Paris ~ 13th November 2015

Last night there was a series of horrible attacks on innocent people in Paris. Some angry people committed senseless acts of violence in the name of their cause. And that cause is complicated. 

People have been reacting all day to the events of last night. We had a chat about it. You said that the people should have stopped and thought about how scared the people they were hurting were. Then they might not have done it. You also asked me how anybody could hurt someone who is someone's mummy or daddy. All perfectly normal questions. We talked about how some people don't know how to deal with their angry feelings and that sometimes they do bad things to other people. 

You, today - 14th November 2015

I don't have all of the answers. I actually hardly have any! But what I do know is that my natural instinct is to hold you close and pretend that all of this stuff isn't happening. To be scared and to shield you from the world. I won't do that. And I won't tell you that some people don't deserve our compassion, or to live. I feel that we need to break the cycle of violence and see clearly the underlying issues which are dividing our world. Without seeing clearly we react with violence in a fog of our own interpretations. As I said, I don't have the answers but I will always talk to you about what you see and how you feel. I won't cloud your mind with my views but I will encourage you to think about why people do things. You talked about Paris for a while today. Then you told me that something sad happened to you today as well. Whilst trying to eat your sweetie necklace, the knot on the elastic kept going in your mouth! A serious problem if ever there was one.

None of us can fix the world alone but all of us can stop and think about how to learn from it and move on as a community in the shadow of something as horrible as the events in Paris last night.

One thing is true, I am very sad for Paris today.

"Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding" ~ Albert Einstein 

  

The events that shape our lives

Today it was announced that Scotland has voted in a historic referendum in favour of remaining a part of our United Kingdom. History is made today, and every day.

When I was a little girl, like you, growing up, I enjoyed nothing more than a rummage around in our loft. Family possessions, cold, boxed and rarely seen. I loved that packaged history, up there in the roof of our house. I remember the smell, the cold, the boarded space and the solitary light bulb. 

One of my treasures in the loft was the wooden tea chests filled with historic newspapers collected by my mummy and daddy, your nana and grandad. Jubilees, wars won and lost, new Prime Ministers, old Prime Ministers, deaths, celebrations....the world, captured in print and kept for posterity. 

Me & my daddy c1978

On September 11th, 2001 something happened which changed the world, our world, forever. You are too young to begin to understand the motives behind the events of that day but you will learn about it one day and it's important that you do. 

And here begun my newspaper collection capturing the events that have shaped my life and kept for posterity, for you.

One day, I hope that you will rummage through my newspaper collection as I did my mummy and daddy's. Ask me what happened and I'll try to explain, as best I can. It's a complicated world but it's ours and you will get so much more from it if you take an interest and care. I know you will.

Me & you yesterday, whilst Scotland voted for its future

I love you baby. Sleep tight.

"The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see." ~ Winston Churchill