Change our story

I have recently been reminded of the saying that if you tell a child it is useless all its young life its grows up believing this is so and generally acts accordingly.

Whereas, if you believe in, encourage and support a child to be all they can be, they generally grow up to be well balanced, prosperous individuals and strong members of our community.

It seems that when we hit national media we hear about our high unemployment, social challenges, crime incidents...the negative list goes on. An often narrow view of who we really are.

Recognising that we certainly have some challenges (who doesn't) - what we need to ask ourselves is this what we want to be known for? Is this who we are? 

We need to change our story. And it is up to us to do so. Practice what we preach, face our challenges head on, challenge past thinking, show ourselves what we are more than capable of being.

We need to continue to provide hope for our young people, encourage them to aspire to new heights – once thought impossible. To do this we must all recognise the value in us, the essence of who we are.

All of us has a role to play in changing our story. Many are already doing so and there are numerous examples of success. So, next time you hear a negative story – challenge it with a positive one.

Change our story.

On finishing another story. Fleas are able to jump at least 100 times their height. An experiment was undertaken in which fleas were placed in a jar with a glass lid. Initially the fleas were able to jump out of the jar.

After the lid had been sealed for some time, the fleas learnt to only jump as high as the glass lid would allow. On removal from the jar, they were never able to jump any higher.

It has also been said that these fleas offspring never learnt to jump any higher than their parents.

What glass lids have we placed on our people? I say it's time to start breaking them.