Thoughts today 28 August 2008

It has been a while since I have written in here. I guess it’s time to update myself on what has been happening.

The Well stop assessment on my son has been completed. The assessment itself took almost 10 hours or talking to my partner, my son and I to get a clear history of what the problem seems to be. There was also a lot of paperwork and questionaires to be done with this process. I am guessing so that they could ascertain if we were teling the truth or not.

There was also a part during the paperwork where we had to disclose all the organisations and support groups we had been with over the years. We gave as much comprehensive information as we could possibly think of that might help my son. We also gave permission for Well-Stop to approach any and all persons and organisations we had dealt with.

After the weeks of doing the initial history background we were told that the report itself would take around six weeks to be written, as they had to contact the people we had mentioned and get the read outs of the questionaires and whatever else they had to do in order to best ascertain how, or even if they could help us.

My understanding of the process to come is that they will compile their report and then get in touch with us before forwarding it on to people that require this information legally. We have also given written permission for any information found out during the course of their writing be forwarded on to anyone that may require this report.

We now wait for them to get back to us with their findings and their suggestions to come out.

People have asked me why we are going to all this trouble with my son. To them, they see a healthy boy of 13 who seems to not have a trouble in the world. Unfortunately, the picture my son portrays to the rest of the world isn’t necessarily the same picture we get given from him at home.

The last psychologist we saw prior to this course of action said that is because he feels safe and secure enouh at home to let some of his guards down and let some of the frustration and fury that is welling up inside of him out. Apparently it is vitally important to a child well being that they feel secure enough in their environment and be able to trust those around them enough to be able to let the darker side surface from time to time. However, when it comes to our son, his dark side can maybe one day cause someone to end up seriously hurt or worse, when it surfaces. But we are working on this with him on a very conscious basis every day.

As each passing day goes by, and as he gets older and wiser, our baby steps forward become more frequent and progressively easier. For every step we have to take backward, it was pointed out to me not so long ago, we take four or five step ahead. It would be selfish to ask that all steps taken be forward ones, but life does not work like that, even for normal people.

Boobs on Bikes pornographic?

Been thinking about this subject a bit of late. Can’t really help it as it has been splashed all over the national news all week. But I have a few thoughts on this subject.

Firstly, congrats to you Steve Crow, you went to court and came out the sucessor. Brilliant strategy for the Erotica Expo that is also your brainchild. You not only got an injuction saying that you could go ahead with this parade down Queen Street, but you’ve also managed a ton of free publicity, thanks to the local council and all the anti porn fan clubs out there.

This was so well done that I, at one point, thought that it was a scam that was cooked up by someone in your regime and someone in the council to bring financial equity into the region, as well as give you all press coverage that would have cost an awful lot of money. However, I realised that the council and yourself would never have tied the courts up for so long, and put everyone in the country through all of that torment, just for free publicity. But it was very well timed, on both parts.

Secondly, I would like to say how accommodating your parade were to those that decided to use your hard work and efforts to bring to the podium their gripes and groans about how the sex industry brings about such things as violence, rape and other socially unacceptable behaviours that humans partake in. I thought this was very kind of you all to let those people have their say as well. I am almost certain, had the shoe been on the other foot, those same people would not have been as accommodating to your cause, and willingly let you march in protest of what they were doing.

Now, my views on the whole deal. I am not one who condones or condemns the pornographic industry. I believe, in part, that the sex industry may cause those with violent tendencies to bring out that part of them in society. They may see something that has been glorified in a magazine or on a XXX movie and then go out and find some unwillilng party to fulfill those carnal urges they have.

I also believe that if it were not for the sex industry that there could possibly be worse crimes being commited. Prostitutes, in part, do a service to humanity. They put their bodies and their lives on the line so people who can not, or will not, find a willing partner, can relieve their tensions and calm those carnal desires for a limited time, until they need to relieve themselves again. This, surely, has to be helping to keep the crime levels down a tad.

The freedom for women to show their bare breasts in public? Although I personally would not do this myself, I can fully understand that women are constantly after equal rights and if it is ok for a man to walk around wherever he wants to topless, then why can’t women?  After all, a body is a body.

Finally, I would like to say … if that parade was pornographic because there were bare chested women around, then how can those antipornographic lobbyists justify their summer visits to the beach?

I am pretty sure that not one single person in that march that preceded that parade has never been to the beach during a hot summer’s day. And those who have children I am almost certain have taken their child to the beach or the pools for a swim to cool down.

Unless you’re all completely blind, there are worse sights on the beach and in the pools that what would have been in Queen Street that day. Men with bare chests and skimpy swimming trunks. Women and even teenage girls wearing enough cloth to barely cover their god given assets, some which are even see through once water is applied. And more often than not, neither of these places are as heavily policed as that parade was.

Personally, I might take offence to anyone wearing anything less on a summer’s day, than a t-shirt, jeans or long skirt, black sweater, beanie or other type of headwear, long socks and fully covered footwear. This may seem extreme, I know, but I believe that more is better in some instances, especially when bare flesh is concerned. And with the ozone layer depleting so rapidly, level 750UV protection way suits me better than getting skin cancer because I want to show my body off.

I do not take my children to the beach, and very rarely will take them to the pools, because of some of the sights that are there. It is not right to subject your children to this kind of thing, in my opinion. If I were in Auckland on that particular day, I would not have let my children go within 50km of that area, because there was enough notification that the parade was happening to be able to have enough sense to keep them away. And if there were important appointments that meant having to take them near there, I would have rescheduled unless it were a life or death situation, in which case, I wouldn’t have cared how many people were baring their breasts.

Seriously, if you’re going to be an anti-anything lobbyist, then, for God’s sake and the sake of humanity, be consistant in your protest. Don’t be hypocritical about it. Live by what you say. Don’t just jump on a bandwagon because it is there at the time and have the rest of the country have to foot the bill so you can all get a bit of free publicity.