Category Archives: HumanLoving

A Baby Dies at Day Care, and a Mother Asks Why She Had to Leave Him So Soon – The New York Times

I wasn’t just up against the end of my parental leave. I was up against an entire culture that places very little value on caring for infants and small children. Parental leave reduces infant death, gives us healthier, more well-adjusted adults and helps women stay in the workforce. If we truly valued the 47 percent of the work force who are women, and the value of our families, things would look different. Mothers could go back to work after taking time off to recover physically from birth and bond with their young children. Health care could be available to bridge that return to work so that our children could get their wellness checkups and vaccinations.Yes, it’s possible that even in a different system, Karl still might not have lived a day longer, but had he had been with me, where I wanted him, I wouldn’t be sitting here, living with the nearly incapacitating anguish of a question that has no answer.There are plenty of good examples of how to create a national parental leave system that works. Our children can’t afford lobbyists. It’s up to us parents to demand more.

Source: A Baby Dies at Day Care, and a Mother Asks Why She Had to Leave Him So Soon – The New York Times

Israeli MK calls for permitting imprisonment of children | PNN

MK Anat Berko (Likud) submitted a law proposing that minors can be sent to prison, prior to any alleged stab attacks carried out by Palestinian minors. The current legislation prevents the imprisonment of children under the age of 14, although they can still be sent to juvenile facilities.The bill suggests that the age of the offender can be dismissed in cases committed with a “nationalist motive.”According to Berko, it is more likely that minors are recruited to commit attacks, as the ’loophole’ in the law, presumably there to protect children from being sent to jail, makes it easier to convince these children to commit acts of violence.

Source: Israeli MK calls for permitting imprisonment of children | PNN

Ukip gears up to make Oldham byelection an early test for Jeremy Corbyn | Politics | The Guardian

From Oldham Blue Coat school, you can just about make out, across the south Pennines, the cotton mills that once made the town wealthy. In Jason Casey’s A-level class there is a range of emerging political views. Some of the class are already old enough to vote. They are universally hostile towards Ukip. To one or two, the Tories seem the natural rulers. James Tierney is a Conservative supporter because “they can control the economy better” but he does not want to cast a “wasted vote”, so will probably vote Labour. Most are, however, eager to hear more from Corbyn, though Anna Worthington fears that her mother’s job in business would be at risk if he were to become prime minister, and Iwan Phillips, a Labour member who supported Andy Burnham, is conscious that “there are some people who will never, ever vote for Corbyn”. Nuala Scott is unswayed by their concerns: “He’s going to bring in more voters that are disillusioned, because Labour actually stand for something now.”

Source: Ukip gears up to make Oldham byelection an early test for Jeremy Corbyn | Politics | The Guardian

Aung San Suu Kyi Seems to Have Myanmar’s Countryside in Her Corner – The New York Times

In an impoverished country without a tradition of opinion polls, there is no way to reliably predict the outcome of Sunday’s election. Five years after the end of the brutal military dictatorship here, the military remains powerful, not only controlling the current government but also retaining the power to appoint a quarter of the seats in Parliament and the heads of several key ministries.But if this village is any guide, the country’s heart remains with Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, whose rallies across Myanmar have been drawing frenzied crowds. Such outpourings suggest that her backing goes well beyond the Internet-connected city dwellers who have plastered their support for her on their Facebook pages and the celebrities who have very publicly broadcast their affection.

Source: Aung San Suu Kyi Seems to Have Myanmar’s Countryside in Her Corner – The New York Times

Humans of New York

“I was a costume designer, and I joined a famous dance company shortly after moving to New York. On my first day, one of the dancers told me that she’d met her best friend while on the job. I remember wishing that I could be so lucky. When I met Chris, he was still a dancer. But he was so talented that soon the director was giving him his own shows to choreograph. We worked together on everything. We could not have been more different. I had no interest in being famous. I grew up in a quiet family. I didn’t want to have a famous name or make a million dollars. But both of Chris’s parents had been Olympic skiers. So Chris wanted to win. He wanted his name in the paper. He’d always say things like: ‘That job should have been mine,’ or ‘I could have done that show better than him.’ I’m a born assistant. I didn’t have that drive but I enjoyed being close to it. It was like this breeze was coming off him all the time. He brought 100% of himself into everything he did. He was the kind of dancer that you’d pay to watch him walk a dog. I think he valued me because I was a willing participant in all his schemes. It was exciting just to be around him.” (

Source: Humans of New York

Humans of New York

“Chris didn’t tell me he was HIV positive until he began to get really sick. It was 1991, so there wasn’t much that could be done back then. It was the only time we ever argued. I wanted him to take care of himself so he could live as long as possible. He wanted to keep traveling, and drinking, and eating whatever he wanted. He kept working right until the end. Even when he was so sick that he had to be hooked up to an IV feed, he was making plans to go to the Netherlands to choreograph a show. He’d located a doctor there and everything. But he never made it. He began to lose his lucidity toward the end. One night he began to direct us. There were three of us in his hospital room, and he told us to arrange the lamp a certain way, then he had us lift him into the air. He seemed to be somewhere else. I think in his mind he was actually on a stage.”

Source: Humans of New York

Mimi Writes…….: Dona Nobis Pacem ~ Peace and The Power of Love

Welcome to the tenth year of BlogBlast For Peace aka Blog4Peace. We speak Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant us Peace) all over the Blogosphere today.  I hope you have a wonderful Blog4Peace. Please visit each other on your blogs and see all the beautiful new peace globes flying around. Don’t forget to sign the Mr. Linky below! We want to read your posts! This is my peace story for NOV 4.

Source: Mimi Writes…….: Dona Nobis Pacem ~ Peace and The Power of Love

SPIEGEL Interview with Primate Researcher Jane Goodall – SPIEGEL ONLINE

The chimpanzees taught me a lot about nonverbal communication. The big difference between them and us is that they don’t have spoken language. Everything else is almost the same: Kissing, embracing, swaggering, shaking the fist. I studied those things a lot in chimps, and I suppose that’s why I’m quite good at reading people. For example, if you catch somebody doing something wrong, he will just cringe away and curl up. He will not listen anymore. Instead, he will think of how he can counterattack. So the only possible way to get somebody to change is to reach into their hearts.

Source: SPIEGEL Interview with Primate Researcher Jane Goodall – SPIEGEL ONLINE

On the Pope and a Prisoner Holding Hands in PhiladelphiaReading the Pictures

So, yes, extend a helping hand for the man going down in flames. And yet, with gentleness in the Pope’s grip reciprocated, what we’re seeing—and what the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia’s correctional facility is all about—is less Last Judgement and more Sistine Chapel: sometimes the ultimate act of grace is simply to reach across the divide and make contact.Certainly that gesture of grace is part of why Pope Francis’s visit has shaken up the story line in US politics. The art of compromise just doesn’t play well politically these days, as if “reaching out to the other side” is just one step away from a deal with the devil.

Source: On the Pope and a Prisoner Holding Hands in PhiladelphiaReading the Pictures