Euthanasia – Is it ever ‘voluntary’?

polliepomes

Euthanasia – can it ever be truly ‘voluntary’? I have been asking myself as I have read, listened and watched increasing numbers of commentators respond to the legislative initiative to legalise euthanasia

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Western Australian Rules

 NOTES:  Reading about the untimely death of Laverton School Principal, Trish Antulov,  in The West today took me back several decades and reminded me of my own experience in that role.  I thought about the many years she must have labored long and tirelessly to deal with issues of race and gender as effectively as she clearly did to achieve the recognition and appreciation she received both before and after her death.

That could have been me, I thought,  if I had not caved in to the similar pressures and accepted an early retirement settlement back in 1985 organized for me by WA Teachers’ Union Rep, Bill Latter.    It sent me rummaging amongst boxes of old papers and diaries to find things I had, not so much forgotten, as determinedly put behind me.

I’m glad I just boxed them all up and didn’t burn them in my rage at losing my job and career.  I’ve had a great new life since then, but now I’m needing a new challenge in my declining years.  Learning how to transpose old script for editing and weaving into a story line is the next step.  I’m surprised that I was writing ‘pomes’ way back then – I guess it helped me get through some dark days of dealing with issues of ‘racism’ and ‘sexism’ as we now call them.  Though we didn’t use those terms back then.

Last night I watched Shareena Clanton on ABC’s Q & A as she made an impassioned plea for her people to be heard;  I wondered what one could do to help now when we seem no further forward than back in 1984 when the world was drawn here by Australia’s America’s Cup triumph.  So much could have been achieved with the magic of our ancient history.  I can remember how optimistic I was about that and with help of officers from the WA Aboriginal Education Department like Lyn Sherwood, pictured below here to the right of me……..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roses, roses all the way for Barnaby today!

 

Why?   ‘Cos it’s St Valentine’s Day?
Will the Nationals unite and say
‘You are our leader still today!’
Question Time – so many speeches!
Turnbull said he saw no breaches,
Surely not – ‘he wore no ‘breeches!’
Now that’s pommie speak for trousers!
Think of that you right wing wowsers!
Labor left wing rabble rousers?
They’re pleased to see him hale and hearty!
Rosy-red faced!   Feisty!  Just the man to lead his party!

NOTES –  For once I’m on Barnaby’s side!   Beetroot-red faced as he’s so often described, I thought of him as rosy-red and with a lover, passionate, today of all days, February 14th, he deserves a kinder soubriquet.

And that rage of his in Question Time today was a delight to behold with Members on the Opposition benches all smiling.  I can imagine one of them sending him a bunch of wilting red roses they might find left over on the supermarket shelves if a late night sitting sends them out looking for a takeaway snack.

Two days on and I think the ALP are still delighted that Barnaby is hanging in there as leader of the Nationals, despite their harassing the PM yesterday for not seeking his resignation.  Malcolm Turnbull’s address and ‘not commenting’ on this ‘personal tragedy’ but nonetheless from now on proscribing any sexual relations at all between Ministers and their staff has caused an unexpected tightening of the National Party ranks behind their ‘unwise’ leader.   Barnaby now has an opportunity to be on the front foot again instead of displaying that very shamefaced expression of his when apologizing to all the women in his life and to all of us Australians who put their trust in him when they elected him to high office!  What next for our Coalition Government with its majority of one in the House of Reps?????

I wonder how FPM Julia Gillard would have handled this sort of crisis?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fido! The Faithful One?

I’ve just had an epiphany
Passing strange for an agnostic
Whose only daily litany
Sought help with the Times acrostic.
I know now that there is a God
Who hears me and who answers prayers.
He came here in the shape of Dog
To cheer me up, relieve my cares.
He shows me how I should behave,
To be patient and more cheerful.
He stays close by, a watchful slave,
`Cos I’m old and sometimes fearful.
So thank you, Dog, for being here
On days I do my wondering why.
You comfort me — so warm, so near,
Teaching me to rest, content to die!

NOTES:   I wrote this some years ago but thought that this being the Year of the Dog it could be an appropriate time to give it space in polliepomes anticipating a more peaceful year than last.   A brilliant cartoon by First Dog on the Moon showing a cat very like our Sheba gifting soon to resign Minister, Peter Dutton, a big pile of Pussie Poo, got me going on Tacker and the Year of the Dog and what he might offer!  Sometimes links can confuse this issue!

Apparently Donald Trump doesn’t like dogs.  Maybe some insightful people in Washington could work out why and somehow help him into a more loving and caring frame of mind by showing him how many great world leaders and Presidents have been dog owners.  As well  that Chinese city was surely genuine in paying him the compliment of placing that giant Trump-like dog in their city square

Or is that being too optimistic?    I must confess that Tacker helps me here!

Euthanasia – Is it ever ‘voluntary’?

Euthanasia – can it ever be truly ‘voluntary’? I have been asking myself as I have read, listened and watched increasing numbers of commentators respond to the legislative initiative to legalise euthanasia

Man Up

I watched the ABC program this evening on Aussie masculinity.  I was interested to see how boys and men in Oz experience life and growing up today compared with three quarters of a century ago in working class wartime England.  Back then it seemed to me my own four brothers were somehow privileged and that as a girl I was disadvantaged, and always struggling to hold my own against them and other boys.  I don’t think I gave much thought to their National Service for two years which could involve them in military training for war on battlefields in Korea once the Germans and the Japanese were beaten in 1945.  Even so I certainly didn’t imagine that boys and men born no matter where in the western world were many times more likely to kill themselves even in peacetime than were women.  I go to bed with these verses in my head written many years ago.

My Neighbour Died The Other Day.   

My neighbor died the other day, by his own hand.
Was he trying to make me understand
What it was he had in mind, what it was he planned?
Was he hoping for one last helping hand,
When he stood out there beneath that fateful tree
And said,  “You’ll be sorry.  Just wait, you’ll see!
You’ll wish that you had been more kind to me.”
With hindsight that’s as clear as any threat could be.

That’s what I feel,  my unspoken point of view.
To his family, I hear,  he’d given not a clue
That this was something he planned to do.
He didn’t say to them, “I’m going to punish you.”
He left no message, however brief,
With explanation, offering some relief
From the horror and the shock beyond belief,
Assuaging guilt and what will be unending grief.

NOTES:  Suicide has rarely impinged on my own life or the family circumstances of those around me  though issues of gender equity often have in a very real way.  Social scientists have researched and written much about the gender disparity in suicide rates no matter where in the world. Tonight’s program had me re-thinking my experience of  what seemed to me a very un-fair go in my working life here in a Land Down Under.  How ironic is that?  That hit was sung by Men at Work in the birthplace of Germaine Greer, near contemporary of mine, world-wide champion of  Women’s Lib!

But why is what comes to mind no militant chant for women’s rights to equality, but rather this long ago regret for the sadness of that neighbor who seemed so rough and tough when he told me how one day I’d be sorry!  I should have been more kind to him!

Adam Delivers the Goodes For Sophie And Many Other Fans!

What a great picture and story behind it to come out of the Adam Goodes controversy! Reading about Adam Goodes and his dance demonstration against the booing of some footie fans, I was very touched by the story of his meeting with  Sophie Wrigley.   I look forward to reading more about her and her courage.  I’m  not just talking about her standing up for her hero by being a Sydney Swans supporter while living in Geelong!   I am so impressed by the way she has dealt with her lifelong disability caused by pre-natal cerebral palsy.  I see too that she is also the only girl in the Grovedale under-12s footy team.  Now that shows real nerve!

So here for Sophie are the lines which kept running through my head as I read about Adam Goodes and all the fine work he has done for Australia and for Aboriginal people as well as being a great footie player.   I’m sure Sophie knows about Robin Hood who was my own hero at the Saturday morning pictures way back in the the last century.

Aussie Rules!

Adam Goodes!  Adam Goodes,  on the field again!
Adam Goodes,  Adam Goodes, out there with the men!
Booed by the bad, cheered by the good!                                                                                           Adam Goodes!  Adam Goodes!  Adam Goodes!

Adam Goodes! Adam Goodes,  rose above the muck!
Adam Goodes, Adam Goodes, playing in the ruck!
Booed by the bad, cheered by the good!                                                                                           Adam Goodes!  Adam Goodes!  Adam Goodes!

Adam Goodes! Adam Goodes,  not beating his chest!
Adam Goodes, Adam Goodes, fairest and the best!
Booed by the bad, cheered by the good!                                                                                            Adam Goodes!  Adam Goodes!  Adam Goodes!

Adam Goodes!  Adam Goodes,  Australian Of The Year!
Adam Goodes,  Adam Goodes, see him throw that spear!
Booed by the bad, cheered by the good!                                                                                           Adam Goodes!  Adam Goodes!  Adam Goodes!

POST SCRIPT     20/09/15     Adam Goodes at age 35 officially retired yesterday with much praise from commentators, accolades from fellow players and regrets expressed by many about the remaining culture of racism in the sport he so excelled in.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/sep/20/retiring-adam-goodes-leaves-a-hole-that-only-the-truly-great-can-fill?CMP=ema_632

POST POST SCRIPT    09/12/15   Talking about Adam’s retirement and the unpleasantness  which marred it with the racist issue,  Stan Grant on ABC Radio today asks  among other things …………“Is this who we want to be?”

POST POST POST SCRIPT   28/07/16  it was not until July, 2016, that Adam seems to have found some sort of peace of mind about all this when the AFL held a formal breakfast at the SCG honoring the contribution to the game made by Goodes and fellow indigenous Swans players,  Mike Pyke and Rhyce Shaw.   The AFL apologised to him and other retired Swans for the racist booing displayed at so many AFL games without comment or reproof from managers, but AFL chief Gillon McLachlan conceded they should have done so earlier. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-2016-former-sydney-swans-star-adam-goodes-has-closure-from-booing-controversy-20160407-go0i38.html

04/09/16     Still too soon to write of ‘closure’ on this issue.

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/booing-adam-goodes-australians-must-unite-against-racism-20150731-giosk2.html