Stellar Research
Find me on:
  • STELLAR Home
    • STILLBIRTH
    • TEACHING
    • EPIDEMIOLOGY
    • LOSS
    • LEARNING
    • AWARENESS
    • RISKS
  • About
  • Contact
  • Blog

the problem with "at least"

1/10/2020

0 Comments

 
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison made what some in the media are calling a “gaff” when he said to a group of people on Kangaroo island “at least there hasn’t’ been any loss of life” when in fact two people had died on the island. The fact that he got this wrong is unforgivable but prefacing this sentence with “at least” also should be condemned
It is in fact pretty common in tragic circumstances for victims to hear “at least”. In my experience after my daughter’s stillbirth it was “at least you know you can have children” “at least Emma wasn’t your first baby” “at least you didn’t get to know her”…and the awful “at least” example list goes on, and on! I know from person experience that it is never EVER helpful for a victim to hear sentences starting with “at least.”
Lets imagine for a minute that even if Mr Morrison was right and there actually had not been a loss of any human lives, starting any sentence when talking to people who have been traumatised with “AT Least” is never EVER a helpful thing to do.
Lets try some ridiculous examples to prove my point:
Imagine someone has just lost their right arm in an accident would anyone, in their right mind , say “at least you have still got your left arm”
Imagine if one of your friends mother’s just passed away would anyone say “at least you still have your father” ?
So if you think about it even if Scott Morrison was right and there had in fact not been loss of human life on Kangaroo island does saying any sentence that starts with “at least” to a group of people who have just lost a great many things including, farm land, livestock, tourist livelihood, wildlife etc etc helpful? ABSOLUTELY NOT and so Mr Morrison needs to immediately and forever remove the two words “at least” from his vocabulary….in fact we all should.

0 Comments

    Still Talking

    Talking openly about all aspects of stillbirth.

    Archives

    February 2022
    February 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.