Morning Lexi,

A while since I posted here.
I was raised in an orphanage, left when I was 15 and crossed the country to where I did not know anyone but still found Oz a great place to grow up in.
It has been good to me over the years and I hope I have put some back.
I have seen a bit of the world in my work and despite our crazy politicians it is still a tremendous place to live.
Take it easy.

SD

Dear SD,

So glad to see you posting again and
Thank You for taking the time to come into
this discussion. I can't even begin to imagine
how hard it must have been for you growing up in
an orphanage. You sound so positive - which shows
your strength of character. And it sounds as if all's
well that ends well. We are lucky to be living in a
country that still gives us opportunities and choices.
And even luckier to have people like you in it. ;-)

All The Best.
Take care.

Lexi,

Life is what you make of it.
It is not served up equally for sure but you have no choice but to do the best you can with your serve.
Australia is one of the best countries to do this without a doubt.
As regard an orphanage upbringing.
In my opinion a group of children under duress is possibly one of the most moral, ethical and caring groups you could ever encounter.
It was a privileged childhood being surrounded by such an honest and straight up group of boys.
Children pick up all the bad traits from adults.

SD

Loudmouth, "..i was in love with Ilse Conrads"

I know it is just a slip but make that a 'k' as in Konrads.

chrisgaff1000 mentioned Murray Rose, who would also be one of our greatest sportspeople. Like many from back when, he was a gentleman as well.

It is rather poor in my view that the donkeys in the media are forever promoting cricketer Sir Donald Bradman. Sure he was a great cricketer. This is not to criticise him. However there are many other worthwhile sportspeople who excelled and were model citizens for youth to follow. Maybe the sports jocks of the media promote cricket because there is money in it through advertising and sponsorships. That is also why little is heard of the victorious women's cricket team ATM.

Personally I'd say that Heather McKay is one of Australia's greatest sportspeople. Yet you never hear of the woman squash champion who was unbeaten for years, winning sixteen consecutive British Open titles and the first World's Women's Open (1979).

onthebeach,
spent a couple of years living in a state home at Mittagong as a child after the Irish Catholic/Union purges in Sydney stole thousands of catholic kids from their parents and tried to turn them into Protestants.
Don Bradman used to come to the home on weekends and teach us to play cricket. He always reminded me of a "closet" headmaster.
Sorry the English "C" is the Baltic "K"

chrisgaff1000,

Thank you for your comment on Don Bradman. He is one of the greats. My criticism is of the media hacks who are too lazy to find more examples to share the load.

There are many men and women who provide a sterling service to the community and to children.

It is a pity that blood sells and the media scour the world to find examples to serve up to the hysterics and risk copy cats.

Instead of providing balanced reporting, which to my way of thinking is informing people of what is going on around them, which is overwhelmingly good. The media is cheap and nasty Much of the claimed 'independent' stuff on the Net is even worse, absolute trash.