March 14, 2013

• Report # 981

  Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a great week. It’s been a super wet week here as every day has been pouring down rain, though it’s been over 10 C (50 F) so it hasn’t felt too chilly. Each morning I’ve ran to Tim Hortons and I’ve gone for a 45 minute walk in the afternoon. In a couple of days I’ll have to start running more again, as the total run to and from Tim Hortons is probably not even 3 km, and after all of the running I was doing in Monterrey, that’s just not good enough.

  On Tuesday afternoon I went to Boston Pizza with my grandmother, which was the first time I went out for lunch with her since last August. The last time we went out, we ate at that exact same restaurant too. I had a bacon penne pasta, and seeing as I had went to Tim Hortons earlier in the day I wasn’t able to eat the whole plate, though I finished the rest for dinner. Afterwards we went to London Drugs and I just bought some packs of lined paper, and then made a quick stop at the bank to cash a cheque my grandmother had given me that was from Christmas.

  That night I sent an email to the lady I used to work with at Supersave to see if they needed any help there. She told me that they were still busy and she would check in with the manager. I thought it could possibly be a good temporary opportunity as I already worked there before and I can get there without a car, but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be. If it was up to the manager, I would have been able to come back and work for a while, but she had to talk to one of the president’s from the company, and she was told they were operating at full capacity, so I won’t be able to go back and work at Supersave for a while.

  It would have been the quickest and most convenient thing for me to be able to do, but I’ll obviously have to look into some other options. It’s a bit difficult as I don’t have a car and there would be only so many places I could get to from here, but I will look and see what I can find. I would like to be able to work at least for a little while as I wait the whole visa process. So I’ll take a look again this afternoon and see what I can find. Aside from that I’ve just been doing laundry today and I’ll probably vacuum the house and head for a walk.

  Well it’s been over eight months, so today is a good day for an update to the comment standings. I’ve done it a little more thoroughly this time around, so it actually took quite a bit of work ! This is my 981st entry and I’ve posted 863 of Canada (822 in British Columbia, 40 in Alberta, and one in the Yukon Territory) 87 from Mexico (52 from Nuevo León, 22 from Michoacán, 7 from Oaxaca, 2 from Sonora, and one each from Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Jalisco and Mexico City) And from the United States I’ve posted 31 entries (14 from California, 9 from Indiana, 3 from Washington State and Texas, and 2 from Missouri)

  I’ve received 4,725 comments since I started this site on February 24, 2005, and while most of them are from the United States, I’ve got lots from Canada, and some from other countries such as Mexico, Philippines, Indonesia, Germany and El Salvador. I definitely would like to get more comments from around the world, but Xanga isn’t so easy to connect with people from around the world as it was in the past.

  And finally here are the comment standings:

                 Most Comments by Username

  1. Duckymomo…………….. 224

  2. Goaliegirl………………….. 203

  3. Jennylove……………………200

  4. Onescrewloose……………160

  5. Pepin909…………………….147

  6. Zsa-md……………………….146

  7. Phoenixdown17…………….122

  8. Jst4e…………………………….116

  9. Rybabyg.……………………….102

  10. Jazziegal97……………………102

  Most Comments by Location

  1. California = 466

  2. Pennsylvania = 248

  3. British Columbia = 232

  4. Alberta = 220

  5. Illinois = 209

  6. Florida = 192

  7. New York = 188

  8. Nebraska = 177

  9. Arizona = 165

  10. Wisconsin = 162

  And that concludes the comment update for a long time… at least until December ! Now before I got I wanted to talk a little about International Women’s Day which was held last week on Friday March, 8. I was coming back from Mexico that day and I bought a copy of El Universal, which is Mexico’s national newspaper. I was reading an article that was filled of letters written by women who had been abused physically or sexually by their boyfriends, husbands, neighbours, uncles…. even their own parents.

  I was talking to my friend about this last night and she was saying how they aren’t such nice stories to read for International Women’s Day, and I agree 100 %… they are horrific, however the importance of reading them and being aware that this sort of stuff has happened and continues to happen is just huge. Too many people for too many years have been blinded and not seen what they should have been able to see. There are so many women in this world who feel trapped in such terrible situations.

  As a caring society, it is the job of other people to take care and do something about it and help these women when it is obvious that they are going through hell everyday of their lives. Ultimately it is up to the individual to have the courage to walk away from a situation, but many times the person who has been violating these women in different ways for so long has made these women feel so weak, worthless and powerless, they just don’t have the strength to get the help that they need and deserve.

  My friend was even telling me how she was talking to her friends about their relationships, and some of them are married or who have boyfriends who are very possessive and controlling over their lives. I thought that was very sad to hear, because this is only the beginning, and I can imagine guys like them would just get worse and worse and it’s only a matter of time before their overly controlling and manipulative ways turn into raging temper based attacks and physical violence.

  I would hope those women realize that they should not have to put up with that garbage and they have the strength to leave before it’s too late, but ultimately it’s their lives and friends can just talk and try and tell them what they think. These friends can do what they can to help, but it would be the decision of the individual to leave and find themselves something much better.

  If it gets to the point of people seeing women out with bruises on their bodies or emotionally destroyed, clearly these women need help immediately, and in that type of situation friends and family, and whoever else is aware of the situation would have to intervene immediately. The sad thing is so many men think they are so powerful and they can just get away with what they are doing without consequences. This has to change and society has to make it 100 % clear that violence and abuse towards any woman is not tolerated and that the punishments for these offences would be as harsh as possible under the rule of law.

  In the cases of the children who are being molested or beat by their parents or someone close to them, I think in a lot of those situations someone in the family is aware that this is taking place, and if they are just staying silent for years and doing nothing to stop it, they are just as guilty as the person doing these sick things, and they should be punished severely as well. In these situations as well, teachers, close family friends, and anyone else who has any connections with these kids should be alert and watch for any signs that any sort of injustice is taking place towards these children…… there has to be warning signs.

  And while I believe it’s super important for society to beware of all of these injustices and violence towards women, the International Women’s Day is about so much more than that. When I was reading through El Universal, there were various articles about actresses, politicians, and even an article about a woman who directs a prison. So it was great to read that so many women have risen up and accomplished so much and have had such amazing opportunities in their lives.

  So celebrating the success of women is certainly something that is of utmost importance as well. Clearly so many women around the world have defied many odds and passed through many obstacles to get to where they are today, and that is something that should be greatly appreciated and celebrated as well. One of the issues that was talked about a lot, is equality…. and clearly things are still not 100 % equal for women. Of course things have improved greatly, but there is still so much more to be done to create a world that is 100 % equal.

  There are still women who work basically the same jobs as men with a salary that is less, yet to get to that point I am assuming they had a much tougher path than their male counterparts have had. In the sectors which are male dominated, women still face discrimination and clearly suffer types of bullying and abuse. (There has been horror stories in the police force in Canada about how some women have been treated) And as we all know in some countries women’s rights are basically nothing.

  So in 2013 women have much to be proud of. There are women leading some of the most important nations in the world, Angela Merkel in Germany, Park Geun-Hye in South Korea, and Cristina Kirchner in Argentina, women actresses which are truly talented and appreciated for their acting skills and not their sex appeal, women who do work in industries traditionally dominated by males, firefighters, truck drivers, police officers, and manufacturing plants… and just so many more wonderful examples.

  In the sports world women are truly doing great things.Throughout the world unfortunately, the opportunities for these women to participate in sports are greatly limited – sometimes they are non-existent. So women deserve all of the opportunities as men to play the sports they want to play, and any country that is denying women these rights is truly not supportive of equality or women’s rights at all. So while there is much to celebrate this year in terms of all that women have been able to accomplish around the world, clearly there is much work to still be done….. definitely in some places and in some industries more than others.

  The world has come a long way towards equality though, and if we stick to the path we are going and we all put up a fight towards 100 % equality, we will arrive there sooner rather than later. This can happen and I believe that it will happen, we just all have to do what we can to make this world a better place for women. And a lot of what can be done to do this can be done by men as well….. they just have to understand the reality of the situation women around the world face and work towards developing a plan to lead us towards full equality.

  Obviously in some countries in the world women’s rights are basically non-existent, but pressure can be put on these countries and their governments to make changes that will benefit women, because no religion and no type of government has any excuse to deny women equality, freedom of speech and full human rights. And I know that there isn’t really a religion that discriminates against women…. its just some of the extremists and zealots who try and bend the rules of their religion to make it seem that’s who things should be.

  So to sum everything up, if we all work together and a strong plan is implemented in every country things can and will improve for women. Each country could set up a group of some of the most respected women, and some men as well, and they can get together and come up with basic ideals that could be implemented and put into law to truly make equality a reality… not just a pipe dream. I know this is possible, it’s just something people have to get working on !

  Perhaps I’m being a bit optimistic, but I hope not. I strongly believe in equality for both genders, I strongly believe in equal rights for both genders, I strongly believe in a zero-tolerance policy for violence against women, I strongly support equal opportunities and rules for both men and women regardless of where they live, and most importantly I support a world where a person’s attributes,characteristics, personality, and skills are what stand people apart…. not their gender.

  So International Women’s Day has been a great addition to the calendar, but it can’t just be the one day a year that these important issues are discussed, and it can’t just be a symbolic day either. There has to be awareness of these issues throughout the year and that is really what needs to be done. Awareness leads to discussion, discussion leads to planning, and planning leads to implementation. I seriously believe if all of this can be accomplished, the world will be a much better place for women, and in turn a much greater place to live for us all.

  For the next question:

  What do you think can be done to further create equality among men and women in this world and how would we go about in achieving that goal ?

  That’s all I have for today. I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of the week. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Sunday, bye for now.

  • 4:50 pm
  • 5 Comments