Yes… I have noted and greatly admired your involvement with the Abused Child Trust. Kids really do need real life heroes and it’s so reassuring to know that there are good people like you… (along with Megan and others in organisations across the planet) doing whatever it takes to help. Bravo!

Thanks for your lovely comments!

I think we all tend to take life too seriously, and some people seem intent on passing that seriousness onto their children - either intentionally or not. There are many ways that children lose their precious years. Sometimes with responsibility, sometimes with acts of plain evil, sometimes out of circumstances beyond control, such as the loss of a parent.

Hence my commitment to the Abused Child Trust, which by the way, has just been renamed to ACT for Kids - an organisation like Imaginif (Megan) and many, many others who are working around the world to make this a better planet for our children.

Thank you for such a thoughtful commentary Jean.

With love,

AG

You and John both point to the absolute truth! The world is not really much different then to now. Perhaps the only difference is that nowadays we have a news hungry media eager to sell newspapers and air time… who beat up issues and break news of disasters… tragedies… wars… and every other catastrophic event in up-to-the minute sound bites! The world is a scary enough place already without having the stark reality (complete with histrionic embellishment) brought right into our living rooms 24/7. No wonder kids are freaked out!

I remember back in the day when the ABC news came over the radio. There was something especially soothing in the announcer’s calm and authoritative voice… (grin) He instilled a sensible confidence that although the world as we knew it might be falling apart… we could rest assured that we could still wake up in the morning and have our radios to listen to! (((chuckles)))

Glad I could help in some small way. I will be back later in the day to buy my crusader’s cape and make a donation!

How terrifying that must have been to hear those planes going over not knowing what was to come. Funny how everyday things can take on gargantuan proportions in the minds of sensitive children! My experience has been… even with my own children… that kids hide their fears away too frightened to tell about them!

When I was very small (around 3 years old) my family lived out in the country on a sugar cane farm. During harvesting… huge cane trains (not the small locos they have now) would pass the house regularly throughout the day to cart the cut cane to the mill.

They were big and black and scarey (esp to a 3 year old) and made a heck of a noise as they roared into earshot. I used to be so frightened when I heard one coming I would immediately run upstairs into my parent’s bedroom and hide behind the curtains there! One day my mother came to find me and took me out onto the front lawn to meet one of the engines and to wave to the driver. Suddenly the monster was back in it’s box!

It’s a scarey enough prospect when the fear is simply imagined. For some children (esp those living in situations of abuse and neglect) their fears are often fully realised. They are the ones who really need “a hero to come along”…