A Serious Subject… Amongst a few Bracket Shaped Diversions.

Hello my little long lost lovelies, I feel like I haven’t been able to post a blog in ages. In reality it has probably only been a matter of days, but I imagine all of you, who enjoy writing like I do myself, will understand the feeling that sometimes days can seem an age when you don’t have a pen in your hand or something to type your thoughts upon (I do own pens by the way, I do also have things to type upon… courtesy of borrowing my boyfriends notebook, until I purchase my own fully working laptop but that’s not the reason why I’ve been more ‘off” than ‘on’ with my writing (Whilst we’re in this bracket zone, brackets, upon brackets, imagine that… well, you don’t have to, because I’m producing quite a few right here and now for you to experience; I also feel I should clarify, I don’t actually imagine you all to be adorably sized teeny tiny little people, similar to those on ‘The Borrowers’ (if you ever watched the British TV series back in the early 90’s (I’m actually aware the history of the Borrowers doesn’t stem or end there, but they are the characters I am envisioning as I type), you will know exactly who I am talking about – they were just the cutest little (fictionised) people in the world, any way as I say I do not envision you all to be adorably pocket sized people…  But how fun would it be if you were? I imagine we have a variation of sizes, and I am absolutely certain you are all just as lovely as each other, and before we open that can of worms – size does not matter and I feel here would be a good point to desperately leap from out of my bracket-capture-prison cell-type thing I’ve created and start talking normally once again… or at least try. Lets shut a few of these bad boys off))) I fear I am doing what I do best – diverting…

I actually shamefully started writing this last Friday, that’s a full 7 days ago! However I was suddenly struck down with the very nasty Norovirus on Saturday evening, well the Doctor has diagnosed me with Viral Gastroenteritis, so maybe I should follow par and call it just that. If you haven’t experienced this, I hope you never have to, 20 hours of sickness, diarrhoea, tummy cramps and de-hydration, not to mention the head and limb aches I have been suffering with ever since, I was put on a food ban by the Doctor which has ended but it’s fair to say food isn’t my favourite thing in the world right now, the thought of it couldn’t be better, but in reality, the soup I’ve been eating is making me feel just a bit sicky. Feel a bit sicky….. I’m polishing it around the edges, might as well give it a shining star and bow, in reality, I’m still struggling to hold food down now. Nasty, very nasty indeed and highly contagious. I’m still not great if I’m honest but also going slightly cuckoo, so have decided between headaches, bone aches, de-hydration, nausea and sleeping to try and complete what I had originally started many moons ago, on Friday. Which has been my mission most of this week. 

What I wanted to talk about is actually a little more on the serious side, it’s something that I feel very strongly and passionately about. I’m going to try and open up a little to you, I’m going to do what I would like to think I do best and speak right from my heart. I would just like to say though, I have been struggling about the correct way to word this and I can only hope it doesn’t come out all wrong. I really wanted to take some time to explain, as well as I can, about a couple of poems I recently posted.

I’d like to start with Ignorance is Bliss first, it’s always very important that my poetry is very simple and easily read, yet I wanted a strong message behind the words, if I’m honest I wanted it to hit hard on the readers conscience, people like you, me, your neighbour across the road – I’d like to think we all have one. (A conscience that is, not a neighbour, although neighbours do have their uses too!) Take what you want from it, I wrote it in particular about the fact it is often easier to turn a blind eye, than acknowledge and/or try to help someone who really needs it. Whether it be a simple friendly smile, lending an ear or if you take it upon yourself to really go that extra mile.

An Unsound Mind is all too real,  for me it’s very raw and emotional, I posted it purposely to follow the previous poem, Ignorance is Bliss, and once I explain I hope you will see my link between the two.

The meaning behind An Unsound Mind  is more than real to me, it was my reality, my nightmare at the time, mine and my families. I lost my cousin to a heroin overdose 2.5yrs ago. He was 24yrs old. He’d been clean for around 3 months, he relapsed and lost his life. Many of you will turn your nose up to this, you won’t feel sorry for him, or bad for the situation, you’ll say, ‘he brought it upon  himself’, ‘he was a druggie’, well I’m here to tell you despite his struggles, and many other people who equally struggle with addiction of some kind, he was one of the nicest people I knew.

Over 200 people turned up to his funeral, and he still has 3 FB pages running and often commented on in his remembrance, his bench is visited by friends and family every birthday, anniversary to his death and any other time someone wants to feel close to him. He was a good person, with a kind heart, who had an awful addiction, and got lost in life. It’s so easy to fall off the right track, too easy. My point in sharing this with you, in stating these facts is quite simple, I wanted to highlight how easy it is to be one of those people I described in my poem, Ignorance is Bliss. Whether you are the person who looks away, or the one who is being looked away from. People turn their heads away from the homeless, addicts, to people who really do need a friendly face, that little extra help, or time… a simple smile from a stranger. Please can I say, as I hope you already know,  these people all came from somewhere, all have a past, a history, they can all tell a story, but many of them will never get their chance. I’m not saying you should give your money directly to the homeless on the street, I don’t myself. Mainly because I’m realistic about where the money might go, but at the very least I always look the person asking in the eyes, give a little smile, and genuinely say ‘I’m sorry’ – I mean it when I say it too, because I am sorry, I’m sorry with all my heart, and they appreciate not being looked through like a glass window or ignored. I’m normally thanked by them, and I’ve not even given them a penny. It’s so important to treat others how you would wish to be treated, even if you don’t want to help, it doesn’t hurt to be nice, we all have feelings. If you did want to help, there are many charities set up to do just that, so you know your money isn’t going to feed their possible drug or alcohol habit. You could even buy some food or drink, sealed and give it to them if you wanted to do your good deed for the day but not directly give them cash.

All I’m trying to say in this post is think a little, and care a lot,  never assume anything. You’ll never know the true story as to why some one is where they are today, unless you ask. It broke my heart when I lost my cousin, I have a lot of memories, good and bad – but I never stopped loving him, or caring for him, and I wish I’d done more to help. Not every one is saveable, I know that first hand and not everyone wants to be saved, but it doesn’t cost a lot to give a bit of kindness, at the very least.