Day: 8 Dec 2020

Opportunity from Adversity???

Jane JamesLeave a comment

Reading the press and business reports, it would seem opportunity is everywhere – even during a global pandemic.

What’s needed is self-belief, innovative thinking to do things a different way and definitely no overthinking – otherwise we’d talk ourselves out of doing anything!

From the feature below, entrepreneurs are seizing the day, recruiting and growing their business.

Other businesses are taking sales online using technology to sell their products, keep their supply chain thriving and their own business growing like Beavertown Brewery below….

Today we saw the fearless spirit of Maggie Keenan – the first UK resident to get the first stage covid-19 vaccine – a week shy of her 91st birthday! Encouraging her peers to do the same.

Also today the world lost General Chuck Yeager – the first person to break the sound barrier who has died at the age of 97. What was remarkable was his fearless spirit! Checkout the link below.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/08/chuck-yeager-dead-pilot-first-to-break-sound-barrier-dies-death-aged-97

In his 1985 biography he said ‘…by the time I go I won’t have done much but I won’t have missed much either and I won’t have a frown on my face’

Let’s all have the courage, self-belief and spirit to seize the day and every opportunity that comes our way so we ‘don’t miss much either’!

V- Day has arrived!

Jane JamesLeave a comment

Listening to @TalkRadio this morning, I listened to the news of a new figure in history. What a joy!

Maggie Keenan 90 years young with her 91st birthday next week became the first person to receive the PfizerNBiotech Covid-19 vaccine at 6.31 this morning.

This amazing lady only retired four years ago. She is already encouraging her peers to accept the vaccine. Role models, beacons of strength come from all ages, cultures and backgrounds of humanity. Let’s not dismiss anyone based on our own assumptions. See the heart and strength within everyone.

A much better 2021 is now looming thanks to the ingenuity of scientists, supply chains, manufacturers working together to deliver solutions.

Nothing is impossible when we work together and share ideas and innovation.

A much more positive approach to this weekend than last when a feature in the national papers showed the mental stress on our NHS throughout the global pandemic.

My positivity has just shot up………. how about yours?

Education – more precious than health?

Jane JamesLeave a comment

It seems so to Sophie in Ghana from a report in The Sunday Times last weekend.

The report’s aim was, I think, to raise awareness of child labour in the production of gold for sale in Europe and Dubai as the picture below shows.

Sophie uses the £2.20 she earns a day to pay for her school books. I had to read that twice. In the UK, we take free education as a right. Yet we don’t always value its power. Are we too quick to exclude disruptive children without investigating and understanding what’s going on for them? Maybe families who don’t encourage their children to go to school should be supported to overcome their fears and see the value of their children having real choices and see they can access education and training if they want to.

Education enables social mobilisation, removing people from poverty enabling them to literally change their lives. Yet some of our citizens are not brought up to value and respect the offer of free education they have access to. The same offer, people like Sophie would love to have instead of risking her health to mine gold.

Equally, another thought struck me. Do we question enough where the goods we are buying comes from? Who produced them? What risks they took for a pittance? A resounding ‘no’ is the likely answer.

Shouldn’t all children have the offer of free education as an automatic right regardless of where they live? They are the future of the world. The ones that will find cures for the world’s diseases and problems. If we don’t invest in world’s children, what awaits us all?