Day 3: "Hardship and vulnerability"

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Today's theme is "Hardship and vulnerability".

My fitness challenge: My goal is to do 3 x 30 supported pull-ups at Level 1 by 30th January 2015. And to write a poem everyday.

My progress: Today I went to the gym early and did ball work, stretching and weight training.  Lots of improvements. No supported pull-ups, bu did lat pull-downs instead.

Some facts about vulnerability and the first 30 days of infant health: Vulnerability isn't what I experienced today at the gym - I simply found some of the exercises harder than others. The Human Development Report by the United Nations Development Programme is a good read to clarify the meaning of "vulnerability". When I do my fund-raising activities, I'm thinking about "unfair economic structures that create huge inequalities" (ibid, p. 14) and the small contributions I can make to mediate these inequalities. As I wrote in my poem Distance yesterday, my access to resources is far greater than those accessed by women and babies in developing countries, and compared to rural and remote Australians.

This does not mean I am comparing grief with grief, or minimizing my own painful experiences of child loss and infant illness. But these are a bridge to understanding, not the destination.

Today's poem:

Hard

muscles test weights

my mind sweats

memories:

being 29, before your name

was called.

I've fought for you/

my silent battle cry:

other people's daughters

my own

and other mother's sons.

Merilyn Childs 3/10/2015