May 2007
Abandoned baby
19/05/07 23:21 |
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This week a baby was abandoned in a Melbourne
hospital in Australia. One of our newspapers
criticised the mother and vilified her for giving up
her baby. Jeff Kennett, from Beyond Blue, a depression
help organisation, was totally outraged by these
comments. See article in The Age.
He made the point that a person must be very
desperate, depressed, afraid and under extreme stress
to abandon a baby. The mother needs our sympathy and
practical help. She may need medical treatment.
Certainly she will not claim the child now. There is
an assumption that it was the mother who abandoned
the baby. This assumption may be wrong. Where is the
father??? Did any other relatives or friends know
about the baby? No-one lives in isolation. People
close to the mother did not reassure her that she
could cope with parenting a child. Even going through
the legal process of adoption was too much for her.
Perhaps she hid the pregnancy, we do not know. We
know nothing about the mother's circumstances. She
may be in grief from loosing her baby even if giving
the child up is the best decision. I wish I could
restore her joy and help her to heal.
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Mother's Day
15/05/07 22:58 |
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"The Virgin Mother", by Damien Hirst.
I'm not sure why Damien Hirst called his sculpture, "The Virgin Mother". Women cannot become a mother when a virgin. Sunday 13th May was Mother's Day in Australia. Mother's Day is a time for remembering all the special things our mothers have done for us. It is a time of families getting together,
a time to appreciate relationships. It is an irony
that so much advertising takes over Mother's Day. It
can feel like just another excuse to make us buy more
stuff.
There would be no motherhood without women's fertility cycles. Blood marks our fertility when we mature and become a woman. Blood also marks infertility by indicating to a woman that she did not become pregnant that month. During pregnancy, the bleeding cycles cease while the baby develops. When the pregnancy comes to full term, then the baby is born in blood.
The photo is a sculpture in London, "The Virgin Mother", by Damien Hirst. It shows the amazing way a baby is created within a woman, completely rearranging her body.
There would be no motherhood without women's fertility cycles. Blood marks our fertility when we mature and become a woman. Blood also marks infertility by indicating to a woman that she did not become pregnant that month. During pregnancy, the bleeding cycles cease while the baby develops. When the pregnancy comes to full term, then the baby is born in blood.
The photo is a sculpture in London, "The Virgin Mother", by Damien Hirst. It shows the amazing way a baby is created within a woman, completely rearranging her body.