What about me?

What about me, it isn't fair
I've had enough now I want my share
Can't you see I wanna live
But you just take more than you give

This is the chorus of an old song, written in 1982 by Garry Frost and Frances Swan and sung by Moving Production. Earlier this year, in a comment on You Tube, someone who was signed on as “Eldorado Perth City" said this song was now “A Message to the LNP Government of Australia”. I see that too.

Two years ago RJ McAllister said: “For those not old enough to remember ..., the economy here sucked at that time as well, and that little corner shop is now likely gone, replaced by a mega-mart, where the pretty girl's standing at a register seven hours a day for minimum wage and no benefits. She probably has those same dreams now as then, and just as little chance of seeing them come true. So few have so much, and when those whose answer to 'what do you want' is always 'more' have it all, they might figure out it's not what it seems, though I doubt it. It hasn't changed; it's just gotten worse.”

So sadly true. So how has this country gotten worse? My previous blogs were about toothless legislation, WHS, ageing, medicalisation, homelessness, feminism, climate change, animals, world wars, moving forward, moving backward, brain injury, strokes, cancer, suicide, zero tolerance and so much, much more. Pretty much all of it was connected with the crap this government has brought down on this country. Even some disgusting misogynist attacks by Abbott on Gillard.

Recently I looked through my blogs and thought I was negative. But after my brain surgery in hospital along with a stroke which has left me with aphasia, I wonder how I can get positive? In fact, for me this negativity goes back before hospital. I lost my grandkids in early 2012. The start of my downhill life. Do you live with something like that? What, then, leads you through your life? Are you grieving, or do people growl at you to cheer up?

This morning I googled “Australian positivity in 2017”. There were a lot of schools listed in there, and a lot of positivity psychology groups, but there were very few media articles. News.co.au wrote on 13 March that “Aussies in the dark as big changes loom for credit card, loan and mortgage applications” - very little positivity. On 6 April, Business Insider wrote “Citi's positive outlook for global shares doesn't include Australia” - definitely very little positivity.

The ABC reported on 10 May a “positive” response from the AIG about the budget outcome, and MYOB CEO Tim Reed on 9 May said “It encourages business growth and is exactly the type of measure that delivers confidence to the business community.” Business. Typical.

And yet the only real positive report came directly from the government: 29 March this year, “Australia has experienced the longest period of economic growth in the developed world”. Methinks this “positivity” is for business, not for anyone in this country who has not had a pay increase, or has had a very low pay increase, moving them below the GDP. Perhaps we have been set up for the future... the whole country will be under GDP.

I googled “Australian budget negativity 2017”. It seems that much of the “negativity” is in relation to negative gearing for housing. Labor has laid out their new policy, Crikey wrote that the government has ignored negative gearing and ABC wrote “Federal budget 2017 lacks the silver bullet needed to slay Australia's housing vampire”. Well, someone needed to see that.

So I went back to Google and removed the word “budget” - and came up with a whole lot of different things.

Conversation gave a “guide for the perplexed” to try to understand climate change. New Daily reported that “[a] 2017 survey by Deloitte across thirty countries, suggests pessimism is rampant in developed nations, with Australians among the worst”, and that “[f]our per cent of Australian Millennials (born after 1982) expect to be happier than their parents, compared to 23 per cent of their global counterparts.” Oh goodness!

ABC wrote that Adrian Wooldridge said “[v]ery large numbers of companies are mandating or at least encouraging their workers to be happy. They want them to have a smiley face; they want them to be bubbly and enthusiastic.” Why on earth do they want that?? I ask you to read this. This article compares between the fall of permanent workers (fired) and the growth of casual workers (employed when they can smile).

Business, listen to me. Why force them to smile? Why employ them as a casual? Why fire anyone who has nothing and can't smile?

For Pete's sake, business – PAY THEM!

What is causing negativity? Well, look through the long list of stuff: struggling for some time, negative thinking, past experiences, self-preservation, lack of success, bad work environment, social withdrawal, apathy, physical illness, life events, criticisms, lack of compliments, depression, lost job satisfaction, feeling isolated, apprehension, lack of support. So many more things. Each person will feel different, yet most are very similar.

There are far too many quotes that came up on Google which despise negativity. They don't understand that too many people feel that way and need help. I know I'm not the first woman to separate from her husband, not the first diagnosed brain aneurysm, not the first stroke and not the first suicide attempt. I also know that I react differently to whatever happens to me, which is why I feel different when I should know I'm not. Don't hold that against me.

What about me, it isn't fair
I've had enough now I want my share
Can't you see I wanna live
But you just take more than you give

This is the chorus from the song I mentioned at the start. These words have never changed, and the reason behind them has never changed, but it frustrates me, too much, to think too many days that everyone should have a similar life. That everyone can own one house, if they want to. That everyone can have a well paid job, if they can. That those who don't or can't work didn't choose that. That everyone on this planet should care for other people they see.

I've had a lot of connection with wonderful people, with support organisations, with doctors, with psychologists but unfortunately they turn off at the end of their work day, go home, feel good about what they did.

Would you ever share with someone who needs you? Do you know who does?

Can't you see I wanna live?