WHEN DEIRDRE WENT TO JAIL…

There is no doubt you cannot put an old head on young shoulders. How do you teach younger folk about the importance of a sustainable food system and protecting our farming culture?
 
It has taken me years to understand it, despite being in the food game of teaching home economics and public health nutrition.
 
Gaming teenagers with only interest in phones and play are hard to square with the reality of life sometimes. What life skills do they have that are useful?
 
But I do remind myself often that there was a time when my priorities were different too. A major life change for me happened in 1992 when I made the decision to teach in Botswana. Now with no internet, this did mean finding information in libraries etc. (Remember those times?) Training courses with APSO in Dublin were kind of exotic and adventurous. I know I would not have access to the “comforts” of home and would have to adapt. To be honest I was very naïve at 25 and to put that in context I was slightly obsessed with how I would cope not knowing how I would manage without my weekly fix of Coronation Street. Deirdre was about to go to jail…
 
Suffice to say I survived. The addiction was severed and I saw the world differently. Thank goodness. It’s amazing what you see and learn when you are not distracted.
 
The virtual world is many people's reality now. Rather than a dedicated timeslot for our addictive screen, they are with us 24/7. It is concerning. Are we losing the ability to make common sense of reality? Wellbeing is centred around grounding ourselves in reality. Touch the soil, connect with people, turn your face to the sun. You never know what answers you will find!

Anne Maher