Thank you for recognizing my blog

All in a Dad’s Work (catchy isn’t it?) felt the need to give other people homework (I think he’s a teacher) and therefore nominated me with a “Blogger Recognition award”.  I’m eternally grateful for this as I haven’t received any kind of award in a very long time.  It’s unfortunately not the type of award that I can place on the mantel next to my participation in a play, which I received in third grade.  It’s not a physical object. Unless off course you print the image displayed in the content below and put it in a frame.  I just hope he also nominated a few blogs of colour…I certainly don’t want to be in the middle of a whole new #bloggerrecognitionawardsowhite controversy.

Whether that be the case or whether I end up framing it or not, I’m going to run with my nomination.  I like recognition.  Any kind of recognition.  Mainly because we have two teenagers in the house and the Wife and I are becoming more and more invisible every day.

Any reward has rules.

Doin’ it Doggy Style. For Mandela.

Every year on Nelson Mandela’s birthday, which is on the 18th of July, there is a call on South Africans to give 67 minutes of their precious time and get involved in their community.  Even if he’s no longer with us.  It’s an ongoing initiative, attempting to get people off their butts and contribute something.  Make them do something useful.  Other than complain, which we do extremely well.  And anything goes.  Picking up garbage, cleaning the rivers, distributing food, supplying blankets, entertaining orphans, mowing my lawn, taking out my trash, paint my house, fix that damn roof leak that only bothers me when it rains…anything.

(You can read more about the initiative here)

This year our company opted to offer our service to the local animal shelter.  There were two main considerations in our choice: (1) Pets can’t take care of themselves, as humans took over their feeding duties centuries ago and (2) No one can shout discrimination when you talk about neglected and abandoned animals.  In South Africa you have to be very careful if you want to supply corporate assistance to a specific group because by doing that it implies you are excluding another group.  Besides complaining, South Africans also like to shout discrimination at anything.  Racism, Ageism, Sexism, Nepotism, and any other -ism you can think of.  It’s one of our many pet complaints.

So we stuck to pets.