the  other day (yes, don’t forget I am and always have been a writer –prolific across the genre and moderately successful-usually undervalued and always underpaid)...well this other writer said,

“I’ve just read a book- but it was crap. Now I’m coming to understand two things.-either the back blurb on the cover is false advertising –or the book was written for an audience I just don’t understand.”

Reminded me that I had the biggest laugh ever about life insurance ads. No.it wasn’t yet another, yet another, and still another funeral plan –it was a pregnant  mum- delighting the dad to be that they are going to be parents soon...and this is where the you’ve got to be kidding (or thick?) comes in...he promptly says  what they immediately need is an insurance plan!  My laughter was the memory reflection when I told men in my life they were going to be Dad’s and what their response was. Believe me friends insurance would have been the last piece of advice I received.

So  writers on and off the screen shouldn’t dialogue be REAL, RELEVANT and REVEAling???????????????????????????????????

Oh promise another short story or poem next blog...mean time more news My  Spin IntoSpeech and Drama Early Years is with publisher to be printed soon. Blessings,thanks for reading feel free to pass on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hzl

82 Not Out! heard a really great life story the other day.

It was an unexpected gift that landed in my lap during a visit to a full afternoon at a St John’s Community Service social gathering.That’s the kind of environment where a writer can hear life stories from amazing folk all ages diverse and interesting. 

The day I went to meet the group I soon realised that some were over coming immense challenges in their ‘one day at a time’ everyday lives. The genuine hospitality of the carers there, the social contact, the bobs, and the bingo and of course the fellowship and camaraderie was an eye-opener for this Not Outer.

Now the remarkable life story leapt into life when it was announced the day was a special celebration day for one of the carers. The amiable man who lifted and gently moved those needing assistance told the gathering he had gained his Australian citizenship. Great cheers and smiles followed. Some around the afternoon tea table had assisted him in some way to achieve this desired status. 

Gradually I learned this small kind man who had been working at St John’s for the past three years was a refugee who arrived in Australia after spending 18 years in a refugee camp in Bhutan.

This is the kind of story that doesn’t make world headlines but it really set me thinking.

I realized I was suddenly seeing another side of the refugee coin.One we don't see often enough in the media.

We are constantly bombarded with the news of boat people arrivals. We watch horrific events and episodes of the refugee crisis which is unfolding globally.  Our hearts go out to those experiencing such appalling conditions. We want to help them all –but we and governments worldwide have complex issues to solve to do so.

Unfortunately glibly phrased political rhetoric about dealing with our legitimised authorised refugee quota before accepting thousands of boat people doesn’t make the same impact as horrific current screen scenarios.

So as I watched this benevolent new Australian citizen I asked how anyone could judge or choose between his experience awaiting in a camp 18 years to begin a new and better life as more or less important than parents risking boats to send  children away from the horrors of war.

A massive percentage of all refugees are children.

As a mother, grandmother and great grandmother I have only  commonsense suggestions about all this.  First and foremost how about a quick hurry up to whittle down the legitimate refugee intake. ..and let’s hear more about the success stories...sort out the off shore detention crisis soon as possible...then get a move on to take more of the boat kids in...(into our country not someone else’s) because they didn’t choose the world to be this way...any more than  I did as a kid under the kitchen table in the London Blitz.

I was given safety some love and a community to grow up in and I reckoned I turned out alright

What d’you reckon??