12:57 a.m. - 2004-01-19
Advocacy
I was really busy today dear diary so this entry will be short. Work took up a lot of the evening, while family and friends took up the daytime. My cousin from Northern Australia stopped in Calgary on his way back home from Winnipeg in the province of Manitoba. It was his Mom and twin sister who died a few weeks back. He had needed to help look after issues with their estates and to try and comfort his sister's children before he left. Her daughter seems to be functioning as well as can be expected, but it was obvious that he was very concerned about his nephew.
The tough part is, of course, that sometimes no one can help you deal with the circumstances life hits you with. Doesn't mean that there isn't a shoulder to lean on, but you have to be willing to accept what is offered and be thankful for it. It may not be what you want, but it is likely the best that someone else has to give. You also have to accept that your own two feet are the only thing that are finally going to take you through and out of the circumstances you are in.
Life isn't fair, but that's all each of us truly owns - our being - in any real sense. If you have a bad experience at least you can provide a good example for those who come after you who will need to address the same issues. I decided early on, when I became a single mom, that I had the only opportunity a parent has to teach their children first hand how to deal with bad breaks. By example, close up and personal. Don't need extreme sports or adventures to test my mettle, I already have a very good idea of what my strengths and weaknesses are and how to get the best from both.
Anyway tonight was just more report writing. I reminded my supervisor too that I do understand how difficult his job is. When I administer an election, I have the equivalent of 60 full time staff. Can I protect them from the rages of the public or the idiocies of big corporate entities like a government? No. I try as hard as I can, but I fail too. I also experience a lot of the same treatment myself, so I know how they feel. Sometimes the time I spend advocating on their behalf adds several hours onto each day and it isn't information I pass on to them, because I don't have a lot of control over the final outcome. Often, for months afterward I spend a lot of time documenting and reporting on the problems. A lot of my reports run to 20 or 30 pages - no pictures either - on areas I see as violations of labour codes. That's all I can do. Occasionally I even get a hearing and/or results. All you can do is the best with what you've got in you.
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