Saturday, November 3
The Fat Wars: It starts young
So today is a bit of a story, I think it’s a nice change, I haven’t written a story for a while. Well actually that was a lie. I tell my friends my stories all the time, but I’ve never really shared one. So here it goes. I was in the public bathroom today, which I dreaded incredibly. It may seem strange to the person who does not know me that well, or has never read anything I have written, but I do enjoy listening to some of the conversations that occur around me. It doesn’t only happen in the bathroom, buses are great for hearing things, and at work, or in the food court. Basically if you have ears that can hear well, and there is a place with some people talking, you can listen and pick up fascinating insights into the way people live. Back to the point of this story, I’m sitting there listening to this conversation which I thought was between a grandma and her grand- daughter by the sound of the voices. Her grand-daughter would have been quite young, under 6. Anyway the girl is asking her grandmother “Are you still there?” and the grandma is replying aggravated “Hurry Up!” and the child asks again “Are you still in the toilet?” and yet again the grandmother again asks the child to hurry up. The next part shocked me the most, the child then went on to say “I know your there, I can see your fat”. It shocked me to know that a child could know of such a thing as fat. Maybe she wasn’t picking on it in the cruel and cynical way most people do. But still, this child was pointing out her features. After this her mother hurriedly left and as the child was leaving I saw that the voice which I thought belonged to a little girl actually belonged to a boy, and that the grandma was in fact a mother. It scares me to think what this boy might grow up to become. Another person so frightened by there body image, and put off by the so called ‘ugly’ people? I surely hope not. And so ends today’s rant, I hoped you enjoyed it. Please write down what you hear, it’s enjoyable. Keep a diary of all the conversations, even if it’s just a few lines. In later years when you look back you’ll enjoy the humour. Let me know if you have any good ones, and for the first time ever, you can contact me: chocaholicdreams@hotmail.com Have fun! Labels: bathroom, child, conversations, Fat, listen, mother, society, spy, young
Thursday, October 4
Think About It
Labels: Australia, Citizen, Government, Homeless, society
I wanted to raise a difficult issue, so I might start this and finish when I get home when I get home from my date... The topic is about the homeless. Its a touchy subject with many younger people ridiculing those who live on the street. I can't say that I haven't laughed, I laughed to join in with what I thought was right. Schools are judgmental places, and I don't want to be left out from the other students conversations. But it's occurred to me that it is a serious issue and we need to start taking some responsibility for out people, the people of Australia.
We as a nation and a society frown down upon other countries, we compare ourselves to them. Third world nations have a much higher level of poverty and people living without a home, so we try to help. Though at the same time we seem to have forgotten what people suffer inside our country. Its wrong for me to say that we don't care, because there are numerous organisations who go out of there way to make sure that people have a roof over there head and food to eat. But lack of funding has made it incredibly difficult to ensure that all people receive these basic needs.
This week the Australia Government released the the citizenship test. Why are we allowing thousands of new Australians into the country when we can't even look after the ones we have? Already in the ACT and other cities there is a housing shortage, the increased number of people entering Australia is of concern, if the housing situation doesn't improve. Where are all these new citizens meant to live?
I understand that by allowing refugees into Australia we are helping them out, but are they really better off living in a place where already we can't look after everyone?
What concerned me most about this issue is the attitude about the homeless. Words such as "bogan" are thrown around interchangeably, without any consideration to the people who get labeled.
How low are we as a society that another homeless man would set another man alight. This recent event occured on the 3rd of October, 2007. "Police said a 57-year-old homeless man allegedly poured flammable liquid on another homeless man, aged 36, and set him alight at a park in the inner-city suburb of Surry Hills yesterday morning." (News.com.au, please see below for a link to the full article). This just shows that we have our priorities all mixed up and we need to do more to help this sensitive problem.
I'm sorry for the rant, but it is something to think about. Please comment and tell me your ideas about this issue.
Rachael
Image from: Carlos AGM, http://flickr.com/photos/pedrosimoes7/449314732/
News article: Click Here
Thursday, August 30
The Irony of Life
MSN symbols… It is NOT ART in fact it is one of the most annoying things in the world, Honestly who believes that a small icon of a thumbs up can replace a real thumbs up, if you want to give someone the thumbs up then go and visit them in person. Personally in person is 100 times better then just using an icon, which can be considered cliché, and for some people can be the ultimate decision to whether they like you or not. I Hate people that use them, any of those symbols really. Especially those who make up there own symbols, and then upload them to use in there conversations… with the flashing and the colours! Honestly don’t waste my eye sight on those ridiculous things. Words with multiple letters are much much better then those with letters and numbers… seriously I H8 those things? << style="">
There are hundreds of stupid people in the world… and right now I am going to quote one of my favourite people, Will Anderson:
“But without a doubt my absolute, absolute favourite was the mattress that came with the warning ‘Do not attempt to swallow.’… Now this warning disturbs and amuses me for a couple of reasons. First, it is so random that you know the only reason it is there is because someone has tried. Secondly, how stoned do you have to be before you try and eat a mattress?” (Survival of the dumbest, pg 5)
I have to agree? Why on earth would anyone eat a mattress? It just proves my theory that there are stupid people in the world, and most likely the only reason that they are here is so that they can stick there fingers in the power sockets to test the electrical current.
This reminds me of small children who still stick there fingers and other bodily parts into places that they have previously been warned not to. Many parents do try and warn there kids to do things, it’s just that these days children have there own minds up about what they want to be from such a young age that they just can’t help but do it. “Mum today I want to be a toilet cleaner” so what do they do? They stick their head down the dunny… just make sure you don’t flush while there down there, even if it is amusing.
Though you must admit that there are parents that really shouldn’t be allowed to breed and spread the infectious ‘stupid people disease’. If we cut out a whole section of society then there would probably be nobody left in the world. Poor parental behavior brings me to another quote, this time from friends:
“Oh...baby-proofing... Why is this such a big deal now? Y'know, when I was a kid it was like.. "Whoops! Joey fell down the stairs!" or er.. "Whoops! Joey electrocuted himself again!" Huh!” (The one with the boob job)
Why is this such a big deal? So what if a couple of kiddies get electrocuted… It’s not the end of the world; in fact it may actually save man-kind, by eradicating all the useless people in the human race. That way those who can think, and don’t need warning labels to survive, can strive and continue to dominant earth.
I probably should end this here, seeing how I may ramble on and on and therefore completely ignoring the warnings on my laptop that I should ‘take a break every 15 minutes’. If I had an office job, I’d use that as an excuse for a break, “Sorry my laptop is telling me I need to take a break.” Really I do love these warnings… maybe stupid people have something going for them after all?
Labels: MSN, people, society, stupid, warnings, words