Blogmas Day 1
Today I was intending to write about something suitably frivolous and festive, but the weekend has obliged me to reflect on deeper matters, so that’s what I’m going to share today as my brain is not really functioning on frivolous level.
My car (while parked) was hit by another car, which has meant that although I wasn’t remotely involved in the accident, I now don’t have a car – and in all probability won’t see mine again as it took quite a shunt and is a therefore write-off. There are a lot of details that could have been much much worse, but the fact remains that I am in this slightly surreal situation and it’s really quite preoccupying.
In addition, my dad has been bearing the brunt of numerous email and text spam/scam targeting, caused no doubt by a successful result by conmen a number of years ago which has cast a very long shadow. The scams being aimed at vulnerable people in spite of there being no alternative to using the very same technology which is meant to help them makes me so appalled, and trying to find ways to help while not deskilling or railroading, and being sensitive to the wider implications of needing to ask for help is a really tricky balancing act. Suffice to say, I’m pleased that I’m in a position to help my dad in real time.
In addition, I have had to call on my own children and their expertise, although in the spirit of familial support, my youngest hasn’t had any water thanks to a problem with the local treatment plant, so she has been staying with her boyfriend’s family.
I read a nice thing the other day about community, and how the mild annoyance we occasionally feel about those around us is the price we pay for being part of a network of people who care about us. Wanting to be individual, and self-sustaining, and capable of being independent is not actually how we’re meant to live. Naturally, that doesn’t mean we should be taking people for granted or indulging in extractive relationships, but isolation doesn’t make us safer.
So, apologies for the introspective musings, although perhaps as we approach the season of gatherings and parties, it’s not such an inappropriate subject after all.
It takes a village to raise a child.
African proverb
