Schools Without C Phones

Cell phones are one of the most useful inventions to date, but in schools, they don't work. Education is a learning field, and when there are distractions like cell phones, they don't help the growing process. While I see cells phones as beneficial for some parents, who need to speak to their children before and after school, I maintain  there are too many other hazards of using them in learning institutions. The dangers of cell phone communication  have been proved over and over again when gossip and in-fighting and name-calling and racism are used on these devices. It's just too easy to "say" things that cannot be taken back, and the myth of apologies, as we all know, are words only. The gesture of apology while used all too frequently now, doesn't fix anything. It is merely a way of an offender excusing themselves from what has already been committed. Words can't be taken back.  Cell phones, no matter how many dozens of useful reasons for their presence, have no place in the classroom and wise teachers and educational institutions should not, or do not allow them there. And the gesture of having students drop their phones in a basket to retrieve them after class, for hallway and concourse use, is just as silly and useless. Nowhere on a campus is safe from what can be done negatively with the cell phone. Bullies love cell phones and use them rampantly  to carry on their miserable crimes. I call them crimes because they are crimes against our humanity, and bullies are, in fact, the perpetrators of inhuman behaviours.  So what would happen if all cell phones were banned from schools. Children would not suffer. Their parents can still call the office if they have a home emergency that needs to be communicated or to find out if their child is safe on site in the school. Wouldn't it be refreshing to see a school ground that doesn't have youngsters huddled over a tiny device doing nothing at all useful. Computers of various kinds could still be in the classroom setting and used as helpful devices under supervision. If you are thinking that disallowing cell phones in schools is "old fashioned", tell me how they are at all useful in terms of being in an educational institution. Be prepared to defend your thoughts with facts and not babbles about rights and freedoms. The rights and freedoms of being educated do not include constant non essential communication with other cell phone users. It is bad enough to sit at a dining table with all eyes around it, hammering away saying nothing onto a wee piece of plastic with a battery. King Arthur's Round Table would be impossible had they used the Silly Cell in those days. With parental intimidation in today's My Rights overkill times, maybe it's time we got things back into perspective and started being parents with strong and moral grounds in rearing children. In this confusing world, perhaps children need our strength and strong support to say firm "nos" when needed. Kids like guidance with confidence in that it is done with their safety and security in mind, as well as our deep parental love instinct that has no fear of doing what is right and good for our responsibilities.

Fix Me Free

Our government has come up with ways to help most people in this difficult pandemic time, but when I tune in to the news, read it online or watch it, I see an increasing hoard of those in unfortunate situations insisting the government fix their problems. Free. When one is desperate, of course, they will do anything to find relief. But the money that the "government" holds is our tax money, It comes from you and I. And big business as well, but big business, even as the fattest source, cushy tax breaks and all, let's not forget that it has costs, too. Think about it. If you started your own business with your accumulated dollars, you might need for your new business, a rental facility, machinery and electronics, employees who have  protections and, of course, business advertising. The list goes on.  Business founding has realties. The employees working in big business, and all of those associated in the supply and demand venues for it, are taxed, too, and that lump of  money is sent on to government over and above what the business itself is taxed. There is no money tree behind the parliament buildings pumping out cash fruit. Funding comes directly and indirectly from our own pockets as we the homeowners, consumers and users of  the social services that we need to live the good lives most of  us appreciate, is all there is. This morning I heard a mother of advanced age whose adult child has severe mental and substance abuse issues. The poor woman, aged over seventy,  has her potentially dangerous, person in the home, and wants her offspring to be taken care of in hospitals, for example,  on entry, given longer term assistance than a couple of days. She sees a withdrawal time period of ten or more days. She is aware of how impossible this is  at present.  She sounded to be a person of sound standing in her community who speaks out because  she is in a desperate situation. She appeared, in her talk, to have a firm grip on reality but at a loss as to what to do about a grown child being thrust upon her when her age  makes it impossible and even dangerous. She cannot keep the adult in her home and the street is where the person will likely end up. It's not a rare tale. Our streets are full of  this kind of "homeless" individual who should properly be called "placeless". It is too easy to say oh-just-another-drug-addict with mental issues when we hear this kind of tale so often.  These citizens are ill and need help and sadly they have nowhere else to go but the street where they are at the "mercy" of  street mavens who take full  advantage of them. So what to do? Aye, there's the rub, as the bard would say. There used to be huge institutions in which sufferers of this serious combined kind of problem were sent. They employed those trained specifically to meet the needs of their resident patients. The patients themselves, overall, were treated kindly and saw such places, often in beautiful surroundings, as safe homes. Unfortunately, some of  the old institutions were found abusive and that being horrendous, were closed and the residents sent out onto the streets or to their families. The thinking was that the world should take care of its own. But can we? There was what was considered adequate funding provided, but money  is too easily taken from those who most need it by others who see an opportunity to gain from a dependent victim. Treatment visits are never enough. If such live-in institutional facilities were available now, with the right safety procedures and practices in place, those needing temporary or permanent treatment would be safe and cared for by professionals rather than using police, busy hospitals, street tent "pals" and exhausted relatives. Once abhorred as places not to be sent to, the old but renewed styles of institutions might be thought of as something seriously to reinstate.

Condo Cash Cow

With the surge in condo living, it seems that the "machine" that generates business is finding inventive ways of cashing in on the high flying granite and glass fever.  Buying a condo especially getting into an older one that is bound by the same rulings as newer types, is subject to all kinds of "musts". There must be expensive inspections every year. A house owner does his or her own inspections but not so in condos. While it is necessary to protect the investment of owning a condo, the number of inspections seems to me a little ridiculous. One in particular is to assess the upcoming maintenance needs for the next five to ten or more years and this is recommended to take place annually. Seems to me it should last for a few years, not one, just as a home inspection would. Fortunately, a condo council may opt  to put this off for a time, but the recommendation is  usually done annually. Then there is the window washing,  painting, updating the exterior,  the gardening, the boiler/electrical inspections. There is weekly or more hall and parking space cleanings, vermin control and so on and on.  The list grows.  There is nothing wrong with keeping a building properly maintained but the costs of doing so appear to rise exponentially and  in the smaller low-rise buildings it is beginning to put some owners out of their homes. The individual's costs  in a high rise are a fraction of what must be doled out individually by the owners of units in smaller buildings. It is no wonder that people buy into  high rises in spite of losing the generous space found in the older, more comfortable settings. Those with companies doing many of the maintenance contracts are often very lightly trained but charge enormous amounts. I have seen window washers for example of youngsters flailing garden hoses about idly on flimsly ladders. Then there are some so-called gardeners who cut grass, wander about wagging blowers and weed whackers loudly and charging it as gardening.  I learned recently of a light coloured building that rather than be painted the owners have it washed down. Tons of water needed to be used.The soaked  finish looked no cleaner than it was before and it still had to be painted the next year. Questionable decision but somebody made a lot of money out of it. Roofing is another large expense. Keeping the roof from leaking in our rainy climate is vital not to mention the cost of discouraging gulls and geese from landing on it. Thinking of condo ownership must be regarded as a reality. The fact is that you and everyone living in the building, owns that building and is responsible for its costs. It is your building. It belongs to you just as a house. Building ownership management is fraught with legalities and costs that make it essentially the work of professionals. This comes at enormous cost even though it is far safer and less stressful than self-management by the owners. Management costs are very high because they work off site while having to do all that is needed in the buildings they manage. Councils comprised of a team of owners recommend and request and the professionals are supposed to do the work of it. If there is a problem that needs attention, the company is called and time is recorded and all other hired work is charged to you the owners.  Building rules and bylaws to do with condos and strata ownership are stringent and can be a confusing issue. What the realtor hands to new condo owners is serious business and should be thoroughly examined before signing on the dotted line. With buying into an old building, there may be  levies to pay for upgrading and repair that are not seen in the newer ones. Something to consider. Still, new buildings can come up with large levies also. Some owners have richer tastes than others and want "improvements". The laws concerning strata ownership need studious scrutiny by buyers and since it is becoming the standard mode of home ownership closer attention to actual costs is essential.

Last Laugh, Last Bits

Waste is something my family considered a major no-no. As in most of my generation, we were constantly reminded that there were starving children in the world and we should, therefore, eat what was put on our plates and to never waste food or anything, for that matter. Perhaps it comes from early memories of food rationing when the issue of waste was a vitally personal thing, not just a never-mind-about-that. When the sugar ration didn't cover the needs, there was no more to be had. Period. But these days of over indulgence in just about everything and little thought about wasting, when the toothpaste tube becomes almost empty or the jar of peanut butter or the tin of tuna still has blobs in the bottom, we toss it out. We don't think about how much is wasted when all of the bits left on restaurant plates or home dinner dishes of fussy eaters or kids' school lunches are chucked into trash bins. What bothers me over and above that kind of waste, is the everyday sort that isn't necessarily food but other purchased things like personal care items and cosmetics and shampoos that have product still inside which are very difficult to drain completely. Hand lotion bottles with squirt tops are the most frustrating. The little tube ends before the bottom to avoid stopping up, and that's okay, but why is the container made so that when the tube no longer emits the material, one cannot easily access the remainder. I find that I have to remove the squirt system, store the bottle upside down and laboriously, over periods of many days, attempt to get the remaining goop out and put it to work. Why should I have to do this to feel responsible about not wasting? If the top were broad enough so that I could get a wand in there and use the rest of the expensive product out, I would feel much better. But the makers of the container likely hope that you will throw it out and buy another bottle of their lotion. Sounds cynical but it happens.  And most people do exactly that. They toss out. There are some folks who might laugh long and hard at this kind of thrift and call it names, but to me, it is another example of the self indulgence of present day society's romance with user irresponsibility.  "Oh, just toss it out" is the philosophy of that kind of individual. What we waste in restaurants would feed a great many homeless people and some of these establishments find ways not to waste. Thanks to them. According to food safety rules, what goes out of the restaurant kitchen does not come back into the cooking section, therefore the rolls in the basket you didn't eat or the pile of potato chips or the last couple of pizza pieces you didn't touch and won't take home, must be thrown out. I remember visiting my grandmother in a downtown city location once, and looking out a back window seeing the nightly visit by a man who took away his dinners: piles of fast food fried chicken that were left at the top of the dumpster at the end of the day. He was one of the lucky ones. When we give children breakfasts in schools because parents cannot afford to offer the nutrition kids need to grow and learn, we should have a conversation or thought about not only food waste but also about the whole matter of waste in general. It is not laughable topic.

Bully The Bullies

I don't have much sympathy with bullies. I know that those who study the issue have all kinds of excuses about why the person is a bully and that it's not really their fault because poor souls have had a troubled life and on and on. That doesn't wash with me when in fact it gives only the bullies an excuse for why they do what they do and doesn't stop it.  I worked in schools many decades and saw the effects that bullies have on their victims and also that they don't stop no matter what school actions are taken. Bullies simply find another way to bully. Some of the bullied children carried the serious bitterness they felt as kids into their adult lives. It coloured them for life. Being bullied constantly with no support from peers who for some unknown reason side in with it out of fear or abetting it for their own sick personal reasons, creates indelible scars. The whipping boy attitude when groups hang around witnessing bullying, even cheering it on, give some warped kids a peculiar kick watching it. They are still children, however, albeit older ones and need guidance in ways to understand what's happening to them as watchers. And then there is the adult bully who practices on their own children and partners. Bullies don't stop bullying as they grow up and efforts to make the hardcore kind quit, don't work. I know bullies and you do, too, and they know how to disguise what they do in very elaborate ways especially those who instill such fear in their partners that it is a life-threatening matter. School bullying should be a crime, no matter how young the bully is. Schools can't do much about it because kids stick together afraid to report what happens when teachers aren't around. Bullying is an art among bullies. Their intimidations happen subtly. They become masters at what they do, thus they make it their lifetime profession. We all know those who have suffered under bullyship and it is frustrating to see. In a situation I know of, there was no convincing the woman to leave her bullying husband. Even the police department threatened to put a stop to it after a vicious physical attack. And when the physical attacks stopped, the verbal ones became even more devastating because they were constant, not the usual bully/romance periods. In the situation I speak of, it went on a whole lifetime and the victim had either to live with it or leave. It sounds simple to just leave a situation, but it is not simple. It is a devastating event in a life. And help that comes via government assistance is limited. This woman told me that it was easier to put up with her husband's bullying attacks than to divorce. Divorce is expensive and still  hard on families even though not as much as the attacks. It was her decision but her children suffered over their lifetime and one became a bully in his marriage while the others were severely affected emotionally for the rest of their lives. I wonder why we don't make bullying a criminal act in schools. The parents should be held responsible and long term treatment for their bully be made mandatory. The harm bullies do is, in fact, the murder of a victim's well being  for their whole lifetime and needs to be treated as an actual effect, not as we see with a chat or pat on the head and shaking of hands as "in the principal's office". 

Truth Not Media

The media has finally met its match. We, the general public, have spoken. It is we who hold the camera, make the comments as to like or not, and we who watch or listen or turn off. Finally, the people count. Or do we? We use little devices that appear to dangerously but fervently, apply our influence often on major world events. Some even create events. "We the people", count. Even the Trump factor depends upon texting as support,  as seen in their banners at conventions. We all quite accurately, realize that while little thumbs up and down don't mean a thing, some, it seems, make it count. They add up their likes and consider them to be actual "likes". Not so. Much of the time, its a finger jerk reaction meaning, I saw it. Nothing more. Media was once able to colour events by reporting certain aspects that appealed. World disasters were filmed using one or two locations only. Words falling from the mouths of politicians were selected and others discarded. That no longer applies. Amateurs who are "the general public" now are The Media and the actual media folk purchase from them. Best survival tactics for media hype, have to be polls of one kind or another, and these days of our popularist overstepping, the boundaries  of taste, as it once was, are blurred. Taste is not now dictated by professional media rules, usually toward commercial ends, but also that come under laws made to protect the public. This era is new. It cannot be called "fresh" because sometimes it stinks. It stinks of  the truth and often it is not pretty or palatable. And certainly there should be moral and criminal controls in place to avoid bad public showings. But on the plus side, the influences, be they political or commercial, no longer hold centre stage. The average witness to a scenario can display "what really happened". The dangers of the latter is that cyber media can be manipulated and is thus not wholly to be trusted. Nevertheless, the products, while often done for the selling, can be investigated by experts as to their authenticity before airing. While they are "invented" visual news pictures by the average man-on-the-street, instantly, they reveal truths that hoards of van media roaring to a scene, can miss. The cell phone camera is on the scene twenty-four seven. Big Brother is watching constantly and from anywhere including flying high drones. Privacy is over and The Media is, indeed, the message. Congratulations Marshall McCluhan. A cell phone picture published as easily as it happens, has few controls such as broadcast delay modes. It's instant and remains completely up to the good or bad taste of its creator. There are people who spend most of their screen day cruising  sites where they may indulge whatever or wherever their fancy takes them. Most of it is bad, some horrific, and others, ridiculous. It is all a really a waste of time, but somehow stays as appealing as the old peeking under the circus tent or peering through a hole in the street construction fence. Truth? Is it truth? Even that isn't too reliable when much of what you see can be manipulated quite easily. It's all up to the viewer and that index finger.

Guns

A gun is a killing machine, nothing more. It is not a toy and should never be given to children as one. Guns are not things that kids need to wield as fun toys, bang bang you're dead haha.  Bang, bang, you're dead, translates into this thing given as a fun toy but it is actually the symbol of a killing object. What message does it lend?  Pandering to  parental ideas  that it's okay to give a kid a gun as a toy is just all morally and practically, wrong. Toy guns are symbols of  killing machines and to deny that, is just plain ignorant. The word "ignorant" is probably not the correct word, because "ignorant" means not knowing and everyone knows what guns do. There are those who poo poo the idea of not giving kids guns because they did it when they played cowboy and it did no harm. How do they know  it didn't cause harm?  Even cowboys take guns very seriously. The cowboy may use them to perhaps shoot at other animals that do harm to their flocks.  Guns are used in wars and few people. even the military and police work who use them do so lightly. For normal people, including the military and policemen, the killing of a human being, even the enemy, is a heart-rending act. Abnormal people see it another way perhaps, but we are creatures on earth that do not go about killing each other or shouldn't. We are all, no matter what our roots, the same creature. We look after each other, and those who don't fit, are regarded not as the enemy but as those who need extra help. It might sound namby pamby to some who think that solving social problems is a matter of shooting them down, but it's not. The  human way is to protect our kind. Human kind is all one kind, whether we get into the colour of skin matters or not. We are the same. "Peel us" as my dad used to say, and we're all the same. We have beating hearts and brains and lungs and so on. We live, we survive, we procreate. We are one kind. Guns do not give power to anyone. They are made, if needed, to be used   wisely and well, knowing what is humane and decent. To use guns, or killing machines as control is wrong. All wrong. If a wild animal attacks, there are other methods to try first, and only at the very last resort are killer guns are used. They are lethal solutions in lethal situations. Guns against guns. Police work is social work, not power wielding but doing so with serious consideration and heart-felt thought. The forces that must enter dangerous situations need adequate preparation and people, not those lightly trained, but those with specialized education carried out with forethought. Time is often of  the essence and entering a dangerous venue, those wielding power, must be highly trained and have the right kind of personality to cope with  such situations. To equip persons thrown into this kind of scenario, takes time and money to educate the men and women who must do it, and that education is vital. If it isn't done, someone is going to come out harmed one way or another and lives can be lost tragically and needlessly. A gun is just too easy to fire. There are other methods of control and tasing if done, while cruel is often effective, but not always. Guns are not the next logical step. More scope in using methods of control are a need and that's up to higher powers than those lightly trained people who are sent out to deal with situations well beyond abilities. Those who must go are the ones blamed, but I contend that much of the blame belongs to those who do the "sending". Tragedies happen that, if the right things were done before the events happen, perhaps they wouldn't happen. We must find ways to take the time and effort to stop mistakes like this.

Thorns, Horns and Bad Guys

The current flowering hysteria with riots, demonstrations and dragging down statues in our post-pandemic present day, are thorns  angrily speaking against past wrongs. This energy is a reaction large or small, permitted or not, in democratic countries. We are wiser and more intelligent, on the whole, thanks to education and laws being enacted for the benefit of mankind, ones that continue to be explored and updated. It's time, of course, that what was never right is pushed into being corrected. Like thorns that nature put there to protect the rose, for example, they had a purpose. If the rose didn't have thorns, its life as an edible plant may not have survived. If you were a rose gardener as I tried to be some time ago now, you knew that you didn't enter a rose garden without hand and arm protection. If not, surely you might come out bloody. Thornless roses are being developed. What is beauty in the red rose, a symbol of love, that isn't complete, however, without thorns. Love is not "thornless". Love's "thorns" somehow make it all the stronger for the test. This day, pulling down statues is an expression of wrongs done to some against others. Long ago, wrong doers were blinded by tradition and law and habit. Men and women leaders who were, at the time, convinced their causes were noble were rewarded with memorial statues. Today, we are enlightened in the realities of what actually happened and emotions well up, causing groups to perform in ways their deep angers guide them. One cannot judge others on their great passions one way or another, but I, personally, feel perhaps another method might be considered in their expression. If a statue of someone who was, in truth, bad, stands, would it not be more effective to erect next to it, witness of what really happened along with signage to dispute the old artist's rendering of a very serious mistake? In this way, the populace is educated to realize that a better and more honorable thing should have been done. If you can genetic-out the thorn from the elegant rose, without destroying its scent and petal arrangement, why not? Should all thorned roses be destroyed? There is a rose that is famous for its thorns: The Moss Rose as my grandmother called it. It is an old rose with a stem that is largely thorned. She who loved her garden, found it the rose with the most beautiful scent and multiflorous petals. Even the name is romantic. It is also one of my favorites, in spite of its very spiky existence. To wipe out the"spiky" or negative events in history is often to forget them. The holocaust for example, should never be forgotten. The great wars and their heroes, the same. Tragic world events can teach us what not to do and if we smooth over all of our earth's wrongs, they could disappear and where then is the lesson?  Will we, then make the wrongs all over again? These are thoughtful matters, in destroying memories even bad ones. It takes time to contemplate what should stay and what should go. Fury and destruction to fix wrongs, deny consideration of reflection in remembering what should be or not. Anger is  fast and furious but it can also be slow and positive if directed toward better purposes. Both ends, need to be understood and adjusted using the benefits of time and study. Impatience and impetuousness happen, but they are not always cures. One of the smart joys that I see as an elder who is  familiar with two sides of the coin, are streets and places that cities re-named with both old and new names showing. When I look at these structures, I see both the thorned and thornless. Learning is invited. History can't be destroyed but out of its ashes, enlightenment will rise.

Too Much Anger

I don't know how you feel when you scope the news but I am opting out for awhile. It's the anger in almost every report that drives me away. It's the over-play of clips and headlines that the media feeds on and some take advantage of as free adverts for their causes. It's the devastating effects that some use on  relatively innocent events as proof of their beefs. It's media allowing an event that is only partially reported and slant it so that it sells ink. Let's face it, the world is media warped and we, too, feed on it. Media has become the main event, sadly. This is a time of the finding blame for fame era. What is happening according to some passionate souls is wholly the fault of someone else or some thing else and to fix it, all one must do is yell and scream about it in large numbers. The louder and more obnoxious, the better. But these large public tantrums do not solve anything. All they do is draw attention to something that is complicated and purportedly forces those in charge to sit down and deal with it. And that, they feel, is part of the solution, but it's only part of it, not the solution itself. Sadly when that kind of pressure results in harm, it is not helping, it's causing another problem. What is happening in all these many issues, has been going on a long time before today. Where were we then? These problems grew and we didn't stop them in the making, therefore, we are also to blame, are we not? Let's stop and take a look at ways to halt these things before they become causes that blow up in our faces and wreak mayhem and yes, even death and injury. Perhaps more than yelling repeated three or four word chants, we should sit down and use words to examine carefully how it all evolved and make plans with each other so that it won't happen again. It might be a better way to expend energy.  Just saying. I see a problem  as a reason to discuss and debate it with others near by first, and come up with  ways to undo it or prevent it in future. We can better use the time to write letters, make comments and calls to those in power. Sure, it is a slow process but it involves personal commitment to sign your name and be accountable and not go out to  march around yelling and coming home and patting oneself on the back that it solved the problem. All one did was yell with a lot of other yellers. What are we doing in our daily lives to end racism right in our own homes, families and neighbourhoods? And do it without anger and attacking? When we are with friends, do we demonstrate our care for others with exactly the same rights as we have on this earth? Do we sit amongst people and allow inappropriate remarks and jokes?  If so, we are  the problem. We can do more in small situations like this than in huge, moving crowds of shouters. Are we brave enough to speak out in our own social settings? Anger can be good or harmful but it always needs to be harnessed to allow the energy it emits, in directions that are positive. It's the way a job gets done. If your way is to carry a sign or sing a chant or bang a pot that's your expression but mine is not of that brand; peaceful methods count, too. Speak out, but get a grip on the anger. It's not good for you.

Just Stop It

I am called "white" but my skin isn't white; it's just its usual colour and the same as all humans: flesh toned. There are lots of tones of flesh and they range from very dark to very light. There isn't much you can do about the colour of your skin. You're born with it and you can't help how you were born. Anyone will tell you that. I am just an ordinary person who isn't rich or poor and who has lived an ordinary, not privileged life. I don't hate anyone and other than spats here and there in my life, hold no grudges. I am over eighty. I had to work hard to get an education and find a job in a life's profession that I loved. I grew up in a neighbourhood with all kinds of languages and skin colours and beliefs and no one told me there was a "difference". Certainly not my parents. The people who lived around us were my neighbours; period. As kids, we didn't make differences. We played together and until I was twelve years old and went to live in a city, I didn't know about racism. Or prejudice of any kind. I did when a friend of mine who was in our circle of middle school girls and was jewish, was told that she couldn't participate in a summer camp because she was jewish and the organization had the word of another religion in it. We girls in the group who were all planning to attend the camp together were incensed and in disbelief. We avidly discussed this wrong. We went to the leaders who were organizing the camp and told them that if our friend, Sally, couldn't join the group, we wouldn't either. And furthermore we were going to take up other actions in protest to support our hurt friend. They bent to our demands but we didn't forget this wrong that I am sure Sally never has in her life, either. We also took up reading books and articles about racism and prejudice, discussed it, and became very much aware of the wrongs and hurts that racism creates. It was a shock to me and I talked about it with my family for the first time. They hadn't deliberately avoided the subject. It was so normal to live in a place where everyone was equal, that it didn't come up. But now, I feel, according to some, that being "white" I am part of a problem. It makes me know that I, must be more sensitive to skin colour and make sure that anyone of the same "colour" as me, understands  that treating someone badly who is a different colour  is ignorant and wrong and destructive. I am now old and I haven't experienced any outright racism amongst my friends or colleagues whatever their many colours or beliefs.  I am not able to go to demonstrations at my age but since they are a legal form of protest, I follow them in the media and feel sad about such divisive treatment of our dear fellows on earth. It makes me wonder what we are becoming when we make differences over innocent citizens who are, as we all are, just trying to get on with our lives. Some have  terrible struggles that most of us have not suffered for reasons of colour, but we should never, ever stop to consider how it must feel to endure those trials. I want to remind kindness to those who go about thinking they are superior because they have more money or hold higher positions or who are of some kind of skin tone that they think is better than someone else's. We are all the same. We have one life and one earth and there is plenty of space for us all if we make room for everyone and look after each other. So, to those who think they are better and that others for any reason, aren't, just- stop- it.