Comments on: Don't hit me!

By: Baino

Baino — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:13:35 +0000

Ian, you’d be surprised who reads your blog but sometimes, having a small stable of loyal readers is better. You get to know them and it stops you writing ‘for’ others rather than just voicing your opinions. Mine’s got off the track a bit lately. I’m going back to life in Oz and more personal recollections soon. It might not please the commenters but it’s what I want to do. And I love your blog, you’re my early morning inspiration for the lost and faithless.

By: Liz Hanna

Liz Hanna — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:24:48 +0000

You’d be surprised at how many people read it!! Regularly I advertise “For the Fainthearted” on my Sunday notice sheet and have passed on the address to a huge number of folk. What you say is: moving, challenging and encouraging. Nearly every day there’s something worth thinking about and sharing with others.
With reference to smacking/caning: my least favourite argument, frequently used, is, “it never did me any harm”. I wonder how much the corporal punishment in NI schools in former generations contributed to the idea that violence solves problems….?

By: Les Plant

Les Plant — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 21:02:07 +0000

Never got a hiding from my Father when I was a kid his raging temper and one look was enough to fill me with terror. I vowed never to treat my kids in this manner or to hit them either. Its anger and frustration that makes us do it, I have managed to control this, My boys know when they have over-stepped the mark.Great song too Ian.

By: Ian Poulton

Ian Poulton — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:52:03 +0000

Baino,

Outside my dad and my sister, my old friend Les, and some of the parish, there are only half a dozen people that read this stuff!

Thommo, one of the blokes that was always in trouble at school, died in a motor bike accident when he was 17 – never did find out if all the beatings had done him any good.

By: Baino

Baino — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 20:01:17 +0000

Ian this is so true but sadly so idealistic. I have another commenter on my blog who is a gun freak and believes that the only way to true freedom is the right to own and use a gun I find it sickening but there you go, it’s his constitutional right.

And as an aside, we had a ‘naughty chair’ as discepline. Smacks were few and far between.My brother still has a belt with ‘cuts’ on it to mark the times he was caned! It became a source of pride not discepline!

I love the way you manage to say things without naming names, I hope those at whom it is directed get the point.

By: Ian Poulton

Ian Poulton — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 13:32:40 +0000

Grannymar, I’m sorry if I hit a raw nerve.

By: Grannymar

Grannymar — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 12:04:33 +0000

I want to comment, but I cannot.

I thought I had left all that bitterness behind.