Wars are rarely won with just one major battle. Napoleon had his Waterloo of course, but that was the final battle in a long war. The struggle to find cures for the various forms of cancer is another war that is being one, slowly but surely, but people in communities all over the world, raising their relatively small amounts of money to fund research, technology and ongoing care for cancer victims and their families.
I've written in an earlier post about Relay for Life. On the global scale, the Sutherland RFL is one very large example of an event that is held in communities world-wide. Few of them raise anywhere near the same amounts as this fantastic community event in the Sutherland and St George region, but all of them contribute much-needed funds to help with their common goal.
This post is intended to highlight just a few of those smaller events and activities happening at any one time around the world - each of which adds to the total ' war chest'. None of them are as well-known as the McGrath Institute, the PCI or Relay for Life and, thanks to their local community newspaper, they receive both recognition of and assistance in publicising their events and activities.
In Penrith, New South Wales: Young musicians get together to raise funds with a $10 per head concert.
http://www.penrithstar.com.au/news/local/news/general/young-musos-performance-to-fight-cancer/2598552.aspx
From Westchester County in NY, USA: A local Relay for Life committee put a new twist on their event, with a Canine Relay for Life.
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=46080
In Ballarat, Victoria: Two students raise $3200 for the Ballarat Cancer Research Centre, the largest non-metropolitan cancer research centre in Australia.
http://www.thecourier.com.au/news/local/news/general/loreto-students-get-behind-cancer-centre/2598041.aspx
From Howick [it's pronounced 'Hoyck" folks :) ] in Scotland: Four sisters who have all survived breast cancer (one of them had it twice!) took part in their local version of RFL "Race for Life" in Dundee.
http://www.hawick-news.co.uk/news/scottish-headlines/sisters-take-part-in-charity-race-1-2360539
There are events like these happening every week, somewhere in the world. Little by little, this rotten illness is going to be cured one day. My mum had polio as a youngster and, thank goodness, was able to walk unaided eventually. Polio is pretty much a thing of the past, certainly in Australia. Beating cancer CAN be done - but it's going to take time... and money!
Monday, June 25, 2012
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
It's finally over for Lindy Chamberlain
Like a lot of Australian’s – and
probably people all around the world – I was sceptical of Lindy
Chamberlain’s claim that a dingo stole baby Azaria in 1980. It all
sounded so far-fetched and the media were generally anti-Lindy when
it came to reporting the story.
There was wild speculation about
Jehovah’s Witnesses and other 'non conformist'religions having strange rituals, about “Azaria”
meaning something weird or strange in another language, the parent’s
attitude and demeanor when interviewed or in court (sees Lindy’s
comments about that in the story I’ve linked here by the way) and
about the likelihood of a dingo being strong enough to carry off a
nine week old baby anyway.
The one thing that stopped me from
being ‘anit-Lindy’ was the element of a mother’s love for her
baby. Azaria was not her first child and the pressures that new
mothers face (post-natal depression, etc) didn’t seem to be a
factor. The thought that Lindy could have murdered Azaria (with
scissors, I think was the verdict) was just totally against common
sense to me.
I have to admit, I was a bit of a
coward when it came to this case. I avoided discussions where
possible and felt really uncomfortable around people who had strong
opinions either way on the matter. The case seemed to polarise
society, with the majority believing in her guilt.
Both Lindy and her husband Michael were
convicted. Appeals and court cases followed and the conviction was eventually quashed and she received around $1M in compensation. Her marriage broke up
her family was split. At least one of her children has been severely
emotionally affected by it (traumatised wouldn’t be too
strong a word, it seems).
And now, 32 years after the event, a
coroner has finally decreed that it was a dingo. So, why does my blog
focussing on things that are good in the world contain a story about
Lindy Chamberlain??
Read the story in the attached link.
You’ve got to admire this woman and her attitude. She is
congratulating a journalist/entertainer who apologised on-air for the
way she judged Lindy and her husband. I don’t know about anyone
reading this blog entry, but I think I’d have understood if Lindy
had come out and said: “F*** the lot of you! How do you feel now
you heartless bastards?”
Instead, she describes Wendy harmer as
‘courageous’ and complimented her for apologising.
And THAT’S one of the things
that are good in the world today.
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