Red

I said to my Tsunamis this morning, "We are each wearing something red today to honour a little boy called Daniel."

"Daniel from school?" Cappers asked.

"No, this is a Daniel we never met, but his family need our support today and they like the colour red."

"Will Daniel know we're wearing red?"

"No, Daniel won't know. No one will really know, except for us and maybe for other people wearing red. But it matters anyway."

"Why does it matter? Who is Daniel?" Maxi asked.

I thought for a while. I wasn't sure how I was going to manage this one. "Daniel is a little boy who died when he shouldn't have died," I finally said.

"How did he die?" Maxi wanted to know.

"He died near a road," I answered.

"Did he forget to look before he crossed the road?"

"Yes," I answered simply. "He must have forgotten to look."

And some things we will never see, no matter how hard we look. They strike out of nowhere for no reason, for no good and we cannot see them coming.

Yes, we are each wearing something red today to honour a little boy called Daniel.

[Image via weheartit]

Super Heroes

The world has been a crazy place in 2011. Our children are noticing that something is different. They can feel the earth shifting around them and the waters tumbling in.

At bedtime I have a little ritual of the 'sleepy story' with my children. I tell them a tale about me as a young girl. I can never remember my exact age with childhood events and so I usually say "I must have been, oh, about ten". And Maxi says"You're always ten in these stories! I can't wait to be ten!"

After my sleepy-story each child goes to their own bed and I tuck them in with a 'magic sheet'. I say, Safe and warm in Cappers' bed, peaceful dreams, my sleepy head. The 'magic' bit is that the sheet keeps them safe and warm all night, even if it comes off (this part was invented because for a while there they were kicking off the sheet and I had to go through the whole ritual again).

Last night Maxi said, "Why are people being drowned in Japan?'

I said, "Sometimes bad things happen just because."

He said, "But why?"

And I said, "Well if everything was good all of the time, people wouldn't get the chance to practice their super hero skills."

"So we need some bad stuff so we can be extra strong?"

"Yes, my darling, we do."


[Image via weheartit. Please let me know if this image is yours so I can correctly attribute it.]

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Shared in March.

For Lori

Be embraced by the universe, Lori and little Chop and Bump.

Ave et vale Tony.  10.1.2011.

Things I learned this week including that enough is enough

You know what, after some 22 posts I thought about killing 'things I learned' this week but I just couldn't pull the trigger. The thing is, I really like my weekly round up and it helps to write down and appreciate the new stuff you come across. So, let the learning continue and please lodge any complaints in the comment box below.

1. When I learned that banks put their interest rates up on the same day they announced MASSIVE profits, I threw up all over my St George the Dragon money box circa 1979. When is enough profit enough? Why do they have to be making billions and billions of dollars scraped together from my $1.50 transaction fees and my 0.25% interest rate rises? Why? Enough is enough. I'm working out what to do about it... I'll, ah... keep you posted.

2. Gimp is an awesome online photo-shop rip off that is really, really good and really, really free.

3. I'm furious that in this age of 'non-gender specifics' and 'give the girl a truck', wonderful mothers still find that they have to write posts about their amazing children like this one from Nerdy Apple Bottom and this one from my mate Woogsworld.  By god, when will we let children express themselves, not their gender!?

4. I'm into Beauty and the Geek... ... ... ... That is all.

5. I learnt that I have a whole lot of thinking to do about myself and my place in the world at Zen Family Habits (via Planning with Kids, thanks Nicole!)

So, hey there, what do you think about banks, gimp, the sexuality of five year olds, Beauty and the Geek or living in 20Zen? 

And did you learn something new to share this week?

PS - Go FLOG YO BLOG with Lori and The Old Spice Guy... now, back to me.

My assignment

VIDEO / AUDIO
Soundtrack throughout: ‘Child of the Troubles’ by Roy Todd ©

Open on close up of Israeli woman –Aaron’s mother ‐ in labour. She is cared for by a midwife and her husband. There is much panting and puffing as she does Lamaze‐ style breathing and clutches her husband’s hand.

SFX: General hum of a hospital

Aaron’s mother (Lamaze breathing)
Hee hee hooooo, hee hee hooooo

Israeli midwife (in Hebrew):
Not too long now. Baby is coming.

Subtitles in English: Not too long now. Baby is coming.

Cut to close up of a Palestinian woman – Abdul‐Haqq’s mother ‐ in labour. She is cared for by a midwife and her husband. There is much panting and puffing as she does Lamaze‐style breathing and clutches her husband’s hand.

SFX: General hum of a hospital

Abdul‐Haqq’s mother (Lamaze breathing):
Hee hee hooooo, hee hee hooooo

Palestinian midwife (in Arabic):
Not too long now. Baby is coming.

Subtitles in English: Not too long now. Baby is coming.

Cut to split screen showing two crying newborn babies, mouths wide.
SFX: Crying babies

Abdul‐Haqq VO in Arabic:

We are born the same.

SUPER 1 (Appears at Abdul‐Haqq VO, stays on screen): We are born the same.

Aaron VO in Hebrew:

We are born the same.

SUPER 2 (Appears at Aaron VO, directly beneath Super 1): We are born the same.


Cut to split screen with parallel shots of Abdul‐ Haqq, a Palestinian solider and Aaron, an Israeli solider, being gunned down during the Israeli‐Palestine conflict.

SFX: Distant sounds of gunfire. Someone cries out. Silence except for lingering notes of music.

Abdul‐Haqq in Arabic:

We will die the same

SUPER 1 (Appears at Abdul‐Haqq VO, stays on screen): We will die the same.

Aaron in Hebrew:

We will die the same.

SUPER 2 (Appears at Aaron VO, directly beneath Super 1): We will die the same.


Cut to shot of Abdul‐Haqq’s grieving mother embracing grieving Aaron’s mother. They cling to each other and weep throughout take.

SFX: Sounds of women weeping.

Abdul‐Haqq VO in English:

We started it.

Aaron VO in English:

We started it

Both Abdul‐Haqq and Aaron VO in unison:

We will end it.

SUPER [fade in at “we will end it”]: We have more in common than you think.

Screen cuts to black.

SUPER [fade out]: We have more in common than you think.

SFX: Final note of song fades away.

ENDS


If you have absolutely no idea what's going on here, see My very own Gruen Transfer Moment for background... x

Can't bearing witness

Did you see Iraq's Deadly Legacy on Dateline on SBS tonight? It will not leave me.

The atrocities left behind after the war in Iraq are heartbreaking.  Babies born so deformed and forlorn that your soul tries to flee your body to go to them. They are reason alone for us to fear what war makes us all become.

The uranium left behind by tools of war caused this. Whatever was in Iraq that the US thought they needed to rid the world of could not be worse than this. They caused this. They took those children's real lives and gave them one full of pain and suffering. They etched the scars.

Oh children, please don't hate us.

LOML could not stand to watch, but I stayed, my face a waterfall of grief. To bear witness.

I saw your pain, sweet babies. I saw you.

[Image]