WHERE WAS SIMPLE COMMON SENSE?

Hearing of the death of an asthmatic child because his school did not take timely and suitable action, brought back memories from sixteen years ago, when my child had an accident in the school playground. The child was seen to be in pain. Young school friends were supportive and sympathetic. My child was taken to the head teacher's office where the head kept a watchful eye. Neither parent, or any of the relatives on the contact list were called during that day.

After the school day, I was deeply concerned to see my child white and in such great pain. A nurse at the local cottage hospital signalled to me that she thought there might be a fracture. As it was too late in the day to get a doctor to examine the injury or obtain an X-ray, the nurse applied suitable first-aid and arrangements were made for the investigations and follow-up doctor's appointment for first thing the next morning. A fracture was confirmed.

As a consequence of the manner in which this incident was handled by the head teacher, we wrote to the school. The reply was unsatisfactory and I asked for a meeting, at which the head defended herself with offence. As parents, we set out in writing, future procedures that we wanted to see put in place, should any similar problem occur. 

We required: there must be suitable records within schools and they must be referred to. In our case there were contact details with the school, which were not utilised. Staff are not expected to be medically trained and it should not be assumed by anyone in a school that they have all the medical skills required for all situations. We insisted that parents/relatives be contacted and authorised qualified medical assistance and assessment always be sought.

All these years later, I find it dreadfully upsetting, woeful, to hear that a school still did not have proper procedures for ill or injured children in place, and that there seemed to be a blind jobsworth culture prevailing. Where was simple common sense in the case of a child who was gasping for air?

LIVING LIFE TO THE FULL

Death is a strange concept and is one that is part of the fabric of life. Without life there can be no extinguishing of it. When you are young, unless you have seen death at close quarters or had some experience of it, there is nothing to draw upon that really enables you to comprehend it.

Our youth think they are invincible and the majority in our society, live modern life to the full. Sometimes, it is so full they hurtle towards the very state of fallibility they believe they have no stake in. Was it always thus? Living conditions of earlier societies would have introduced quite young children to the notion of loss. If then, as young adults, they did make the most of what life they had, bearing in mind that they did not live to ripe old ages, and rarely beyond the biblical three score years and ten, what would living life to the full have meant?

For men, would 'living' have been 'sowing their seed', making the best use of any and every haystack in the rural fields. Would it have meant becoming 'a man' by being enlisted into the militia. For women, apart from spurning the local yokels' charms, as and when they did, it was probably a different story. Either you were home-making with your mother, assisting with other young ones in the family, and working on the farm, or in the factory. A woman may have been in service somewhere, helping to support those at home by being away and one less mouth to feed, probably also supplying a few pence into the family budget. As a woman in the 18th, century, for example, you may even have been a militia or naval follower.

Whatever living life meant before, whatever our ancestors did before they died, they made sure that mankind continued into the present day. We, like them, procreate for our posterity. It is curious, but what I take from this, is that the path of life leads to death, but, both nurture new life.