I do volunteer work once a fortnight with the outreach and friendship service for the homeless, Rosies.
Rosies is a really great organisation. Their main aim is to provide friendship to the marginalised, homeless, houseless and abandoned within our community. My “work” involves heading into the Brisbane CBD with the van for a couple of hours one night a fortnight and spending time with whoever wants to come and chat with us. We provide drinks (coffee, tea and milo) as a way of making everyone feel welcome. It’s also a really good way to warm up since it’s been so cold these last few weeks!
I feel really lucky to have been given the opportunity to talk directly to a group of people that I normally wouldn’t be able to. I have learnt a lot about people and circumstance and what makes people homeless and why they might choose to be that way.
Probably the most important lesson I’ve learnt so far was last Monday night during a debrief by our team leader. He talked about poverty and circumstance and how the lowest form of poverty is not a lack of money or roof over our heads, it’s more to do with not having any close friends or family. He was talking about loneliness. A lot of people that come and spend time with us on the street aren’t homeless, they live in a hostel. They come and chat to us because they’re lonely. This makes me so sad every time I think about it.
Think about your own friendships, whether you’ve got one close friend or 150, make sure you let them know somehow just how much you appreciate them. Friends and family are SO incredibly important to our wellbeing. I don’t have a lot of close friends but I have a few that are very special to me and I feel so lucky to have these beautiful, loving people in my life. I also have an amazingly supportive family which I value very much.
Send your close friends an email and let them know how much you care. They may think you’re a bit weird but hey, they’ll also probably really appreciate it too.
Oh yeah, and I know the image is crazy. I just thought it was too cute not to post.
Frances Kerr
When I was at my local market today, I saw this really beautiful girl with freckles. They were tiny little freckles only her face, nowhere else, but there were thousands of them. I had never before considered how stunningly beautiful freckles could look. I couldn’t take my eyes away from her!
I’m a red head so naturally freckles come with the package. It’s only been in the past few years that I’ve come to love my freckles and how an imperfection can be so beautiful. I think freckles also add character and personality and life.
My point is, learn to love your imperfections because there’s someone out there who will. Boys, consider this one. I find skinny men really hot, buff guys actually turn me off. I also love a guy with a biggish nose and scruffy hair – and there are more girls out there just like me!
Cosmetic surgery to better these minor “imperfections” is growing in popularity and it’s really worrying me. Take my recent trip to the GP for my problem skin as an example.
My accidental introduction to cosmetic surgery
It was about two months ago when I started to notice my skin getting bad so for the first time since I was a teenager I thought I’d better go and see the doctor about it. All I was after was a bit of support and maybe a cream or gel and some advice on how I can change my diet and lifestyle. When I told him why I was there, straight away he said ‘yep, we can fix that with microdermabrasian’. Microderma what?? Without answering any of my questions he took me into this room and sat me down in front of a video screen. He then stuck a small video camera lens on my face which magnified my skin by about a zillion. He then proceeded to tell me that I had very ‘tired’ skin and pointed out the tiny little lumps and pimples on my face. Getting your skin magnified by that much is not a pleasant experience for anyone. By this time I was feeling really low.
He then took me into yet another room which had this microdermabrasion machine in it. He turned it on and rubbed the vacuum sandpapery thing on my arm to demonstrate. Seriously, I could not see any difference. He then told me about this ’special’ they had where you could get six treatments for the price of five (at the bargain price of $100 a treatment) and surprisingly, I would need about six treatments. He then gave me some literature to read, sat me down and left the room.
This all happened so fast that I was in a slight state of shock. Looking around the room made me really freak out. All over the walls were posters on brow lifts, lip implants and other cosmetic surgery procedures that I’ve now blocked out of my mind. Sitting in front of me was a form on a clipboard with a pen which I was supposed to fill out then and there. It was a consent form for cosmetic surgery. Hardcore.
Eventually Dr. Cosmetic Surgery came back into the room and I told him I needed time to think about it (yeah right) and made my way quickly out of there. I’ve researched microdermabrasion since and it’s definitely one of the least invasive forms of cosmetic surgery but it’s still stripping skin off your face and not something I particularly want to do because it seems really unnatural and slightly dangerous (apparently the risks of this procedure are hyperpigmentation, perforation, bleeding, and infection). His casual attitude about the whole thing and assumption that I would sign up right away kind of annoyed me too.
I think plastic surgery has its place for curing abnormalities and injuries, but it’s pointless putting your body through risk for vanity. I’m glad I didn’t sign that form because the procedure probably would have taken my freckles away too, and I’d really like to keep them.
Frances Kerr
