What do you believe in? (Bull Durham style.)
*sigh* Damn it.
I believe in something greater than myself, that the Golden Rule should be more than a polite suggestion, equal rights not special rights, that people are…
wrongtown
Lover of Fine Food, Fashion, Culture, Photography, Pugs.
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Photo reblogged from The Queen is not Amused...but I am.
Herbert Tobias with his cat, 1962 -by Peter H. Fürst +
from lempertz
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May 23: Technology. iPad can’t live without it now I’ve had one. Easy access to all my recipes and social networking. The pug can’t work it out though. #photoadaymay #miguel #pug (Taken with instagram)
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LOOKIT MY DOGGIE
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Photo reblogged from The Queen is not Amused...but I am.
For almost half a century, Don Ritchie would approach people contemplating suicide at the edge of The Gap, just 50 metres from his home in Watsons Bay, his palms facing up.
Mr Ritchie told his daughter Sue Ritchie Bereny he would smile and say: “Is there something I could do to help you?”
“And that was all that was often needed to turn people around, and he would say not to underestimate the power of a kind word and a smile,” said Mrs Ritchie Bereny.
Mr Ritchie, sometimes known as the angel or watchman of The Gap, is acknowledged to have stopped about 160 people from jumping to their deaths.
He died at St Vincent’s Hospital yesterday, surrounded by his wife Moya, 85, daughters Jan, Donna and Sue, and four grandchildren, who travelled from across Australia and from Indonesia to Sydney to see him. He was 86.
Mr Ritchie was born on June 9, 1925 in Vaucluse, and studied at Vaucluse Public School and Scots College.
When World War II broke out, he served in the Royal Australian Navy on HMAS Hobart, and was on the ship in Tokyo Bay when the Japanese surrendered in 1945.
From his 30s to his 60s, Mr Ritchie worked for a multinational firm and built up a significant career in the corporate world, Mrs Ritchie Bereny said.
In 1964, the former life insurance salesman moved into a house on Old South Head Road across the road from Jacobs Ladder at the southern end of the Gap Park. It was his home till the end.
From that time, Mr Ritchie started to rescue suicidal strangers.
“Things were different way back then. It was before there were police rescue vans, before there were more sophisticated mechanisms like hotlines. In those days, he got a bravery medal for saving somebody at the cliff - he actually tackled somebody on the edge of the cliff,” Mrs Ritchie Bereny said.
“He is famous for bringing people back to the house for tea or breakfast.”
Mr Ritchie’s actions touched so many hearts that in 2010, he and his wife were named Woollahra Council’s “Citizens of the Year”.
Last year, he was given the Local Hero Award for Australia by the National Australia Day Council.
“In a situation where most would turn a blind eye, Don has taken action … With such simple actions Don has saved an extraordinary number of lives,” the National Australia Day Council said.
Today, Woollahra Council and the National Australia Day Council praised Mr Ritchie for his dedication.
“Don’s story touched the hearts of all Australians and challenged each of us to rethink what it means to be a good neighbour,” the acting chief executive of the National Australia Day Council, Tam Johnston, said in a statement.
“Don was a true gentleman with a smile that could light up the room.”
The Mayor of Woollahra, Cr Susan Wynne, called Mr Ritchie a great man whose “courage delivered small miracles”.
Mr Ritchie, who had joined mental health advisers and the member for Wentworth Malcolm Turnbull in supporting the funding of suicide prevention measures at The Gap, was also praised by the Liberal politician.
“His work lives on forever not just in the lives of those he saved but in his heroism and example of public service,” Mr Turnbull said in a statement.
For Mrs Ritchie Bereny, her father was the best role model she could think of for her grandson.
“When the school that my grandson goes to asked me for input about what sort of child they might produce, I used him as a role model because there are lots of strong people in the world - but I think strength with compassionate is what we should strive for.”
Last year, when he was involved in the launch to promote the Australian of the Year awards for 2012, he was asked to take one letter of the word Australia and pin a story that inspired them to it, Mrs Ritchie Bereny said.
Mr Ritchie chose the story of Simpson and his donkey.
“I think that epitomises him. It’s about an everyday person who did an extraordinary thing for many people that saved lives, without any want of recognition.”
A service for Mr Ritchie OAM will be held at the Naval Memorial Chapel at HMAS Watson, Watsons Bay on Friday at 1.30pm. There will be a celebration of his life after the service at the Rose Bay RSL.
Lifeline: 131 114; Salvo Crisis Line 93312000; Beyond Blue 1300224 636.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/death-of-the-angel-of-the-gap-the-man-who-saved-the-suicidal-from-themselves-20120514-1ymle.html#ixzz1upVvCibW -
Post reblogged from Everything in Black
Upon learning I was Russian by birth, a man once said to me (in anger) “Your mother was a soviet whore!” I looked him dead in the eye and said: “Yes. She was.” Because that is the truth. I do not know who my biological father is and I never will. My mother was a prostitute in soviet Russia, and I remember her with pride every day now that I know better.
My aunt and uncle, who brought me to the United States when I was a baby and raised me as their own, never hid the truth from me. My aunt, her sister, was never one to judge. She believed my mother had to do what she had to do and loved her unconditionally.
But I did not. I judged her and I hated her as a child for reasons I didn’t quite understand. I now know it was because I felt abandoned and worthless. Something deep inside my brain was thinking “If she was a whore and she didn’t want me, what a terrible person must I be? How could anyone love someone who got thrown away?” I turned my self-hatred on the idea of a woman I had never met.
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Photo reblogged from Insert Clever Name
#polaroid in the #park (Taken with Instagram at Centennial Park)
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Video reblogged from The Queen is not Amused...but I am.
Noah, you’re a national treasure.
The
BestLMFAO CoverYou’ll Hear All DayThat’s Better Than The Original -
Photo reblogged from The Queen is not Amused...but I am.
my teacher makes students sing to the class if their phone beeps
