It’s something for the weekend time again (yay). Here are a few snippets from things that have caught my attention in the last week on social media.
What I have been reading:
First up is a post by Nick King entitled A Time for Giving. He is dad to two (very funny, if his Twitter feed is anything to go by) adopted children. In this post he talks about buying presents and the urge to make up for all that has gone on before with material things and why that doesn’t work.
Our children arrived with nothing. That’s so often the case with those adopted from care. Our instinct was immediately to try and atone for their treatment. Compensate for their disadvantage. Provide recompense in the form of material possessions.
It’s a lovely post and I think it’s food for thought for all parents at this time of year.
Next, I recently had the privilege of interviewing an experienced nurse who was heading out to help at a hospital treating Ebola patients so when this article An Ebola doctor’s return from the edge of death in the New York Times popped up it was a must read for me. Ian Crozier was airlifted back to America after contracting the disease and the article is about his fight for life. It also looks at what it was like for his family and friends, including his mum Pat.
“The really tough part was the thought that he was going to die and that I was not going to be able to touch him before he left the earth,” she said.
He hopes to return to west Africa next year to help more patients.
Lastly, this post is also related to my work. Comments under news articles: Time to switch them off? is on http://www.journalism.co.uk and, as the title suggests, is about whether allowing comments should be stopped. I don’t mind comments as long as they are about the story but my experience is that if people simply don’t like what you have written they attack you personally. As several news organisations have already turned comments off it will be interesting to see how it develops.
What I have been watching:
Author Matt Haig has made a video about depression. It is short but poignant. I know this time of year can be awful for many people for a variety of reasons so I thought I would post it. Hopefully it might help.
Wishing you a happy and peaceful weekend.
After The Rain 