Loudmouth my memory tells me, and it lies these days, we shared an interest in this country's first nations peoples welfare
I still and forever will
Could tell of thousands of reasons SOME far from all, fail
But in truth in the same numbers we have failures in all races here
A special failure, like the flue, runs deep in DOCs, it shortage of staff or not, fails too often
We are talking about two kids, two boys who lost a future that could have been great
No one has the right to fail them
No one has the right to call for forgiveness without true change from a group set up to protect them

Dear Foxy,

I hope your surgery went very well.

Ahimsa is indeed a principle tenet of Hinduism and Buddhism. I try to follow it the best I can.

Compassion ('karuna') for those who suffer is another principle, but is separate from ahimsa.

Not only living beings share the divine, and not just a spark: the divine can be found everywhere, the essence of everything. In this sense, sanctity is everywhere, not just in the living, everything is God-given, equally sacred.

Yes, ahimsa can help to protect life, but it is a mistake to conclude that this is its purpose. The onus to observe ahimsa is on the people with a potential to hurt others, this is supposing they want to be righteous, avoid disasters to themselves and grow spiritually. The focus of ahimsa (as well as of the Commandment "thou shalt not kill") is therefore on the potential-perpetrator rather than on their potential-victim, whereas the focus of karuna (compassion) is on the victim.

Yuyutsu,

Thank You for your kind words.

My surgery was postponed until late May.

Which I'm quite happy to have it later.

I've been very nervous about it all.

Foxy while unaware of just what your operation is you have my best wishes
And this advice, I was quite worried about my first of two,
Had both done lense replacements
very very good results and nothing to fear hope it goes well

We have far too many people today, with too much time on their hands. They therefor spend too much time interfering in other peoples lives. From the rubbish about this instance, my mother, & many of those near Bathurst 60+ years ago were all criminals.

I was about 10 when a local farmer gave me a pony for helping round up his cattle. No saddle or bridle, just a halter & some rope. When I got home from school each day I would jump on my pony, & ride over a mile to the river. There I would meet up with about a dozen similar aged mostly primary school kids at a large deep hole, about a mile down stream from the road.

If it was warm we would go for a swim, or swim our horses down a narrow deep channel. We somehow knew our parents would not approve of this, considering it dangerous, so to make sure they didn't know, we would strip off to avoid going home with wet clothes. There was nothing sexual in this, just a bunch oh kids having fun.

We have all changed today. I would never let my kids go riding along public roads, their horses only went on roads, locked up in a horse float, & I doubt the girls I swam with would have approved of their daughters riding down the road or swimming in the river with the boys.

Were our mothers criminals, there were certainly dangers swimming unsupervised in the river. Were we lucky no one was ever hurt? Perhaps one of our problems today is that kids are not allowed to grow up naturally, & are locked away from all harm.

Damned if I know, I was probably as overprotective of my kids as any parent today, but perhaps we are doing them harm with this.

Same type of memories Hasbeen but we lived in far different times
And we knew our borders and what not to do
Just maybe today's parents, to me at least, seem to be a little better even if over protective