Prejudices......we all have them!

What are prejudices? They are a pre-conceived ideas or preferences...... Negative attitudes towards members of a group.....Stereo-type beliefs......Judgements, biases, assumptions made about someone or something before having adequate knowledge to guarantee accuracy.

"A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices" William Jones"

Prejudices can be about Race, Religion, Sexual orientation, Obesity, Mental Illness, Careers  and Art amongst other things but where do our prejudices start and how to we reduce them?  Social attitudes learnt from parents and teachers shape the way children value their differences they perceive so improving diversity and changing attitutudes at an early age could help. (It is amazing what children know or distinguish at the age of 6 months!). We all have opinions about things but also have hidden biases about certain subjects but should open our minds and get rid of these pre-conceived ideas, stigma or judgements of the past. What comes out of your mouth or changing irrational attitudes can all be stopped if we think before we speak or act. 

Mother Teresa wrote "If you judge people - you have no time to love them" and Indira Gandhi wrote " We cannot shake hands with a clenched fist"......so true!    They are both really saying.....Get rid of your pre-conceived notions/ideas and unlock the door to wisdom. 

It is natural to develop prejudices.  I do, however, think it is a good idea to voice some prejudices. I personally have some about  'women's rights and equality' (to do with religion) and think that it will take years and years to attain equality and fairness.   One should try and voice an opionion when we can.......I will write about that in another BLOG!!

Have a good week ahead as January heads into February! Happy Days!!

Will we be working until we are 70?

You never think it is ever going to happen.  It’s a hundred years away! You get married, make a home, have kids, live your life and then your approaching 60 and begin to think about retiring.  I worked for 10 years and took a break to have children and returned to work in 1987. I was lucky enough to retire from my last job approaching the age of 62, after working 22 years but new legislation has taken away your choice to retire when you want to. The government have plans to raise the state pension retirement age to 66 years (4 years than previously planned!). The proposal is contained in the Pension Bill and the National Pensioners Convention has described the change as an attack on the poorest members of society.  They also believe the decision ignores important information that shows that life expectancy is linked to affluence/wealth:
* Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in 2002-5, people at age 65 in the top social class group (professionals such as doctors, accountants and engineers) could expect to live 4.2 years longer than those in the bottom social class group (unskilled manual labourers).

OK, maybe you want to work forever.  Well you can! 

Dr Ros Altmann, Director General of SAGA wrote…..”A  recent Saga survey of people over 50 showed that nearly half of those, not yet retired, want to work past the age of 65 and around 7% want to work into their 70s, although not necessarily full-time. Evidence from other countries suggests clearly that ending the default retirement age can increase economic output overall. Age discrimination has no place in a modern economy. The Government should be congratulated for finally introducing this much needed reform.  She went on to write…….. Millions of baby boomers will reach the age of 65 in the next few years and if we do not allow them to use their skills and experience in the workplace, we will damage our economic prospects.  It is about time we radically rethink retirement. Fifty or sixty years ago working people were only expected to survive for ten years or so after age 65, but nowadays many men and women are fit and active and certainly not ready for the scrap-heap. (Thank God for that!!).  Most people are not old at 65 anymore, so why would we want to waste their skills? Some argue that forcing older workers out will create more jobs for the young. Some say that this is a misguided argument.    Some retired folk are living on inadequate incomes. For many, private pensions have not worked out as expected, annuity rates have fallen sharply and our state pension is wholly inadequate to provide a decent lifestyle for most people so some have to keep on working”.

I still work on an ad-hoc basis and do so for many reasons.  I like to be ‘out there in the big wide world’ and it generates a little extra money to do the things you’ve been yearning to do.  (Who am I kidding….it pays the bills!!!).  In the last year at work I can remember thinking about retirement and all the things I WAS going to give up.  My car, my mobile phone, my computer..….because I was fed up with the increased cost of running these luxuries….I was going back to basics …….BUT I have still got all 3!     I could do without my car (I do have a’ Freedom Pass’ now which means I can travel in and around London by rail /underground and travel on buses anywhere in the UK for free), I could do without my mobile BUT I couldn’t do without my computer!!

Since retiring….funnily enough, I have had to think about dying……as I have had to make a Will.  I also spend my time on my computer trying to reduce my expenditure to give me more quality of life   eg. using comparison sites to get the best deals for Car, Buildings, Contents Insurance, AA cover, service providers etc.  it takes hours and hours to do this.  Ok….if I do want a break …….I can take a break…. Or a walk in the park ……or go see a friend…….or read a book…..so there are lots of benefits about retirement. I do, however, urge you  ‘young people’ to think about your future and try and plan a pension for when you retire for it appears ‘all of a sudden!’

I leave you with this thought……’Time is like a river.  You can’t touch the same water twice because the flow that has passed will never pass again’. …..so enjoy every moment of your life.

Anyway….TGIF!!!….”Friday night is the time to let go of all the stress and get out there and have some fun!!”   Jackie Britton

21/01/11

Friends: Quality or Quantity?

Have you ever thought to yourself….  “What great friends I have”.  For those of us lucky enough to have families (spouses/partners ,  brothers/sisters, cousins and children)....potentially,  you have the ’ best friends’  in the world but I think that friends are still of the upmost importance.   In life you have friends and acquaintances.  Some friends will only ever be acquaintances but we call them friends because they are ‘friendly’.  Friends you pick during life usually have common interests and respect your thoughts, values, opinions and choices, even if they disagree with them.  They are someone with whom you share your utmost secrets .  Acquaintances, however, tend to judge you on your outward appearance and persona  and show you surface interest in order to be polite. You have socially accepted conversations and exchange trivia, not deep and meaningful conversations about your interests and life plans like you do with true friends.  

Acquaintances may become friends and this is one of the many ways to make new friends.  You can make new friends from school, work, team -mates in a game of sport, neighbours or people we meet on our travels. Today, you can make friends on Facebook  and various other social networks but these may be transient  friendships.  Motherhood and marriage shape friendships and I met some of my best friends this way.    Are our friends true friends?  I think you have fewer friends as you get older. Friends who will be there for you when bad stuff happens.  Quality over Quantity! Will they do anything for us?  The answer is  “yes, if we ask!”.  Often we are afraid to test them or we say that “if you do this for me….I will do this for you”.

I was thinking about my friends in Brisbane after seeing the news about the floods they have had there,   fortunately, they have not been affected by the floods .  We email each other although we haven’t seen each other for 5 years.   So friends can be near or far, from different ethnic backgrounds  and of any age.  We can all make new friends but whether they become lifelong friends is up to the individual and how you treat them and vice versa.   The one thing I know you must do is to thank them for their wisdom, comfort and support and tell them how much they mean to you and that you will be there for them should they need you.  Don’t tell them later….tell them now.  

Is friendship a habit?  A 16^th Century writer wrote that “Friendship is a strong and habitual inclination in two people to promote the good and happiness of one another”…..now that’s a good habit we can all cultivate!  A  New Year Resolution perhaps!    He also said “I keep my friends as misers do to their treasure, because of all things granted us by wisdom, none is greater or better than friendship.

For the first time in the eleven years I’ve lived in my house,  I invited my neighbours in for drinks on Christmas Eve.  The ages of each person ranged from 35 to 85 and I can truly say we all had a good time – chatting about Army life now and in the Second World War to deep sea diving, quantum physics and how couples met!!  Interspersed with canopies and large glasses of whisky – different friends -  put the world right!!  At this stage of my life, I meet old friends at funerals and say “we must see each other more often – other than this way”  and when you do get together, you don’t waste a minute of time  and it becomes an occasion you won’t forget.

I will leave you with this thought:  

 “We are each of us angels with only one wing and we can fly only by embracing each other!”      

Luciano De Crescenzo  - born 1928 is an Italian writer, film actor, director and engineer.

Jackie's First Blog

Jackie Britton: Partner to the lovely John, Mother to my wonderful children, Grandmother to my gorgeous Grandchildren and Freelance Florist.

Write a BLOG my daughter said.   “What’s a BLOG” I said, “Is it a kind of diary”?  “Yes”, she said “Well I’ve been doing that for years - writing my thoughts down on paper”, but, she said “you write a diary on the internet for the world to see. The Internet has changed our lives and Blogging is an integral part of life now”.  So what does the word ‘BLOG’ mean….is it an Acronym or Predictive Analytics?   Well, I looked it up on Google.  It comes up with BLOG sites like – ‘Blogging’, ‘How to Blog’, ‘Blog Templates’, ‘Blog Books’, Blog this and Blog that……Aahhhhhhhhh!!!! I scream, …… does BLOG mean…….‘Big Load of Gossip’ or  ‘Better listings on Google’ No!….it’s an abbreviation that internet enthusiasts call Weblog. Are you any the wiser? I’m sure some of you are. You can have Seminars on Blogging or Blog Philosophy, Blog Journals, Blogging for Business, Blogging for Art or Music…in fact Blogging on any subject. OK, so I have established that a Blog is maintained by an individual with regular entries about any subject.  So who writes a Blog and why? Did you know that Stars and Celebrities write Blogs….Miley Cyrus, Leighton Meester (the new Vera Wang face!), Scarlett Johansson and Lady Ga Ga….to mention a few! Stephen Fry writes a blog! (I love that man!). He’s wrote about ‘Silliness’ ‘Passions’ and ‘Picnics’ amongst other things so I guess anyone can write a BLOG no matter how silly the subject…..it’s an opinion, an idea or notion….it’s ones thoughts or maybe something you have encountered in life.

OK so blogging is the act of writing an online journal……so I am going to write a BLOG.  Aahhhhhhhh! I scream….

I have to consider so many things before I can actually post it! Templates….Layouts…….Blog Buzzers, Blog Video Tutorials. HELP! ….Studies of blogging are vast…..There are as many as one million ‘political’ blogs on the net and I noticed a book entitled ‘Google Blogger for Dummies’ well maybe I should get myself a copy….BUT will I be any the wiser I ask myself.

You can write your thoughts and comments on ‘Facebook’ so why write a BLOG. Well, it’s not the same apparently for all the reasons above...... OK, I will write regular BLOGs but on what subject or theme.  I have no idea, so for now I will share this thought with you.

Marie Curie wrote: “Life is not easy for any of us, but what of it? We must have perseverance and confidence in ourselves.  We must believe we are each gifted for something and that this thing must be attained.  You might not realise it, but you are gifted for something.  Find your gift and you’ll find fulfilment”

Marie Skłodowska Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish-born French physicist and chemist famous for her work on radioactivity and cancer care. She was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity and the first person honoured with two Nobel Prizes  in physics and chemistry. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris.

My gift is definitely not blogging and as for fulfilment…..well, I might accomplish that one day!  

By the way, Happy Birthday Elvis!…..your memory lives on!

08/01/2011