Another crock of shit: Mother's Day

It's the day before Australian Mother's Day, and I was out at the shops for bread and milk. Thats where I saw them all.

Half the people were out collecting cakes or wines for the lunch, or hauling enormous bouquets of flowers - cause they could think of nothing else. Probably all thinking:

"What the hell does she need that she
wouldnt have bought herself already?"

Then there was the other half. They were even less likeable. Walking around glowing in anticipation of tomorrows adulation. All most likely thinking:

"This year! This will be the year
that all my expectations will be met!"

And most of these are basking in their own beatific glow, as though by the virture of their issue surviving its birth, that they themselves are entitled a sense of accomplishment, and the ongoing worship of our species forever and ever.

For many women though, Mother's day is just the day they all rub your nose in it, publicly. Thinking, but not saying:

"My child survived, and grew! Therefore, I and my child
are superior to you. Now let me tell you about the birth again..."

The onslaught of which has only one rational response:

"As long as your child lives, mine is lucky not to."

_______________
Another thing. If your mother does not feel loved and appreciated every day, then one of you is a total fuck up. Hard for me to say which from here.

Halloween, another outdated 'holiday' we cant get rid of because theres too much money to be made

Granted, no one can agree on what Halloween is really about anymore, or where it all began, or who started it. You can read a lot of authoritative sounding info out there. They all claim they hold the absolute truth about Halloween, but they are all equally as wrong and useless as the next.

The way I see it, it is essentially a HARVEST festival.

In Australia, October is SPRING.

So, whats it doing here?

But here it is. Along with so many other "American" money making machines (McDonalds, Big W, the ilk). I admitt, I was dissappointed to discover that the suburbs of Sydney are very much like the suburbs of Anywhere, USA.

I once asked a woman here in Sydney why she let her kids go trick or treating. She replied "Oh, you know, they see it on TV..."

Really? They see it on TV. Thats an interesting parenting technique.

I had to bite my lip really, really hard to avoid asking her the inevitable:
What else do they see on TV that you allow them to do?
Murder? Gang Rape? Base jumping? Soft-core p*rn?
Do you know youre a moron?

Obviously what they dont see on TV is the line up outside the local police station to get the goodies xrayed for sharp metal objects. Nor the school lectures on how to tell if your candy has been tampered with. They call it something like 'safety', but they should just get real and name it "How not to get maimed or killed by eating candy from strangers 101".

When it got this bad stateside, most sensible people stopped going to houses they didnt know who lived in. Parents or older siblings would chaperone younger ones from Aunties house across town to Grandmas and back again for a party at the community centre. (Where you likely still dont know anyone.)

All that sort of thing helps the young ones, thats true. But for other adults, it means a knock at the door you arent expecting, is likely to be trouble. Especially as evening becomes night.

Thats when you get the gangs of teenagers. Gangs of teenage boys who dont even bother with the pretense of a costume. You just know youd better give them some candy - alot of it - without saying a word.

Or else. Thats all. Or else.