imagineero
Addicted to ArboristSite
There's been some real interesting points raised in this thread.
Just a few weeks back I was talking with a friend about the importance of seeing work being done for young people. I'd been reading something to the effect in a book that lamented the way work has been compartmentalised out of daily life. Traditionally work and family life have been intertwined, with work being done in the home, and in the neighbourhood. Craftsmen, tradesmen and artisans worked locally and in smaller shops, and people could walk by and see the work going on. It's still this way in a lot of countries, but for us it's mostly gone. Industrialisation means that work is done centrally in large factories, and zoning laws put workplaces far from residences. Most suburbs have no work at all done within miles of them. It's against the law.
Seeing work is important for the development of children. Simply witnessing it being done has an effect on them which I'm sure most of us remember having seen people at work when we were younger. I never really noticed that work wasnt going on in suburbs until I read about it, but over the past few weeks driving round it really struck me. It's quite the disconnect. Kids are missing out.
Regarding the accident, it can only be spoken about in the broadest possible terms. I've been involved in incidents that received national coverage and were completely misreported because all the people involved either didnt want to, or were restrained from discussing the matter. Media coverage is the opposite of in depth reporting. With sometimes only a few minutes to research before going to air, and needing to have something to say or fill a column somewhere, reports are often based on 3rd or 4th hand accounts by people who were never there and didnt know but wanted to say something. If someone complains, a correction may be printed in small print on a back page a couple weeks later.
Children should not be near chippers, everyone knows that as I'm sure the father does. As to the circumstances of how the child ended up in the chipper, we can only make the wildest of speculation, and in truth we shouldn't even do that. Parents generally know enough about their kids to make a good prediction about their behaviour. Maybe he thought the kid would stay put and he didnt. Maybe the older kids were supposed to be keeping and eye and they didn't. We'll never know. I cannot bring myself to believe that the father was reckless or careless about the situation, but god help him if he was.
A child is dead, that much is for sure. Beyond that, I wouldn't take any other point in the article(s) as an established fact. The only person who knows for sure is the father, and even he may not know for sure. There are endless blanks that the parents will be filling in, erasing, and filling in for the rest of their lives, long after the media, the corroner, the police and even their relatives and close friends have stopped wondering.
At age 9, I went for a bike ride with my brother who was close to his 7th birthday. We rode down a laneway between some houses on a steep hill and the brakes on his bike weren't working. I yelled at him to jump off but he was too scared to do it. As he reached the bottom of the hill he lost control and ran into a pole, splitting his head open. He died a few minutes later after convulsions, were were alone. As a child it didn't really have a lot of impact on me because children aren't prepared to grieve, but it certainly had an impact on my family. My mother became an alcholic and my father tore himself apart over it. Over the next 3 or 4 years the silence was broken only by arguments. My father eventually left, and at age 14 I had to leave too. Having no responsible guardian to take care of me, I quit high school, lied about my age and took up working. I grew tall young so nobody questioned and life carried on. 25 years later, my mother is stll drowning her sorrows and my father is only just starting to pull his life together.
Shaun
Just a few weeks back I was talking with a friend about the importance of seeing work being done for young people. I'd been reading something to the effect in a book that lamented the way work has been compartmentalised out of daily life. Traditionally work and family life have been intertwined, with work being done in the home, and in the neighbourhood. Craftsmen, tradesmen and artisans worked locally and in smaller shops, and people could walk by and see the work going on. It's still this way in a lot of countries, but for us it's mostly gone. Industrialisation means that work is done centrally in large factories, and zoning laws put workplaces far from residences. Most suburbs have no work at all done within miles of them. It's against the law.
Seeing work is important for the development of children. Simply witnessing it being done has an effect on them which I'm sure most of us remember having seen people at work when we were younger. I never really noticed that work wasnt going on in suburbs until I read about it, but over the past few weeks driving round it really struck me. It's quite the disconnect. Kids are missing out.
Regarding the accident, it can only be spoken about in the broadest possible terms. I've been involved in incidents that received national coverage and were completely misreported because all the people involved either didnt want to, or were restrained from discussing the matter. Media coverage is the opposite of in depth reporting. With sometimes only a few minutes to research before going to air, and needing to have something to say or fill a column somewhere, reports are often based on 3rd or 4th hand accounts by people who were never there and didnt know but wanted to say something. If someone complains, a correction may be printed in small print on a back page a couple weeks later.
Children should not be near chippers, everyone knows that as I'm sure the father does. As to the circumstances of how the child ended up in the chipper, we can only make the wildest of speculation, and in truth we shouldn't even do that. Parents generally know enough about their kids to make a good prediction about their behaviour. Maybe he thought the kid would stay put and he didnt. Maybe the older kids were supposed to be keeping and eye and they didn't. We'll never know. I cannot bring myself to believe that the father was reckless or careless about the situation, but god help him if he was.
A child is dead, that much is for sure. Beyond that, I wouldn't take any other point in the article(s) as an established fact. The only person who knows for sure is the father, and even he may not know for sure. There are endless blanks that the parents will be filling in, erasing, and filling in for the rest of their lives, long after the media, the corroner, the police and even their relatives and close friends have stopped wondering.
At age 9, I went for a bike ride with my brother who was close to his 7th birthday. We rode down a laneway between some houses on a steep hill and the brakes on his bike weren't working. I yelled at him to jump off but he was too scared to do it. As he reached the bottom of the hill he lost control and ran into a pole, splitting his head open. He died a few minutes later after convulsions, were were alone. As a child it didn't really have a lot of impact on me because children aren't prepared to grieve, but it certainly had an impact on my family. My mother became an alcholic and my father tore himself apart over it. Over the next 3 or 4 years the silence was broken only by arguments. My father eventually left, and at age 14 I had to leave too. Having no responsible guardian to take care of me, I quit high school, lied about my age and took up working. I grew tall young so nobody questioned and life carried on. 25 years later, my mother is stll drowning her sorrows and my father is only just starting to pull his life together.
Shaun
