How often is it that you can pick up the paper and read some good news? Well, the answer to that question is: every Monday. I feel incredibly lucky to live in a city where we have access to something as marvellous as The Zone. In my opinion, The Zone is the most innovative and positive newspaper reporting in print publication today. Where else can you regularly read about good people doing good things without fanfare or political agenda in our very own city? The Zone makes me feel proud to be a Melburnian.
Take today's interview with Kane Bowden, CEO of The Lighthouse Foundation, which offers 'shelter, food, counselling, health support and most of all, love' to young homeless people. 'He cites an abused young woman who stayed for six months, stabilised, got into university, completed her studies, landed a job in the city and then became an academic who is now teaching at a university. ''She hadn't been hugged or cuddled in her entire life. She got her first hug in the first couple of weeks from her carer.'''
I don't know whether this makes me want to laugh or cry. I do know that this makes me incredibly grateful that these kind, quiet acts of generosity aren't going unnoticed, thanks to Michael Short's empathetic, intelligent and perceptive pieces. Mondays have now become something to look forward to.
Yes, I often wonder what it must do to someone to not grow up with physical affection. A state of terrible deprivation.
ReplyDeleteThat was a very inspiring story.
P.S. Re facebook - now Michael owes us both a beer. Nice work. ;)
Yup. It was all about the beer.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing a documentary as a child about babies who grew up in orphanages who were fed and changed but never picked up and cuddled and it wasn't until some time later that the carers realised that the babies weren't developing normally, neither physically nor mentally. It moved me and shocked me terribly and the image of those floppy unloved babies has always stayed with me.
Now when my youngest refuses cuddles I tell him, like vegetables, he needs them to grow. :-)