Be aware, I am aware
WHAT DO I hope for the New Year? Well, for a start, no more cones or road works signs, unless accompanied by a team of work persons bashing the hell out of some concrete. Their sitting in a truck with a family-size bag of quavers doesn’t count.
Apart from the obvious good health, world peace (and for Mr F to stop arguing with the Satnav), I’d enjoy a break from the wrangling around our marital split with Europe. I recently heard a politician say that Brexit is not like an egg – it doesn’t have to be soft or hard. Oh, very reassuring. Scrambled maybe?
It would also be great if we could stop being patronised by people ‘raising awareness’ of things.
The majority of us are actually extremely aware, thank you very much, mainly because we keep being reminded of the things we’re supposedly not aware of. The rest have probably had empathy by-passes, don’t listen, and couldn’t care a kipper anyway.
Many of us wear ribbons and give to our favourite charities, often because we have had friends and relatives who have had serious conditions, and huge numbers of people support Red Nose Day and Comic Relief which do a great job in raising much-needed funds
This month there is National Obesity Awareness Week (Jan 9-15), while on January 14 we have National STI day, ‘raising awareness’ of sexual health issues.
Later this year we have National Infertility Week.
Have they not seen the TV programme GPs Behind Closed Doors? The days when people avoided talking about sensitive issues is long gone, so do we really need to have more and more ‘awareness’ events imposed upon us?
I hope that this year we can stop swamping young people with high profile stories on abuse, body image and mental health problems, particularly as many of these ‘issues’ have been created by adults. Also, shouldn’t we assume that children feel at home in the gender they were born in, unless they say otherwise, and then quietly provide services if, and when, they need them?
Finally, while researching this month’s campaigns I did actually discover a great national day on January 3. It has been declared a Festival of Sleep Day ‘created for people to get some shut-eye after the holidays’. Brilliant idea. No awareness involved – you just have to conk out.
Happy New Year!