Should 'hate' be banned?

Someone told me the other day that they have banned the word 'hate' in their household - and what did I think?

This caught me my surprise, and I had to think on my feet, but I ended up saying 'hate' is just a word, it describes a feeling, and all feelings are ok.  Its hard enough for children to talk about their feelings, without having to navigate the parental  equivalent of political correctness. Which, confusingly,  I generally believe to be a good thing, and now there is proof that it works, as Oliver Burkeman reports.

Its actions, not feelings, we should be worried about. But is saying 'I hate you' an aggressive act? Is 'hate' even a feeling, or a thought? And can I express how I feel, when I am angry, without being verbally aggressive? Non-violent language tries to address this, but it can be challenging at times. I had another incident like this this morning, of getting 'lost' on my bike...no bike throwing occurred this time, but S and I lost each other again, and I had no phone, keys or money, again.

Meanwhile, we are in the middle of enjoying a fantastic British Film Festival, at the Palace cinemas, this weekend: we saw Testament of Youth last night, in which Vera Brittain, who became a pacifist, bravely speaks out against post-war sanctions on Germany, after losing her fiance, her brother, and other friends in the First World War. The more things change, the more they seem to stay the same.

Other festival films we have seen include Jimmy's Hall, Mr Turner and the Love Punch, with one more today, What we did on our Holidays. I am also keen on the Imitation game, but may be running out of cinema stamina, although being indoors and eating ice cream seems very sensible in this heat. Record* high temperatures of 40 degrees and above are anticipated today.

 

Brisbane is currently hosting the G20. Twenty five years after the collapse of the Berlin Wall,  Brisbane is like a police state this weekend. with wall to wall cops and prison vans. The city is otherwise deserted.

The highlight of G20 yesterday was Obama's speech at University of Queensland, which clearly called for action on climate change, amongst other things. Tony Abbott's insistence that 'Coal is good for humanity' is seriously being challenged.  Finally. By an American president. Who would have thought?

more later

*for November - its still only Spring...

He had a dream: fifty years on

 

Martin Luther King

Martin Luther King made his "I have a dream" speech 50 years ago, which was commemorated in Washington with this rally. Obama did not appear at this event.

There was a rally in Brisbane, too, attended by a few hundred, for World Action on Refugees Day. A trauma and attachment therapist called Lou spoke eloquently about her work with pregnant women on Nauru, who have to cover themselves in toxic insecticides, to prevent mosquito borne diseases. The children develop trauma as a result of their parents being emotionally unavailable. Due to their own trauma, caused in part by our Government. 

Needless to say, our once loved leader Kevin Rudd did not attend the rally.  Rudd rushed back to Brisbane, but only to film his Kitchen Cabinet TV appearance with Annabelle Crabb, before a briefing on the chemical weapons crisis in Syria. 

Where is the leadership, people?

It should be no surprise then, to read yesterday in the Murdoch owned courier mail, that many first time voters don't appear to have a social conscience: when asked about climate change or asylum seekers, they largely expressed great indifference. Of course, this may not be a representative sample, and I am proud of my sons for being different, but they grew up in our house, where everything the media dished up was critiqued and discussed, instead of swallowed whole.

MLK: Dream 

Thinking lots about values this week, as I have to write about my practice framework for social work soon. I said in class on Friday, that I have ethical issues 'coming out of my ears' at the moment. Hmm. I will have to do a drawing of that...

On the same topic, also on Friday, my partner S handed in his resignation, after 9 years in the Queensland Public service, without having a job to go to. A brave and necessary action, in line with his values. I will have to do a drawing of that, too...Meanwhile, watch this:

Martha an Intensive Care social worker, just made redundant in Queensland, speaks out.

 limited palette: watercolour pastels

And a couple more links:

Happiness and money article in the Conversation.

Margaret Atwood interview here.

I have to write a blog about resilience for my placement unit, so I will post that here soon too. 

more later

'safer, fairer, kinder'...with apologies to Michael Leunig

Leunig's Olympics

This cartoon has been circulating for a week or so, but possibly some people may not have seen it yet. 

It led me to think of three qualities I would like to see more of at the moment:

Safer

• Change the gun laws in the US, period. If Howard could do it, after the Port Arthur massacre, why not Obama? 
• Oh, and don't text and drive.

Fairer - To the Queensland Government: 

• Stop threatening to slash 20,000 public service jobs in the September budget. 
• Stop defunding important essential services, like Breast Cancer screening and Sisters Inside. 
• Support the National Disability Insurance Scheme. 
• Think about why there is a budget deficit - because the State has been chronically underfunding services for decades, and the previous Labor government did try to do something about this. 
• Services cost money - there is no way around this basic fact. 
• Not providing services costs more in the long term - but by then, perhaps Labor will be back in power...
• And same sex marriage. If Tasmania can do this, why not Queensland?

Kinder

• Hopefully, we all know how to do this one. 
• Just do it. 

More later.