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A nursing home attendant here was fired after striking a 80 year old resident who was a survivor of Auschwitz.  Apparently she didn't want to take a shower and he was trying to force her into the shower.  I am telling this story for three reasons.  One, people can be assholes and this guy should be arrested just on principle.  Two, if that lady didn't want to take a shower, I would say that out of anyone in that home, she had a good reason.  It may be a bit naive, but I would like to think the guy didn't make the connection between his shower and the shower she was almost certainly remembering.  People are forgetting what it was that was so important then.  With so much going on in the world today, and with WWII being so far in the past, people just don't feel an appopriate sense of urgency about those issues.  Very sad... 

I think you have to appreciate that although it's held on the anniversary of the 1918 Armistice (11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month) Remembrance Day is not only about WWI or even WWII. The money collected from selling Poppies goes to help surviving veterans of all wars, including the current business in Iraq.

Things are no longer as clear-cut as they used to be. With the multi-cultural society we now live in it's quite possible this man had some ulterior motive for attacking the Poppy seller. To some people his uniform & medals represent the possibly hated British military. The media have been very careful not to reveal his attacker's ethnic origins.

It is a shame that people are so F***'n idiotic! Who would do such a thing! That angers me so!

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Here you can donate what ever you have. I bought 2 poppies for $4. Technically they're free but I think $4 is very generous.

Incidents like this make me very emotional, when I first read what Ozzy had written I sat and cried, cruelty of any kind sickens me and I wish that the world was a more loving place.

As for what Pippin wrote later regarding the nursing home attendant I am affraid I have seen this kind of behaviour all too often, I have spent many years as a nusing auxillary in various homes, this type of behaviour is not uncommon with the care staff, until very recently the only qualifications needed was the fact that you had an interest in the vacancy needing filling, you could say you have the care experience because you are a Mum, as we all know not all Mums are good Mums, it is just taken for granted that because of this "I am a Mum" statement that you are supposed to know how to look after others, at the end of the day it is all about control for these carers and a wage at the end of the week.  The caring for the patient does not even come into the mind of these heartless people.
There are ways to deal with difficult and frightened patients, but due to bad training and frankly the homes not monitoring the staff properly these incidents will continue to occur.

Enough of my rantings.

Sarah

Part of the problem is that if you pay peanuts you attract monkeys.  There are many dedicated carers out there who work hard for little recognition.  But there many many more that enjoy their position of power and abuse those under their control.

The whole care industry needs tighter control, comprehensive background checking and some form of basic registration fo Nursing auxillaries and health care assistants.

Will