Hung Out to Dry
When I was growing up on the farm, a calf we had, loved to stand at my mother’s washing line (in the paddock) and suck on the sheets. Only the sheets. Somewhere in his thinking, they’d become like a bovine pacifier since he himself was an orphan. Comforting perhaps.
VPL
VPL is short for Very Penneylane. They’re my take on everyday lessons from life. Lessons learnt and others where I missed the boat completely. Life’s long or short, depending on which end of the paddle you draw. Either way, being stuck up a creek without one makes for some interesting observations.
About that Lesson
It never seemed like a big deal for my mother to bring the sheets inside again and wash them! She must have had a real soft spot for that calf!
It’s coming up Election time here in New Zealand and that IS a big deal and the wash up promises to be interesting if not, somewhat predictable. It seems like every politician is shamelessly out and about spruiking their ownbrand of political patter promising voters the earth.
And it feels for all the world like there’s been an outbreak of mad cow disease too. You know the one, so-called because it affects a cow’s nervous system. The disease causes it to act strangely and lose control of its ability to do normal things, like walking even (or delivering what really matters to New Zealanders). No apologies, for my real thoughts in the brackets.
I don’t know about you, but I have issues with sheet-sucking for comfort, especially when I know I’m being human-fed bull by some yessir, no sir, three-bags-full-sir politicians in the run up to the big E and the day afterwards, they spend the next 3 years ignoring what I have to say to them.
Politics is from the Greek πολιτικός and relates to, of or FOR citizens. We need to remind politicians of that, often. And we shouldn’t tolerate political amnesia of our concerns by those local and national representatives, ever. They are Public Servants afterall.
And while I’m thinking about it, though we experience a significant gap in fiduciary standards here in New Zealand right now, we must nevertheless insist on them, even in the absence of actual structures to support our beliefs for them.
We must talk them into existence otherwise we risk being hung out to dry by the very people we’ve placed in office to represent us and deliver collaboration and engagement that address our concerns. Don’t be.
© Gail Penney 2011 :: PREVIOUS BLOG POST: Cover Ups
