162.

I'm always amazed by the attitudes of other people. Especially when they differ to my own attitude. Now I'm not saying that everyone should think the same way, because that would be boring. But sometimes, I look at the attitudes of others and it makes me a little bit sad.

In recent times, Queensland and Victoria have been crippled with flooding, and a lot of people have lost absolutely everything. It was one of the worst natural disasters that Australia has ever seen.
I think that different people deal with a crisis situation in different ways. One thing that never ceases to amaze me is that people can have the attitude of wanting to pretend that bad things never happen, or won't happen, or aren't going on.
I think that it's so easy for us to switch off to things like that, when they don't affect us. It's so easy to think, oh it's not happening to me so why should I bother?
We slip into an attitude of being 'sick' of hearing about it, or wanting to ignore it.
It really makes me sad.

The government announced today that they are planning to introduce a one-off levy to annual income to help fund flood recovery in both Queensland and Victoria.
I was reading about this on one of the news websites, and some of the people's comments on the article were just absolutely appaling.

To start with, people who earn less than $50,000 a year won't even pay any levy.
For someone around my level of income it's only going to be between 96 cents - $1.92 that they would pay per week.
That's less than my daily coffee costs, it's $50 a year.. which is less than what I would spend on a typical big night out.
I don't understand how people can whinge about it.

All of this stuff has really made me think. And I really think that at times I've been selfish in my life. Not selfish in a way that you need to be to get through life, but somewhat ignorant to the struggles that some other people might face.
I don't want to be that kind of person. I know that I can't save the world on my own.
But I can be more aware of other people. I can try harder to not be one of those people who just wants to switch off.

I want to be better.