Sad and glad. Again

Last week I started a long-standing tradition on my blog, okay maybe it’s not REALLY long standing because it started last week, but admit “long-standing” sounds more impressive.

This is the post where I talk about what’s had me thinking, what made me glad and what’s made me sad. And then I implore you to do the same.

SAD

This week it was brought to our attention the drawings that children in detention create are signed with the name of their boat rather than the child’s name. I cannot think of anything more dehumanizing than to take away someone’s name and identity.

asylum

I am appalled at what we are doing as a country to these people.

While it is less and less common for us to hear the words “boat people” (which is a good thing) I feel like we’ve merely substituted it with the phrase “asylum seekers”. We tend to forget that people seeking asylum are actual people. People with names and families and feelings and emotions. People like us. People that have risked their lives to escape the horror of their homes to find peace and stability for themselves and their families. They have names. They have history. We should be doing everything in our power to ensure that they have a future.

GLAD

My son recently celebrated his Bar Mitzvah and was very, very spoiled . People were very generous and he amassed a tidy sum of money. He spoke about donating some to charity but he was not how you say, quick out of the blocks on that.

This week we watched this video together through many, many tears

Little Pencil has decided to donate a portion of his Bar Mitzvah to Edgar’s Mission and I could not be prouder of his decision. Jeez it’s hard to choose a charity to give your money to, which leads me on to …

What HAD me thinking

The make-up free selfie. If you weren’t living under a rock this week you would have heard about the make-up free selfies that were being posted online in a bid to raise awareness of breast cancer. Apparently the campaign arose somewhat organically hundreds of thousands of dollars were raised not just in the UK where it started but also here in Australia.

I clearly have no issue with money being raised for cancer research and support. I don’t think we need to raise awareness of breast cancer because even my dog is aware of breast cancer, you can’t be literate and not be aware of it (although my dog is not literate per se).

I do though have an issue with the make-up free selfie. I hate the idea of women being judged, compared or displayed in anyway by how they look alone. Any competition, campaign or movement that urges you to show your face at its best, worst or most indifferent makes me feel uncomfortable. It doesn’t matter what you look like! It doesn’t mean you are better or worse than anybody else if you wear make-up, if you wear a mask made of fairy wings or if you wear nothing at all. People that flip through these images to ooh and aah at the bravery of women without makeup or to comment on how “ah-mazing” they look in their “natural“ state, confound me. I just do not get it. Maybe you can explain it to me?

So much has been written about it, but this article by cancer survivor Kim Stephens was amongst my favourite. Read it here. HER photo shows bravery.

  • In other news
  • I learned a new swear word or two this week – butt tooth was my favourite. Watch it on this post I wrote for Kidspot this week.
  • My eating is out of control. OUT. OF. CONTROL. Nothing edible is safe near me and I left the house the other day with marshmallows in my pockets. Let’s never speak of this again.
  • My son got braces. Ergo he is old.
  • I fell in love with a house and the auction is tomorrow. We will be bidding. Eeeeeek
    Post script – we bought a house!!!

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How has your week been? Tell us about it

Comments

  1. 🙂
    (I love that you say your Dog is aware of breast cancer. I am so over ‘awareness’. Donations are good of course..selfies are already too many around imo but maybe will ask my dog. Without makeup of course.),
    Your son. Awesome.
    My week..kinda better than the last ones.
    So there’s that. 🙂

    • Hope the weeks just keep getting better. My dog is very smart! Except when he refuses to go outside in the rain and holds in his wee!

  2. I got so sick of the comments on those pictures. “You look so beautiful!” “Oh my gosh, you’re amazing! “I never wear make-up. Does that make me brave and amazing every day? Nope! I mean, I’m amazing every day, but not because of that…

    I bought three blocks of chocolate this afternoon to last me the week. I have one left. I am despicable. (But still amazing, of course.)

    • What kind of person allows a block of chocolate to stay in the home uneaten all night 😉

      PS I totally loved your comment

  3. I’ve been grappling with why I dislike the ‘no make-up selfie’ all week and you have nailed exactly it. Of course the cause is amazing but we are still judging one another. When the hell will we get it?~!!!

  4. OHMAGAWD you’re bidding on a house tomorrow!

  5. Sad
    My daughter’s small public school feels it’s ok to book the grade 5/6 camp at a ski field for 3 days at a cost of $700. It’s twice the annual school fees. Many at the school stuggle to pay their school fees let alone a ski camp. You could tell your child ‘you can’t go’, but how sad is it for them to watch as the bus pulls away and the stories all come back 3 days later. We can afford it, so many can’t. Makes me sad…..

    Glad
    Every day my daughters fill my life. Not always with joy, but with something that I struggle to explain. So I won’t. But they are so awesome and I’m glad for them.

    Had
    me thinking. Mmmmmm, so many things as my brain never turns off ever (exhausting) but if I had to choose one it would be the 5:2 diet. I have been thinking about what I I put in my mouth ever since I can remember. Could you really eat 500 calories for 2 days and then forget about it for the rest fo the week? So many people I know and respect think so. Bought the book, am reading it, fascinated with the science of it – not just weight benefits, but amazing health benefits. Scared to give it a go. What if I get too hungry? Hate being hungry and those blocks of chocky that are being bandied about on this post are calling to me too. Perhaps I should eat them on one of the 5 days…

    Happy Saturday Lana
    xo
    p.s. The thought of kids signing their work with a boat number makes me cry
    p.p.s. Makeup free selfies? So many shades of wrong
    p.p.p.s. Little Pencil rocks
    p.p.p.s. Thank you for not mentioning conscious uncoupling.

    • Love your comment Jay

      – the school camp does not seem fair, hard on the kids that can’t go for no other reason than that it’s ridiculously expensive. Seems a little bit like being punished for not being wealthy. Your kids are rich in a much more important way – they are rich in love.

      I have been on the 5:2 diet (and also every other diet in the world) and while it was hard to start the feeling of control is quite addictive but the best thing is you can say to yourself – “tomorrow I can eat anything I like” I went off the diet when I went away and obviously undid the whole thing and I have struggled to get back onto it. But next week!!!!

      The hardest part is when I get my Moodie Foodie emails 😉 xxxxx

  6. Great post Lana…so good I am doing dot points to reply!

    * My dog understands me better than most people, he is AWARE of all important issues (pertaining to moi, not humankind in general)
    * I applaud Little Pencil’s generosity. Isn’t it wonderful when our offspring support good causes? Poppet told me last week that a new group of Chinese activists freed hundreds of dogs, headed for the hideous dog-meat trade (at great peril to themselves).
    * No make-up selfies fill me with a kind of dismay – isn’t it all just a big competition and somehow worse because it’s “look how good I look WITHOUT makeup” ?! A new and ugly pressure for women. Will check out your link.
    * Nice, food/snacks/treats still left in pantry and fridge? NEVER. All is consumed by me et al before the sun goes down.

  7. I do not ‘get’ the make up free selfie either….we should have discussed this yesterday (amongst other things)….I thought it was just me missing the point but I don’t get what wearing no make up has to do with anything……and big congrats on the purchase (but you already know that I’m happy about that !!) xxxxx

  8. I feel really lame. Penny doesn’t know what breast cancer is.

  9. My dog can open the pantry, pull out the treat container from the back of the pantry, carry it into the good room, open it and then proceed to eat everything in it. He’s not so interested in cancer, or curing the world of aids, but he does think a lot about food.
    I can’t remember what was good or bad about my week because it was so busy … but I did wake up every single day, I do have a job I love, my family are healthy, I could afford to pay the bills and we ate healthy, delicious food … so in the scheme of things it was pretty good.
    AND CONGRATULATIONS on the purchase of a NEW HOME!!!!! How exciting xxxxxxxx

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