Dianne Motton

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Articles

Does politics drive you mad?

Nov 28, 2024 | yourlifechoices.com.au | Dianne Motton

Once upon a time, the great American dream was the concept that a poor boy (or girl if we are to be woke), through hard work and talent, could achieve social mobility. The foundations of this concept lay in the framework of democracy, equality and justice for all, set out very clearly in the American Declaration of Independence that ‘all men are created equal’ and further elaborated on in Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. So much for the history lesson.
Please stop making me order my food through a QR code

Nov 21, 2024 | yourlifechoices.com.au | Dianne Motton

How many of you know the term QR code? Yes, I know you would have seen it on big noticeboards when COVID struck. It’s that funny black square of squiggles, and you have probably scanned a QR code or two in your day, but do you know what it means? Perhaps I am a slow learner but I only found out the other day that it meant Quick Response. Of course! That makes sense, said my slow brain. But I am about to take umbrage at the term and the use of the technology.
You want chips with that?

Nov 14, 2024 | yourlifechoices.com.au | Dianne Motton

Are you old enough to remember when politicians presented the idea of an Australia Card, a universal identity card? It was mooted in 1985. It didn’t go down well with the wider voting community and was abandoned, relegated to the scrap heap of useful but dumb ideas in 1987. We all thought, or some of us did, that it would be intrusive, infringing on our privacy, a kind of ‘big brother’ is watching concept that sent shivers down people’s spines. Outrage even. Now I think I have changed my tune.
How you know you're old, part 2

Nov 7, 2024 | yourlifechoices.com.au | Dianne Motton

It struck me the other day that my attempt at defining old age was a tad lacking. I had found 10 or so markers but realised that this list was a bit limiting, a bit undercooked so to speak. Again, in no order, come the following indicators. You resist the idea of orthotics until your feet scream at you and the kind podiatrist coaxes you into a pair, custom made to your strange-shaped foot.
Finding the balance between 'just in case' and throwaway culture

Oct 31, 2024 | yourlifechoices.com.au | Dianne Motton

The other day a friend was in hospital having an operation. I visited and he inclined his head towards a pile of elasticised bandages sitting on his bedside table. He had rescued them from being thrown out, a common practice in hospitals, and suggested he could take them home, launder them and keep them ‘just in case’. Which he did. Both of us could see the logic of that decision and both of us felt appalled at the waste that even that little throwaway culture created.
How do you know if you are old?

Oct 24, 2024 | yourlifechoices.com.au | Dianne Motton

Old? Not me, you exclaim to all and sundry and to your own internal person – be that he/she/they. But then again, what does signify that transition to elder citizen, to old fart as some people derogatorily accuse old people of being? I tried to come up with a list the other night with a friend as we pondered our place in the universe, in the pecking order of life if you will.
Are we loving Bali to death?

Oct 18, 2024 | yourlifechoices.com.au | Dianne Motton

Bali was once an idyllic paradise, a haven for artists who came from Europe to enjoy the tropical heat, the laid-back lifestyle and the appeal of beautiful women to paint. It was part of the Dutch East Indies at the turn of the 20th century, having before that a history of kings ruling various areas of the island. The Dutch were not benevolent rulers in Java, Sumatra and Bali, and were responsible for massacres of the locals under the pretexts of protection for shipping and shipwrecks.
Why is our diet so bad, and how did it get this way?

Oct 17, 2024 | yourlifechoices.com.au | Dianne Motton

When I was a kid, food was merely fuel to feed an active body. I had little choice about what we ate. Meals were a regular event and I was a reluctant eater rather than keen to gorge myself. Being busy and running everywhere was my preferred activity. Few meals really appealed and I was of the ‘chop and three veg’ generation, with the vegetables boiled to extinction and the chops often burnt. It would have been more nutritional to drink the water the vegies were boiled in.
Why I miss old-school banking

Oct 3, 2024 | yourlifechoices.com.au | Dianne Motton

Today on the radio I heard a bank employee wax lyrical about old-school banking and how he had thoroughly enjoyed it. Many listeners rang in to voice their memories too. It sent me on a nostalgia trip, but also a trip of annoyance and contradictions. I remembered the first bank book that I had, a hard-cover affair, filled with pages and columns and entries written in by hand and stamped on the edge of the page. So simple.
What does it mean to be a good father?

Sep 26, 2024 | yourlifechoices.com.au | Dianne Motton

It was Father’s Day recently and I, like many, have mixed feelings about the day. The artificiality of it, the commercialisation, the happiness for many but then the sadness the day brings to many who are either estranged from their children or whose fathers are dead. And, of course, underlying all of this is a question of definition. When I was young, a special day delegated to Father’s Day barely existed, or at least I have no memory of it.