'Important News'

I was given two bits of 'important news' today on my walk to the shops and back.

The first was from the lady serving me at the butchers* - she told me that Michael Jackson had died. It's interesting to see that she considered the news of the death worth passing on to a stranger (although I suppose they are used to making conversation with customers).

The second bit of 'news' came as I was walking home. A lady stopped me in the street and asked if she could tell me something really important. I had a hunch what was coming next: "God really loves you!"

I interrupted her at that point to explain that I had already heard that particular news and was in fact a Christian. She asked if I was a 'born-again' Christian, and I agreed that I was after checked her definition of born again! (Having received God's Holy Spirit).

We then went our separate ways. I've got to say, despite the fact that I suspect her and I would differ on a few theological points, I was impressed by her boldness in proclaiming the good news of God's love.

* Incidentally, it was quite funny at the butchers because I requested a lamb pie, and they thought I asked for lamb's fry! I noticed them bagging up a massive livery looking thing and realised the mistake. We had a bit of a chuckle about it...

Is it worth it?

I quite liked this post on the Sola Panel about the new paid maternity leave scheme.

I'm not sure that the paid scheme is really all that great - it's not much more money than the baby bonus already available, and it does seem to have at heart the idea that a mother and baby only need 14 weeks together full time before the mother can get back to the office.

It's unfortunate that our society generally works on the principal that it's normal for mothers to go back to work when they have a baby, because I think that fundamentally, babies and paid work don't mix.

There are two main reasons for this - the first is that looking after a baby, especially a young baby, is a fluid, unpredictable, round the clock commitment. A job (usually) has set hours and responsibilities that require a level of performance that's hard to sustain on broken sleep and the stresses of looking after a baby.

The second reason is that it's not all that practical to work and have your baby in day care, because they get sick really regularly! This is what happens - you have to go back to work, so your baby goes into care for a day or two a week (if not more). Here they get exposed to germs and catch everything under the sun. This means you a) don't get enough sleep as they are restless and unwell overnight, and b) you have to take time off work to look after them. Not to mention the expense of doctors and medication!

So who does this benefit exactly? Not the mother, who is stressed at home and stressed at work, trying to juggle it all. Not the baby, who is unwell more often than not. Not the employer, whose employee is missing half the time and barely awake when they are at work. Not the husband, who has a sick baby and tired wife.

At least the mortgage gets paid.

Out of Control

I enjoyed this article by social commentator Hugh Mackay in the Saturday paper. He argues that a lot of society's stresses are created by a sense of things being out of control:

"The current obsession with control looks to me like a symptom of a deep unease in our society. The yearning for control is a cry for help. The most useful response to that cry is not to say, "Here's how to get your life under control" but to explain that the deepest sense of wellbeing springs not from mastery of our circumstances - let alone mastery of others - but from mastery of ourselves."