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| Happy 10th Birthday Ayn |
Ayn's Birthday Balloon
It is the morning of Ayn's tenth birthday. She is not at her home. She is at the friends' house. The house where she has been staying since Little Ayn was taken away from her daddy. Ayn's biggest birthday wish is that she can go home. 
Today, there are lots of balloons that help Ayn celebrate her special day. One of the floating balloons has a large string which Ayn grabs. As she holds it, the balloon becomes larger, and larger and larger. As it grows, it seems to be tugging her off the ground. First, she is standing on tippy toes and then she is lifting from the ground. 
Up, up she floats, slowly and higher. And the little breeze blows Ayn and her balloon over houses and trees and playgrounds. The balloon seems to know where it is going. She loves this ride. Up, up and onward, forward she moves. Then, as she looks down, she sees familiar things, and look! There is her house. She can see it. She can see the back yard. She can see her play house. 
And now the balloon is getting a wee bit smaller and she is coming down so slowly, and it looks like she is coming down from the sky right by her daddy's house. Who is that? Someone came through the front door. That's daddy, "Daddy, daddy, daddy" Ayn calls. He calls back, "Hi baby! Look at you. You are amazing."
Addendum: With a piece of fiction, the writer can end it wherever he chooses. In real life, MCFD would come and apprehend her again. That sounds like fiction. But it's not. One would think that Ayn was an escaped prisoner and that her daddy is a bad man who has done something very wrong. She isn't and he isn't. But that's the condition with which they are living, and all of it created by an agency of their own government.
The Hill family in Cloverdale support the return of Ayn to her family and to making changes to a system that allows such a travesty.
ReplyDeleteWORK TO RULE.
ReplyDeleteWhat does that phrase mean? Does it mean to work while strictly obeying all the rules, or does it mean to work in order to rule other people. Well, let me explain how it means both.
When people want to take job action in order to put pressure on an employer, there are various things they can do. There are various forms of striking. One can have rotating strikes or full time strikes. There is also a very effective method known as working to rule. A lot of organisations have multiple layers of bureaucracy and nothing can get done without lots of signing and countersigning. These organisations can only function, because people learn to work around the rules. There is lots of rubber stamping and signing approvals after the fact.
So when people work to rule, all they do is strictly observe all the rules and regulations and they take no short cuts. They work the way the bosses imagine that they should be working all the time. If you wonder why the ministry of children and the courts are unable to do anything within the time frames dictated by legislation and why they have to invent new terminology to disguise the fact that they have no hope of following guidelines, there is a major cause. It is it has become the norm for the ministry and the courts to 'work to rule.'
The ministry is so bogged down in bureaucratice procedures that it is impossible to follow the true mission of the ministry. The means have completely derailed the ends. The courts are so bogged down in process, that good sense, compassion and common humanity are no longer able to play a role. In the end it looks as if they are all working to rule other people.It becomes a certainty that all the rights of parents and children will burn in the bureaucratic inferno.
And you know what? Most of the people who operate the system are not really comfortable with this, but they have no idea what to do about it. They almost feel like victims--especially when the news media roast them. Social workers, supervisors, directors lawyers and judges all see themselves as having no choice. Procedures must be followed at all costs. Of course they are aware that the outcomes are often disastrous and indefensible. That is why a good line of spin is absolutely necessary. The spin maybe ludicrous, but as long as it can convince the top brass, it doen't really matter. Why should anything change? It never has before. Even the judgements become spin. Cherry picking the evidence to spin a case to justify whatever has been done. To justify that on the judge's watch, every guideline of the act was ignored and he tolerated the rules of evidence becoming a mockery.
Work to rule does not work at all and does nothing for the rights of children. All it means is more and more judges, social workers and lawyers get jobs.
Thanks Hill Family from Cloverdale. I am certain Derek appreciates this support. Hundreds will see this blog post and comments today. So will some MCFD employees. That is all good.
ReplyDeleteRay, a well written piece as usual. thanks. I may use that elsewhere as well.