The value of having true friends
OPINION: I recall reading some interesting stuff way back that offered different ways to reduce stress.
OPINION: Like many others in our rural communities, I grew up in a farmhouse with our telephone proudly sporting something like a crank handle on it.
And we had a party line with four other households on that same line. To connect with any of those neighbours on our line, we had to crank that handle. It was ‘cutting- edge’ technology, I’d like to remind you!
I remember one family had two long rings, another, three shorts. We were one short and one long. Oh, the good fortune to have honest people as your neighbours, who didn’t quietly pick up their phone for a sneak listen-in on others’ calls!
Ringing someone in another region was quite a task, not to mention connecting with friends in another country.
Trying to explain this to the grandkids today is like trying to describe life from another planet. Explaining stuff in a foreign language may be easier.
My goodness, how communication has changed. It’s now a whole different world. We carry our phones in our pockets today and can connect to anyone almost anywhere in mere seconds.
With the help of social media platforms, we can connect with people on a whim and surround ourselves quick-smart with more ‘friends’ than previous generations could ever accrue in a lifetime! Quite amazing, really.
Yet for all that, loneliness has not receded for many. If anything, it’s gotten worse. I have read and been told many times that lots of people struggle with the face-toface stuff today. Talking through a keypad is more than just okay, it’s the preferred means of communication. How shallow!
A few years ago, I read about a new (at the time) business venture – ‘Rent a Friend’ as somebody labelled it. They offered friendship, or family, for hire. And no, it was not sexual in nature.
Or, if you wanted a crowd for your wedding, to make it look like you were popular, with many friends, yes, they could sort that for you. Even for your funeral too, if you really wanted to impress the ‘whoevers’ that might happen to glance your way.
A little more recently I read something that to me is sadder still. Older women in Japan were deliberately committing crimes. Yep, they were that desperate. They wanted to get imprisoned because they would get well looked after, find some companionship and new friends. Some even offered to pay good money, if they could extend their stay beyond their release date.
It’s that desperate aching loneliness thing again!
Managing director of Woolover Ltd, David Brown, has put a lot of effort into verifying what seems intuitive, that keeping newborn stock's core temperature stable pays dividends by helping them realise their full genetic potential.
Within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will need to manage its largest-ever intergenerational transfer of wealth, conservatively valued at $150 billion in farming assets.
Boutique Waikato cheese producer Meyer Cheese is investing in a new $3.5 million facility, designed to boost capacity and enhance the company's sustainability credentials.
OPINION: The Government's decision to rule out changes to Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) that would cost every farmer thousands of dollars annually, is sensible.
Compensation assistance for farmers impacted by Mycoplama bovis is being wound up.
Selecting the reverse gear quicker than a lovestruck boyfriend who has met the in-laws for the first time, the Coalition Government has confirmed that the proposal to amend Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) charged against farm utes has been canned.
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