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"Not one ounce of compassion”: BBC star kicked off plane over daughter's allergy

<p>A BBC weather presenter and her family have been kicked off a plane after asking passengers to be wary of her daughter's peanut allergy. </p> <p>British weather presenter Georgie Palmer was flying from London to Turkey with her husband Matt and their daughters Annie and Rosie, as the family boarded their flight at Gatwick Airport with SunExpress airlines. </p> <p>Georgie and her family were kicked off the plane shortly after boarding, after the 49-year-old mother ran into issues around her daughter's severe allergy to peanuts.</p> <p>According to Palmer, she has requested that the captain make an announcement to all passengers asking them not to eat any peanut products on the flight, but the pilot refused. </p> <p>Palmer then took matters into her own hands and one by one asked passengers not to consume peanuts on the four-hour flight, before being asked to disembark the aircraft.</p> <p>The weather presenter took to Instagram to share her side of the story with a lengthy post. </p> <p>She began, “I thanked the beautiful souls on our plane for helping us. Many of them hugged, cheered and held our hands as we were forced to disembark."</p> <p>“The SunExpress captain and cabin crew refused to make the standard announcement on behalf of our daughter. We gently asked the passengers at the front of the plane to share our request."</p> <p>“Row by row, all the passengers turned back to kindly ask the row behind to please not eat nuts on the flight. It was calm, earnest and with an overwhelming sense of solidarity and empathy.”</p> <p>Georgie added: “There’s no beef with simple asks like these. People get it!"</p> <p>“We were hoofed off the plane after the angry little captain shouted at us from the cockpit.”</p> <p>She concluded by saying they were discriminated against for “simply having an allergy”.</p> <p>Georgie told the <a title="www.dailymail.co.uk" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13457399/bbc-weather-presenter-Georgie-Palmer-flight-nuts.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>Daily Mail</em>,</a> “The captain decided because of my daughter’s allergy he didn’t want to fly with her on board."</p> <p>“When he found out I had spoken to the other passengers he was screaming at me from the cockpit. He was so angry, the next thing I knew we were told to get off the plane."</p> <p>“How we were treated was disgusting – nobody working on that plane showed one ounce of compassion.”</p> <p>A SunExpress spokesman then shared the airline's version of events, claiming that Georgie's husband had become aggressive, and kicked the family off the plane with their best interests at heart. </p> <p>The statement said, “We take the safety of our passengers very seriously. Shortly after boarding our flight, the passenger raised a concern about one of his family group having a serious peanut allergy."</p> <p>“They requested an announcement to other passengers. We refrain from making these kinds of announcements. Like many other airlines, we cannot guarantee an allergen-free environment on our flights, nor can we prevent other passengers from bringing food items containing allergens on board."</p> <p>“Due to the insistent behaviour of the passenger to others on board, the captain decided it would be safest if the family did not travel."</p> <p>“When this was explained to the passenger, he behaved aggressively towards our crew members and tried to gain access to the cockpit. To ensure the safety of our crew and our passengers on board, we cannot tolerate aggressive and unruly behaviour on our flights."</p> <p>“Our website states that passengers must notify us 48 hours in advance of any special care required due to a medical condition. No such notification was received from the passengers in this instance.”</p> <p>According to <em><a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/tv/28140666/bbc-family-flight-passengers-peanuts-allergy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Sun</a></em>, Mr Sollom denies acting aggressively.</p> <p>The differing versions of events have divided many on social media as thousands weighed in on the debacle, with plenty of users siding with the pilot.</p> <p>“The pilot is a national treasure,” one person wrote.</p> <p>“As they should have been,” a second wrote, referring to the family getting kicked off.</p> <p>“Would have booted them off as well,” another agreed. </p> <p>A fourth wrote: “I think this story would be found under Self Entitlement in the dictionary.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram </em></p>

Travel Trouble

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The Dark Side of the Moon at 50: how Marx, trauma and compassion all influenced Pink Floyd’s masterpiece

<p><em>Dixi et salvavi animam meam.</em></p> <p>This Latin phrase – I have spoken and saved my soul – sits at the end of Karl Marx’s <a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/">Critique of the Gotha Programme</a>. </p> <p>Written in 1875, this text imagines a communist society that will come about “after the enslaving of the individual to the division of labour, and thereby also the antithesis between mental and physical labour has vanished”. </p> <p>Only then, Marx argues, “can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be completely transcended and society inscribe on its banners: from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs!”</p> <p>Roger Waters – bassist, lyricist and conceptual mastermind behind Pink Floyd’s 1973 album <em>The Dark Side of the Moon</em>, released 50 years ago today – knows Marx’s Critique. Indeed, he quotes it when discussing the record with music journalist John Harris. </p> <p>“Making <em>The Dark Side of the Moon</em>, we were all trying to do as much as we possibly could,” Waters <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/301401">told</a> Harris.</p> <p>"It was a very communal thing. What’s that old Marxist maxim? ‘From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.’ That’s sort of the way the band worked at that point."</p> <p>Assertions about solidarity, cooperation and shared “unity of purpose” – as Waters says – situate <em>Dark Side</em> in the context of Pink Floyd’s <a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/pink-floyd-roger-waters-david-gilmour-feud/">notoriously fractious</a> recording career and helps us understand the album’s enduring appeal.</p> <h2>Shine on you crazy diamond</h2> <p>Pink Floyd formed in London in 1965. Led by the charismatic songwriter, guitarist and lead vocalist Syd Barrett, the group established itself as a leader in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_underground">London underground music scene</a>. They released their debut album <em>The Piper at the Gates of Dawn</em> in 1967.</p> <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_Machine">Soft Machine</a> member Kevin Ayers <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/pink-floyds-the-piper-at-the-gates-of-dawn-9781441185174/">described</a> <em>The Piper at the Gates of Dawn</em> as “something magical, but it was in Syd Barrett”. </p> <p>Not long after the record’s release, Barrett suffered a catastrophic, LSD-induced breakdown. In response, the band recruited David Gilmour on guitar and recorded a second album, <em>A Saucerful of Secrets</em>, as a five-piece in 1968. Around this time, the increasingly unstable Barrett was unceremoniously ousted by the rest of the band. </p> <p>After Barrett left, says Ayers, “Pink Floyd became something else totally”. </p> <p>There are different versions of Pink Floyd. The recordings released after Barrett left the band in 1968 bear little resemblance to the first. </p> <p><em>Dark Side</em> sounds nothing like the whimsical Piper. But it is obvious the record is in large part preoccupied with the loss of Barrett.</p> <p>This preoccupation comes to the fore in the album’s penultimate track.</p> <p><em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1OOQP1-wOE&amp;ab_channel=HDPinkFloyd">Brain Damage</a></em>, written and sung by Waters, references Barrett’s adolescence (“Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs”), alludes to his illness (“And if the dam breaks open many years too soon”), and acknowledges his leaving the group (“And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes; I’ll see you on the dark side of the Moon”). </p> <p>Drummer Nick Mason confirms the group didn’t want to lose Barrett.</p> <p>In his <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/265734.Inside_Out">autobiography</a>, he writes, "He was our songwriter, singer, guitarist, and – although you might not have known from our less than sympathetic treatment of him – he was our friend."</p> <h2>If the dam breaks open many years too soon</h2> <p>What we hear on <em>The Dark Side of the Moon</em> is a band dealing with trauma. </p> <p>In this sense, Dark Side represents the start of a reckoning with the past – a process that culminated with the band’s next record, 1975’s elegiac <em><a href="https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/wish-you-were-here-pink-floyd-seminal-ode-to-the-tragic-life-of-syd-barrett/">Wish You Were Here</a></em>.</p> <p>Culmination is a useful term when it comes to <em>Dark Side</em> more generally. On this record, all the avant-garde techniques and tendencies the band had toyed with in the post-Barrett period – <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musique_concr%C3%A8te">musique concrète</a>, sonic manipulation, extended improvisation, analogue tape manipulation – come together to spectacular effect. </p> <p><em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0kcet4aPpQ">Money</a> –</em> with its anti-capitalist lyrics penned by Waters (“Money, it’s a crime; share it fairly, but don’t take a slice of my pie”), odd time signature, and handmade tape-loops mimicking the sounds of cash tills, bags of coins being dropped from great height and bank notes being torn up – is one of the stranger hit singles in pop music history. </p> <p>Be that as it may, Money and the album from which it is taken, of which <a href="https://www.pinkfloyd.com/tdsotm50/">more than 50 million copies</a> have been sold, continue to resonate with listeners worldwide, five decades on from its initial release.</p> <h2>The enormous risk of being truly banal</h2> <p>“I made a conscious effort when I was writing the lyrics for <em>Dark Side of the Moon</em> to take the enormous risk of being truly banal about a lot of it,” Waters told John Harris, “in order that the ideas should be expressed as simply and plainly as possible.”</p> <p>On this point, <a href="https://www.loudersound.com/news/david-gilmour-says-its-pretty-unlikely-he-and-roger-waters-will-resolve-pink-floyd-feud">if nothing else</a>, David Gilmour agrees. He told Harris, "There was definitely a feeling that the words were going to be very clear and specific. That was a leap forward. Things would mean what they meant. That was a distinct step away from what we had done before."</p> <p>Mortality, insanity, conflict, affluence, poverty and, in another nod to Marx, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marx%27s_theory_of_alienation">alienation</a> are some of the themes presented on the record. The need – and this brings us full circle – for compassion, if not outright solidarity, is another. </p> <p>This is an album about the importance of understanding, as Waters <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/301401">insists, "T</a>he potential that human beings have for recognising each other’s humanity and responding to it, with empathy rather than antipathy."</p> <p>Given the sorry state of the world in 2023, about which Roger Waters has many <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64580688">contentious</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/feb/07/pink-floyd-lyricist-calls-roger-waters-an-antisemite-and-putin-apologist">problematic</a> things to say, I wager Pink Floyd’s masterwork will continue to resonate with listeners for a while yet.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-dark-side-of-the-moon-at-50-how-marx-trauma-and-compassion-all-influenced-pink-floyds-masterpiece-198400" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Music

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"Mateship in action": NZ survivors of helicopter crash praise Aussie compassion

<p>Two couples from New Zealand who survived the deadly helicopter collision on the Gold Coast have shared their condolences for those who died during the accident.</p> <p>Edward and Marle Swart along with Riaan and Elmarie Steenberg spoke of how the "fun five-minute joy ride on vacation to Australia turned into a nightmare" and said their "hearts are so heavy" for those who died in the other aircraft that fell to the ground.</p> <p>"Our deepest sympathies and sincere condolences to the injured and the deceased and their families," they said in a joint statement released on Wednesday night.</p> <p>"We are grateful and blessed to have been spared but very sad for the people who lost loved ones and the little ones and mum fighting for their lives in hospital.</p> <p>"Our hearts are so heavy for them."</p> <p>The couples also praised the 52-year-old pilot who managed to land their damaged helicopter safely "through all the chaos", while also commending the actions of witnesses who rushed to help on the scene. </p> <p>"Our gratitude goes out to every bystander who ran to help, every police officer and emergency services personnel who helped us with our immediate needs keeping us calm and making us comfortable," they said.</p> <p>"We saw mateship in action. Australians come together to help in time of need."</p> <p>"We would like to extend our great thanks to the hospital staff taking care of us for their kindness and compassion during this traumatic experience."</p> <p>The New Zealand couples, all in their 40s, were among the six people in the second helicopter who all survived the crash with minor injuries.</p> <p><a href="https://oversixty.com.au/news/news/helicopter-crash-victims-identified" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Four people</a> on the first helicopter died while the remaining three survivors remain in hospital.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Nine News</em></p>

Travel Trouble

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Woman barred from visiting her dying mother

<p><em>Image: Sunrise </em></p> <p>Western Australian health officials have cancelled an approved visit for a woman to say goodbye to her dying mother.</p> <p>Andrea McCourt had been granted an exemption to enter WA after flying in from Texas and was in hotel quarantine when the farewell was scrapped with just 34 minutes notice.</p> <p>Ms McCourt’s trip to visit her mother’s retirement village was cancelled at the last-minute due to COVID-19 concerns after a hotel quarantine guard tested positive for the virus.</p> <p>“I sincerely regret to inform you that following thoughtful consideration, the WA Health Incident Controller has this morning withdrawn support for today’s visit due to increasing concerns regarding the public health risk associated with your visitation request,” an email from health officials read</p> <p>“Accordingly, you will not be permitted to temporarily depart hotel quarantine today.”</p> <p>The emails admits officials know the decision would be “extremely disheartening” but was not made “lightly or without comprehension.”</p> <p>“Moreover, I apologise for the untimely notice, however due to the unpredictable and everchanging nature of COVID-19 pandemic and broader quarantine system it is not possible to foresee such events,”</p> <p>Andrea told 7NEWS that she feels like she has been “treated like a criminal” over the ordeal.</p> <p>“I haven’t even had the heart to call mum this morning and say sorry we can’t come and visit you, because we don’t want her to go downhill,” she said on Wednesday.</p>

Travel Trouble

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Newly discovered Black Death victims treated with care

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When the Black Death swept through Europe during the 14th century it wiped out between 40-60 percent of the population.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Despite the traumatic death toll during the pandemic, archaeologists have found that victims of the disease were treated with “care and compassion”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A team from Cambridge University found evidence of individual burials continuing in Cambridge, as well as mass burials, which the team said “had been impossible to confirm until now”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Senior project officer Craig Cessford said it “shows that even in incredibly traumatic times during past pandemics, people tried very hard to bury the deceased with as much care as possible”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Since the disease killed people so quickly that there were no visible traces of it left on skeletons, archaeologists have been unable to identify whether individuals had died of plague unless they were buried in mass graves.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At least, that was the case until researchers from the After the Plague project identified the plague-causing pathogen called </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Yersinia pestis</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">, which they found by studying the DNA from the teeth of medieval bodies.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The bodies studied were buried at a parish cemetery and friary in Cambridge, excavated in 2017, as well as those buried in the nearby deserted village of Clopton.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At least three plague victims were found buried in the chapter house of the friary.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mr Cessford said the “burials show that even during plague outbreaks, individual people were being buried with considerable care and attention”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Mass graves of plague victims were also uncovered in Cambridge in St Bene’t’s churchyard.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The land was soon after transferred to Corpus Christi College, when the St Bene’t’s parish guild founded the college to commemorate victims of the Black Death.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Cambridge Archaeological Unit</span></em></p>

Relationships

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Visual arts help marginalized youth learn mindfulness and self-compassion

<p>How do girls feel before and after learning mindfulness? The six girls in our program, aged 11 and 12, drew pictures showing that learning and practising mindfulness helped them feel more in control and compassionate, less judgmental, happy, focused, calm and logical, especially when they make good choices.</p> <p>These girls had just completed the 12-week <a href="https://www.dianacoholic.com/my-work/">holistic arts-based program (HAP)</a>that we offer at Laurentian University, which teaches mindfulness-based practices and concepts using arts like painting, drawing and collage, or materials like clay and sand. We also incorporate games and and tai chi.</p> <p>I developed HAP with the help of <a href="https://laurentian.ca/faculty/hcheu">Hoi Cheu</a>, a professor in the English department with training in film making, marital and family therapy, tai chi and mindfulness. Part of our early team were Sean Lougheed (with a graduate degree in child and youth care), Jennifer Posteraro (research co-ordinator with a graduate degree in psychology) and Julie LeBreton (social work student).</p> <p><strong>Youth facing challenges</strong></p> <p>We wanted to respond to the needs of marginalized children in our communities — such as those who <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10566-010-9139-x">face diverse challenges</a>, including academic, mental health and social challenges, and those facing life circumstances such as abuse, bullying, social exclusion, poverty or family dysfunction.</p> <p>We wanted to help them build skills and capacities such as paying attention, and for improving peer relationships and mood. But we knew that these children may <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-12259-004">not have the attention skills</a> required for a more traditional mindfulness program.</p> <p>In developing the program, we drew on the extensive knowledge bases of <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=y6PY4hv47I0C&amp;lpg=PR3&amp;ots=-huao1DPlo&amp;dq=malchiodi%20art%20therapy&amp;lr&amp;pg=PP1#v=onepage&amp;q=malchiodi%20art%20therapy&amp;f=false">art therapy</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017315581772">arts methods with youth</a>. We then refined the program through research with children involved with the child welfare and/or mental health systems.</p> <p>We receive referrals for the program from a variety of sources, including mental health practitioners, guidance counsellors, principals and teachers, child welfare workers and self-referrals (mostly from parents).</p> <p><strong>Self-compassion, acceptance</strong></p> <p>Discussions about mindfulness seem to be everywhere these days, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-018-0998-9">some schools</a>. Mindfulness has come under <a href="https://theconversation.com/mcmindfulness-buddhism-as-sold-to-you-by-neoliberals-88338">criticism as it has gained in popularity throughout the West</a>. Some say institutions that use it may encourage or distract people from advocating for systemic change. We understand that systems need to be challenged and changed. In our program, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/41669899?seq=1">we work to assist individuals and groups to cope better with, and challenge, the oppressive or unjust systems</a> in their lives.</p> <p>Since 2009, more than 300 other youth from our community have participated in our arts and mindfulness program. Over a two-hour period, two facilitators lead small groups of participants. Through the activities they aim to help participants work together, learn about themselves and express their feelings and thoughts and practise breathing, self-compassion and acceptance.</p> <p>The drawing by several girls in the program of a brain before and after mindfulness is a wonderful depiction of the benefits of learning mindfulness, <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs12671-012-0123-4.pdf">often defined</a> as the ability to pay attention, purposefully, to the present moment without negative judgements. The power of mindfulness is the ability to make choices about one’s feelings, thoughts and behaviours rather than reacting and acting out.</p> <p><strong>‘Happy awareness program’</strong></p> <p>Creative activities such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-015-0431-3">painting how music makes you feel or drawing yourself as a tree </a>aid in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2013.763326">identifying and naming feelings, communicating these feelings and thoughts and discovering things about yourself</a> in ways that are effective and developmentally relevant. Belonging to a <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=PS42CwAAQBAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=andrew+malekoff&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiV-sfVvOPlAhXqYd8KHe0YCF4Q6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&amp;q=andrew%20malekoff&amp;f=false">supportive group helps youth</a> develop a wide variety of capacities and strengths such as social skills, empathy and self-awareness.</p> <p><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2019.1571764">Common reported benefits</a> of mindfulness-based interventions with youth often include improved emotion regulation, mood and well-being and decreases in stress and feelings of anxiety. Almost all of the youth we have worked with described the holistic arts-based program as “fun.” One youth suggested we re-name our program the “Happy Awareness Program.”</p> <p><strong>Benefits to mental health</strong></p> <p>In our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1468017319828864">research</a> with youth admitted to a small in-patient mental health program, we found that youth who participated in the program activities reported that the program was enjoyable and beneficial in that they learned to identify and express what they were feeling, and they could focus better and think in different ways.</p> <p>We interviewed the youth and they shared feedback about their experiences:</p> <p>“I learned that I like doing art and it relaxes me and makes me express myself better.”</p> <p>“Being mindful helps with the anxiety that I have and helps me just focus either on my work or something else that I am doing.”</p> <p>“There are a lot of fun activities that can help you find yourself and find peace within yourself, to relax and catch your thoughts instead of them jumping all over.”</p> <p>There are a multitude of mindfulness-based programs for youth, many of which have been adapted from two well-known programs originally developed for adults: <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=fIuNDtnb2ZkC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=full+catastrophe+living&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjajZC_x-DlAhWFhOAKHbMFBakQ6AEIKTAA#v=onepage&amp;q=full%20catastrophe%20living&amp;f=false">mindfulness-based stress reduction</a>, and <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?hl=en&amp;lr=&amp;id=QHRVDwAAQBAJ&amp;oi=fnd&amp;pg=PP1&amp;dq=mindfulness+based+cognitive+therapy+for+depression&amp;ots=EUEf7xSzr6&amp;sig=ggv0OWhPhIkcN4b0TTInAlEmdEM&amp;redir_esc=y#v=onepage&amp;q=mindfulness%20based%20cognitive%20therapy%20for%20depression&amp;f=false">mindfulness-based cognitive therapy</a>.</p> <p>Two examples of programs for youth developed by clinical psychologists are <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=qT6nSwnipiMC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=mbct-c&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwiP1s3Y0uDlAhXPmuAKHSMFAX4Q6AEILzAB#v=onepage&amp;q=mbct-c&amp;f=false">Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Children</a> and <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=fw0A5HETcIAC&amp;printsec=frontcover&amp;dq=learning+to+breath&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=0ahUKEwjo1LD40uDlAhWPTd8KHbt7B4QQ6AEINDAB#v=onepage&amp;q=learning%20to%20breath&amp;f=false">Learning to Breathe</a>.</p> <p><strong>Strengths-based change</strong></p> <p>Arts-based activities do not have to be complicated. For example, having group members notice and write down each other’s strengths can begin to shift the negative beliefs youth have about themselves. Developing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00330.x">self-compassion</a> and self-acceptance is an important part of living more mindfully and experiencing well-being.</p> <p>Awareness and expression of feelings can be facilitated by drawing what we call feelings inventories. Such feelings inventories are always unique.</p> <p>Based on our research experiences, we have become strong advocates of teaching mindfulness-based practices and concepts <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2015.1091700">through the arts</a>.</p> <p>Through this approach, we can make the cumulative benefits of practising mindfulness more accessible to diverse groups of youth — and youth are enabled to express themselves in relevant, meaningful and developmentally appropriate ways.</p> <p>I have learned through <a href="https://www.northrose.ca/northrose-titles.html">my work</a> that change does not have to be daunting. Important learning can take place through experiences of fun and belonging.</p> <p><em>Written by Diana Coholic. Republished with permission of </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/visual-arts-help-marginalized-youth-learn-mindfulness-and-self-compassion-126149"><em>The Conversation.</em></a></p>

Art

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"One day it will be you": Woman’s touching message about how the elderly are mistreated

<p>A Melbourne woman’s post about the way the elderly are treated has gone viral, sparking discussions about compassion and kindness.</p> <p>Adele Barbaro took to Facebook after she witnessed two older Australians in need being ignored in public.</p> <p>“One man just needed Panadol for his wife but the shop assistant simply said it’s in ‘6’,” she wrote. “But he struggled to navigate the supermarket and as I watched him go in the wrong direction, I left all my groceries and took him where he needed to go.”</p> <p>Within the same week, she saw another elderly man walking in the heat with “a huge scrape and blood on his leg” to no one’s attention.</p> <p>“He walked past people in the cafe, while he slowly made his way to his car,” Barbaro wrote. “Not one person stopped. Or looked. Or acknowledged him.”</p> <p>She said she checked on the elderly man, who turned out to have had a fall. </p> <p>“I sat with him … and heard him talk about the old frail body that he is in, that fails him now, every single day.”</p> <p>Barbaro implored others to “take a minute” and give a hand to elderly people struggling in public places.</p> <p>“Once upon a time they were you,” she said. “They were busy, they had work, they had children, they were able.... Today, they are just in an older body that is not going as fast as it used to.</p> <p>“One day it will be you, it will be us.”</p> <p>She hoped more people would be moved to care for the elderly and that “someday, not that far away, someone does it for me".</p> <p><iframe src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/post.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FTheRealMumma%2Fposts%2F761298997580037&amp;width=500" width="500" height="709" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allow="encrypted-media"></iframe></p> <p>The post struck a chord with readers, with more than 192,000 likes and 132,000 shares at the time of writing. Other Facebook users also shared their stories of seeing older people get mistreated.</p> <p>“Don’t walk by, stop and ask if the person needs help,” a user commented. “It but takes a minute and could make someone’s day.”</p> <p>Have you ever witnessed or experienced something like this? Tell us your story in the comments below.</p>

Caring

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