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2026 and the French revolution strikes, again

4/10/2026

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The state of chaos and rioting presently hitting France, defies belief. 

A civilized, elegant country who we all believed would never, in a million years, fall prey to this level of horrid disrespect, upon fellow citizens.  And it is happening not just north of Paris – Seine-Saint Denis area, but it is widespread – in places like Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse. 

We see police having to shut down over 400 schools across France, to protect students not involved in this act of lunacy. But why should it have to come to this?  Why should students be forced to demonstrate in such a violent manner? 

I understand parents – students – teachers are angry over the continual problems of teacher shortages, long hours, dilapidated buildings and never-ending overcrowding of classrooms, but if schools, learning and history has taught us anything – then, we know this is not the way to go about the situation.  Allowing this to happen, just teaches kids that it is okay to disrespect human beings - just to prove one’s point; that it is okay to set people on fire, throw acid on people and all the rest…if someone gets in the way; that it is okay to storm schools and burn down public property.

The state of France is dire, we all know it is.  We see this as onlookers, from millions of miles away.  We see families struggling with the freezing of wages, the price of fuel and goods, which is paralyzing the country – to no end. We see the nightmare budgets in place that allow no room for assistance for the growth of the very heart of the country – it’s schools.
Without schools, teachers and curriculums that address student issues – some of them like this – learning how not to riot and harm others – children will never learn.  They do not learn such empathy from computers.  Gaming teaches hostility and hatred for others.  It shows students – teenagers like this, who are already in a compromised state of family existence, how they think they can take matters into their own hands – in the physical world.  It is like handing a child a gun.  They all learn from this and when times are hard and they see their families struggling to make ends meet, and they cannot learn in institutions without funding – kids rebel.

Then, Government sees the law of cause and effect in action – on the streets of France - on the faces of children and parents – in the very homes of families that hold up the country.  These are the people that pay the price of government sitting on their laurels, not considering what is right for all. 

It is fine for a government to sit in an office of plushness - where your entire lives are safe, without a care in the world, no worrying about how you will survive the week, on a paltry sum of nothing – because you are sheltered from everything.  If you are ill – the best medical care will assist you, you want food – you don’t have to look in your wallet to see if there is enough money.  You do not have to choose between paying a bill and a child’s birthday present, because your lives are always in surplus.

I cannot deny that struggle makes one appreciate all the good things in one’s life.  It humbles you and gives you time to think about what is truly, important. Gratitude sits in your bones, and serves you lessons that allow you to see the bigger picture. But this?  This is not a life - for these people.  It is barely an existence. 

You can’t make great things happen, if you are constantly denied the tools to create wonders – to create individuals, who will one day run the country - France.     

This is not the 1800’s. 

France is a developed country that knows right from wrong; whose people fought for freedoms long ago and won.  There is a great history of brave citizens, pointing out societal imbalance and injustice. Government needs to look to those historical scenes of success - that taught France to accept nothing but the best, for its citizens – for its country. Revolution and rebellion should not have to be revisited to uphold civil liberties and economic freedoms.  Those past altercations are what gave France its wings to fly, in the modern world.

This is what they fought for – what they shed blood for – what they died for. 

Do not let their deaths be in vain.  Surely France has learnt something in all that.

Your people deserve so much more…
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A species other than our own

13/8/2026

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We are all part of the one, continuous chain - life; one species no less important or more important than the next.

We all share the air we breathe, the water we drink and Mother Earth who shares her sustenance with us. Our lives are all finite, some more quickly than others, our time is equally as precious as the lives we choose to create.

Each species is bound by a unique language, culture, belief system that bonds a community whether you understand it or not - whether you speak it or not - whether it is human, animal, plant or not.

Yet, there is something ‘we’ all have in common and that is the circle of life; destroy that precious chain and we all suffer.

Find time for a species other than your own, learn its needs - there are no wants, no desires. It does not come calling to kill, destroy or possess you; it gives you love, pleasure or assists you through your life hood journey.

Repaying that kindness with equal reciprocity, helping out that species when the sea of life becomes turbulent is the least we can do.

~ Sketa
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My Enigma...

12/6/2026

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Every day we wake to a new day - full of infinite possibilities, opportunities and sights to marvel upon.  We push forth through life with determination to bring about change; be it in our own immediate sphere or further abroad, in hope someone like-minded will agree or listen to our plea. 
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Whether we realise it or not, each of us searches for recognition - of our existence, that we matter, that we are appreciated, that our lives have been sufficiently significant, so that we will be remembered by others because of how we lived our lives, how we have interacted with family, friends, society, the planet and the expectations life places upon us all.
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Photo - Sketa Oz
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Photo - Sketa Oz
Sometimes, in that search for significance, life in all its complexities becomes so overwhelming one takes on board every last problem the world has to offer - as if it is one’s own responsibility to resurrect them.  Highly sensitive people find it extremely difficult to switch off and will spend every waking and sleeping moment, worrying about the world’s issues and how to come up with a plan to fix them. However, such problems are usually problems every human being on the planet should be thinking about; formulating ideas to solve because one human being alone, is just not enough.
​​The coined phrase – ‘your circle of influence’, eagerly suggested in conversation with a family member has helped me realise one cannot move mountains or change the landscape of such a mountain, until there is reach enough to go around the mountain. 

​So this is my enigma…  


I do believe that although our animals take a back burner in the eyes of many Australians - as worthy creatures to preserve, I am of the belief all creatures great and small, intelligent or dory – have the right to life, an existence.  Each too, has equal rights to a dignified death. We are no more or less worthy of life, but yet we are the only species on the planet that continues to eradicate those in our way.  

The creatures of which I speak, are struggling to find water, struggling to find food on the drought-stricken lands of South East Queensland. For the most part, these creatures venture to the sides of the road to nibble on fresh grass shoots that have managed to spring up with the settling of early morning dew.
Each morning, I leave fresh for work and on my travels to school - I sight dozens of mutilated, native animal carcasses, freshly killed from the night before.  In the 50 minutes or so to my final destination, this horrible sight beholds me each morning. It makes me think, how many of these deaths could have been avoided, if one considered to slow down in areas of prolific wildlife?
Yes, such creatures will be startled suddenly; yes, it is a problem to you as a driver.  Though if you remember these gentle creatures want nothing from us, except the right to life and the right to feed to sustain that life – you will be considerate enough to slow down at dawn and dusk.  We do this for our children going to school in a school zone; we do this for our fellow pedestrians at the crossing; we slow down for bird wildlife around nature reserves and yes, I’m sure we can all slow down for our protected native, iconic Australian wildlife. 
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These creatures have families as we do, feel pain and are at a loss at the death of a family member – just like us. 

Please consider our wildlife and maybe your example will help tourists respect our wildlife, too. For if we can’t show just cause to respect such creatures, why will tourists or immigrants even bother?
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Learning to be a kid is hard

17/5/2026

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Photo courtesy - Pasi Majasaari
Learning to be a kid, does not only happen while being at school.  It happens everywhere a child exists, on a 24 hour basis. It is at home, in the sandpit, up a tree, mingling with friends, prodding an ant or slurping on an orange.  It is everywhere and far too much time in the modern world of education is spent on things that individuals will never use in their life time.  

Learning can only happen when the mind is ready to absorb the information or when it has learnt sufficient information to process the new information.  We talk about the need to push children to remember hoards of useless 'stuff' - sort of like we do when we buy a house.  We fill that newly bought house with useless 'stuff' that we will never use.  Just 'stuff' to fill the space because we feel it is better than leaving it empty.  However, when we come to place something in the space - we will first have to get rid of the thing that gathers dust in that corner of the room - that thing that scratched the floor - that thing we banged our legs on every time we passed - that thing we traded hard earned dollars to acquire, long before we can place something that really matters or is honestly useful to our lives.  We trade our time, lives, individualism, passions and care for others to acquire 'stuff'. Schooling in the western world is so much the same.  We teach kids to acquire 'stuff' - useless 'stuff' and we don't teach them enough about acquiring things that will help them live their lives - life skills - the very things that will help them survive when parents are long gone. 

​And... before children enter the world of education, have they truly lived a life as a child? Are we forgetting to let them just 'be'? Are we forgetting to let them find out who they are, what they enjoy, what they love and what is really important in life.  


The job of learning and being a kid is getting more and more difficult every day; the job of being a teacher has never been more stressful.  We pass those stresses over to kids and we wonder why we have problematic, sick rebellious children. Maybe sitting, daydreaming, watching the clouds roll by is all they need.  There is something to be said for being bored.  The brain really does need time to just sit. Like water seeping through sand - the brain needs time for information to filter through the billions of ill-connected messages. It needs time to sort out what to keep and what to throw away - yes, what it deems unnecessary in the whole scheme of things.  

Unfortunately, we still school our children just like all the other children at the end of the block.  They all go to the same educational factories to churn out factoids of 'stuff'.​
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Perfect...

14/4/2026

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What is perfect?

There is a time in one’s life that appears too good to be true. 

Maybe that is perfect and maybe - life is perfectly, imperfect...and that is all we need to aspire to.

Being grateful for all our blessings, is not about being perfect or faultless.

It is appreciating what we have and saying, "this is life and I am glad to be here."

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