Never say you can’t until you prove you can’t

Guest Author Uncategorized

Our Guest Author is, once again, Gorgeous Dunny, with another of his fascinating “Memoirs of a Country Employment Counsellor”. Thank you, GD!

(Credit: Joseph A. Rosen, Guitar International)

Lessons in life can spring from the most improbable sources. The legendary guitarist Les Paul never forgot one he’d had as a small boy.

A road workman on a lunch break fascinated him by playing lively tunes on his harmonica. Suddenly the workman stopped and handed young Les the harmonica, saying, “Here, you have a go.”

Les shyly declined, mentioning he couldn’t play. The workman jumped up angrily and shouted, “Never say you can’t until you prove you can’t!” He handed him the harmonica again and said, “Now, Play!”

Young Les modestly complied, fumbling away making awkward sounds from the instrument. The workman, now more kindly, took the harmonica back from him and said, “All right, son. You’ve proved you can’t play at the moment. It don’t mean you can’t ever play. Always remember that, kid. Never say you can’t until you prove you can’t.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZFKeyGpgK0

Les did always remember, and applied it to everything he tackled in life. The harmonica was the first musical instrument that he mastered, but he was destined for much greater things as an innovator with the guitar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HH8vjxFIUC4

As a teenager, I’d read this story in one of those Readers Digest features called something like, “My most unforgettable moments”. It stayed with me because Les Paul’s amazing guitar performances had made him an idol of mine. I started to include it in my own life because it sounded pretty good. How do we know we can’t, if we don’t prove we can’t?

In my tourism career, I found it a useful way of addressing problems. In Sydney during the late 60s, South Australian Tourist Bureau did very well out of interest in the semi-desert and desert areas of the Flinders Ranges and Central Australia. But one problem was that tourist services were virtually confined to the winter months from April to September. The climate could be quite severe in the summer months, and air-conditioning was not then commonplace.

(Aroona Dam, Flinders Ranges, South Australia. Photograph: Mike Langford )

Yet many people, because of their employment or business, could only travel in the summer months. I negotiated for some time with tour operators before one took the plunge with an Ayers Rock- Alice Springs tour ex Adelaide starting from Boxing Day. It required a little adaption such as air-conditioned vehicles and avoiding much travel through the middle of the day. But it could be done. The tour was oversubscribed, leading to another departure. That operator expanded the following season and other tour operators offered services after that success.

It was more daunting for the Birdsville and Strzelecki Tracks and Simpson Desert areas. Even during the winter months, only four-wheel drive vehicles could be used and great care had to be exercised. One ‘regular’ couple that had grown to love desert areas had a long ambition to tour there, but could only travel during December-January. Again I lobbied various operators before one agreed to try it. My couple were among the first to book in what became a successful, in-demand tour.

(Credit: Malcur)

(Credit: Australian Geographic – Photograph: Jiri Lochman)

They could not contain their joy when they returned to tell me about it. He developed a shocking sun skin cancer on the forehead but felt that it was a small price for what was the trip of a lifetime. I tried to bring that attitude to my later career in employment counselling, never say you can’t, until you prove you can’t.

I received just such a challenge at Portland when Bev came to see me. She was seeking Labour Market Program (LMP) assistance to do a two-year travel course. I should mention that the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES) could only approve LMP assistance for course durations of up to one year. Anything longer had to be recommended and approved by me. As it turned out, it was singularly appropriate that it went to me.

Bev had no problem meeting the eligibility requirements for assistance. She was in her late twenties and had a most unusual background. As a qualified chef, her employment future had seemed assured until an unusual accident at home in Melbourne. She fell off a stool while doing some repairs at home. From the subsequent head injuries she had a stroke. After rehabilitation, and parental support in her native town of Portland, she had made a partial recovery, but had a permanent paralysis of her right side – arm and leg. She got around with a walking stick and had learned other things such as writing with her left hand.

Being used to her own independence, Bev was determined to return to work. She could never return to cooking because of the heavy work shifting pots, plus the general agility now denied her with the right side paralysis. So she looked at retraining for work as a travel consultant where her disability would not be a major problem.

This was the dilemma for me. She could have remained on disability pension for the rest of her life, but she wanted to work and deserved to be encouraged. Yet coming from the travel industry myself, I knew immediately that it was unsuited to her. She was an introvert personality. She had no clerical/administrative background.

Without exceptional motivation, it was hard to see how she could adapt. Part of my recommendation was based around the prospects of her getting employment after completing the course. I just couldn’t see it happening in Bev’s case.

On the other hand, I felt that whatever I did, I should not say to her that she can’t do it. She ought to be encouraged, but the challenge was to get her going in a vocational direction that would be beneficial. Instead, I asked her why she had decided to do a travel training course. Her answer was startling and enlightening. She had been determined to work again as she recovered. Whatever she tried to do, she’d always been told it was not possible. Finally, she’d received a lot of encouragement from a social worker. She suggested the Travel course to Bev.

The choice was inappropriate in my view. But it was understandable that, having been given no encouragement to that point, she should snatch at that option. I had formed quite different ideas based on my experience in rehabilitation. I believed that it was easier to make the transition to a new career if you could draw on the knowledge and experience of your existing trade or occupation.

For example, I’d had considerable success with former building industry tradespeople (plumbing, bricklaying, carpentry, painting) by placing them in hardware store retail sales. Their particular knowledge was a major sales asset for the hardware stores’ primary client group of home handymen/renovators. Often the essential need of these customers was the knowledge/advice of how to address a problem or an emergency. The sales of recommended products followed from that advice.

I’d encouraged other injured tradespeople into getting TAFE training qualifications so that they could teach or assess/test apprentices. These methods lessened the amount of learning needed to enter a new occupation, while drawing on areas of knowledge in which they were competent. My idea with Bev was that such a pathway would make it a little easier to achieve her goal of useful employment.

The trick was how to bring her around to this idea without discouraging her. What I had in mind was something like an Advanced Certificate in Hospitality, which was essentially about kitchen management in a hotel or restaurant. It took in such things as planning menus and supplies, arranging services, training apprentices and kitchen-hands plus specialty things such as nutrition, diet and hygiene. It would still require her to develop additional skills, but in the context of advancing on her existing knowledge and skills.

South West TAFE at Warrnambool had a School of Hospitality and Tourism, which was ideal for what I had in mind. It had options of courses in travel/tourism and hospitality/cookery. I said that, for a start, I’d prefer that she do a course locally (the one she’d originally nominated was in Melbourne) so that she still had parental/family support. She agreed with the sense of that, and I said I’d set up an interview with the Head of that school.

(Credit: Lyons)

I rang him to discuss setting up an interview with Bev. I explained the background and where I was hoping to take it, bearing in mind that I did not want to discourage her. He proved remarkably sympathetic, having a brother with a major disability. He said that he’d show her right through the department and what each course did and led to. He was confident it would be enough information for her to decide for herself and he looked forward to her becoming a student there. I contacted Bev and arranged her transport to Warrnambool for the interview.

A few weeks later, she saw me again about getting training assistance to do the Advanced Certificate in Hospitality. It was a two-year course, just as the travel one was. I happily arranged the recommendation/approval for this course, including the daily commuting bus transport from Portland. I left it to my new friend at TAFE to arrange whatever modifications might have been needed to allow Bev to cope physically.

I still feigned innocence on the whole thing, and I asked her what had changed her mind about her choice of course.
She replied, “Oh, I realized after I went over there that a travel certificate was a stupid choice and that this one made a lot more sense.”

Although I had manipulated the situation a little, I had left the ultimate decision up to her. I was glad she’d reached that conclusion.

I saw her at the end of the year at Warrnambool, when there had to be a renewal of her training assistance program for the second year. She had passed the first year requirements comfortably, and was satisfied with the course she’d selected. The only change was that she’d decided to relocate to Warrnambool for the second year. The daily travel (one hour each way) had been a bit tiring with her disability.

She gained her qualification. I next saw her was a year or two later at Hamilton. I was visiting the Wool Bales, which was a tourism project at Hamilton organized by Yooralla to employ people with severe disabilities. Bev had been recruited (in the ‘open market’) to supervise and train people with disabilities to prepare meals and food for visiting tourists. She seemed very comfortably in her element, training and supervising disability trainees in this work. Visitors to the Wool Bales greatly valued the quality of the food output. The trainees adored Bev as she hobbled about the kitchen barking out instructions.

(Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

I felt a sense of satisfaction not just at the end result but also that I’d had contact with her at all CES offices in this region that I served, starting at Portland, then Warrnambool and finally Hamilton.

It seemed to reinforce to me that where at all possible, you should not close off options to a person seeking to enter or re-enter the workforce. In many cases what they want to do may be a pointless dream, but it should not be up to us to deny them that hope. Rather, by questioning, logical inferences and examples we should encourage people to reach their most achievable goal.

With Bev, I could have justified rejecting her application for training assistance on the grounds that firstly she may not be capable of completing the travel course, and secondly that completion alone would not lead to employment. But of what benefit to her in her efforts to find work? Yet if I had merely approved it on the basis of ‘doing something’ it could have led to similar disappointment. I needed to find a way of not refusing her, but opening up other possibilities. Then she could more easily commit to her own best interests.

My political hero was Don Dunstan, who for a while was also my boss when SA Tourism became part of the Premiers Department. Although he did not consciously adopt an attitude identical to Les Paul’s workman, it was similar but just expressed differently.

(Credit: Radio Adelaide)

When faced with urgently needed reforms, whether from decriminalizing homosexuality to imposing a deposit on beverage containers, Dunstan would always ask the question, “Well, why not?”

If he couldn’t give a rational answer to that, then he’d do something about it. The political difficulty was not an issue. Should it be, he would work on bringing opponents around to it. What mattered was whether it was right or needed to be done. It does require political courage. Other states have buckled at drink container reform just as soon as the selfish beverage lobby turned up the heat on them. But what is right is often more important than what is politically safe to do.

Who would have thought that the outlook of a road works laborer from 90 years ago could still resonate? It does seem a good approach to life.

Never Say You Can’t, Until You Prove You Can’t.

701 thoughts on “Never say you can’t until you prove you can’t”

  1. Sorry, I’m not signing that Gonski petition. I looked at it yesterday and decided there was no point. Why? Does anyone honestly believe this government would take any notice of a petition? Seriously? A few thousand signatures on an online petition will make Pyne and Abbott change their minds? Not on this planet it won’t. Pyne will have a great giggle when he eventually receives the thing, then he’ll just go ahead doing what he’s been told to do.

    Pyne’s big announcment was so obviously the biggest unicorn ever, planned to take attention away from Abbott’s Indonesian disaster. Abbott and Co would have spent a few days flapping around like headless chooks, clucking ‘What are we gunna do? This is killing us in the papers, and just look at the polls’. And then someone said ‘I know, let’s tell them we are going to kill Gonski. That will fix it’. So they did and it did. We’ve had wall-to-wall Pyne for two days now and SBY, Abbott, letters and protocols have all but vanished from the news. Objective achieved.

    The premiers who signed up to Gonski are not happy at the thought of losing a few billion each. Things will be said at COAG. There will be a backdown oif some sort and it won’t be because of a petition.

  3. Mark Kenny’s reveals his wish list….

    He quotes Bill Shorten, advising him to put a noose around his neck:

    ”This is 10 weeks since the election and you can’t trust Tony Abbott … no one made Christopher Pyne and Tony Abbott or the Coalition make a promise before the election,” {Shorten} continued.

    Expect to hear that a lot from now on. Shorten’s template is Abbott himself. His challenge is to show the same dogged persistence as Abbott even if it makes him personally unpopular.

    Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-opinion/pynes-broken-promise-set-to-haunt-abbott-20131127-2ya8p.html#ixzz2lsu9F8TX

    After all the misery that arose from Abbott’s relentless negativity and slagging-off of anything to do with the government, all the economic consequences of trash-talking the economy, and the personal popularity price that had to be paid for it, not to mention the nastification of the nation, Kenny advocates “More of the same, please…Please!” so he can write up Bill Shorten as just another destructive, wrecking, cynical political hack… this time while he’s doing it, not after he did it, as was the case with Kenny’s analysis of Abbott.

    Coming from a hack who arrogates to himself the authority to decide who is behaving like a moron, and who is not, and have his assessment go national, if I was Bill Shorten I’d be careful in following his advice.

  10. Ziggy spouting the BS he is paid to regurgitate:
    ______________

    Quizzed by Greens Senator Scott Ludlam on how much of a FTTN network could be reused in an FTTP scenario, Switkowski responded: “I think before that question you’d have to contemplate what is the outlook for a fibre-to-the-node architecture and at which point and for what reason would an upgrade be advised.”

    “There you get back into the discussion of…what is the outlook for an FTTN network and can it for a considerable time satisfy the needs of Australian users?” he said.

    Switkowski pointed to the technology roadmap for FTTN — laid out by Alcatel-Lucent and others — which boasts potential gigabit speeds if trial technology is proven to scale.

    “Maybe I would rephrase the question,” Switkowski advised Ludlam. “‘Do you think for the next decade — which is probably as far as one can think reasonably — there will be a situation where a significant upgrade from FTTN to FTTP will be justified and required?’

    “There’s a good chance the answer to that is ‘no’.”

    _____________

    http://www.itnews.com.au/News/364809,nbn-chief-puts-brakes-on-fttn-upgrade-path.aspx

    Has Ziggy heard of 4K TV? That DOES require gigabit speeds!

    4K TV requires gigabit speeds. It does seem to have slipped the Lib’s “minds” but it answers perfectly and unambiguously that we need 4K TV. Now, a Petition and a campaign along these lines could well be fruitful.

  13. leone

    “The point I have made consistently is that no one person, no matter how talented, is capable of making all the decisions in a prime minister’s office in a timely and judicious manner.”

    Rudd2?

  14. Agreed, Janice. She started the ball rolling firstly by pretending Indonesia was onside quietly with Turn Back the Boats; then by her arrogant statement that “we’re not seeking Indonesia’s approval – just their understanding” on that and the hare-brained boats buyback. Well, she got her wish: their non-approval AND their understanding. They know all about the xenophobic games Abbott’s clowns are trying to play.

    Now, after pissing off China, there’s talk of sending her on a rescue mission to SBY. Hasn’t Abbott annoyed them enough already? That’s the trouble with listening to morons like Textor.

  15. GD,
    I can’t remember which country’s spokesman said they weren’t impressed with Australia’s Foreign Minister because she was rude. I think it was when she was in the USA shortly after the election and chaired the UN meeting. At the time I thought they were probably all gobsmacked that Australia had replaced the popular and respected JG with such an arrogant madam.

    As far as Indonesia goes, this government of clowns and dimwits have no hope of rebuilding the bridges they wantonly burned down for political gain. It’s a sort of domino effect they’ve started.

  18. Julia Gillard: Let there be no doubt: I support a Palestinian State for the Palestinian people. I want to see the dawn of Palestine independence day. I want the Palestinian people to enjoy and pursue their destiny in full, and to have a prosperous and successful country of their own – a nation they call home at long last.

    I can’t imagine Abbott receiving a prize of any kind, even less making such a speech.

  20. Wow. Loving the links the this morning. Great stuff. Thanks for the curation!

    My TV got zapped in the storms on Saturday night so on Sunday I went wandering to do some homework on a new purchase. Went to JB Hi-Fi to see what was available technology wise and the helpful salesman proudly pointed me to the 4k TV telling me all about what they could do. I wished him good luck selling them and if he really wanted to do his inventory figures a favour not to order any more. He looked at me dumbstruck. I told him that it required NBN connections to operate effectively and that there are only two greenfield sites any where near our location on the Gold Coast and that they had nearly sold out and that the LNP govt were only going to install to the node not the home and that people would have to pay $1000’s to connect to the node.

    He was gobsmacked. Do people live in a vacuum?

  21. SK
    Most people live with their heads firmly wedged up their bums. They know nothing, they learn nothing, they care about nothing – well, maybe except for the cricket and the footy and who’s getting booted off The Bachelor and why Delta is leaving The Voice. You know, the really important stuff.

  24. http://indaily.com.au/news/2013/11/28/micro-party-boss-in-sa-negotiations/

    http://www.danielbowen.com/2013/07/17/transport-priorities/

  25. This government has already been labelled the most inept, the most secretive, the most unaccountable, the most dishonest, and the most illegitimate in history.

    Looking at their track record after less than three months in power, it’s hard to argue with any of that.

    The conclusion to an excellent piece by Mark Enders.
    http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/credibility-shot-after-three-months-australians-pyne-for-good-government,5929

  26. Peter Wicks on the latest in Craig Thomson’s case:

    Yesterday’s developments act as a further example of a prosecution in utter disarray, scrambling to hold a case together.

    It is also suggestive of bullying tactics by a Coalition that has been seen many times before to manipulate the legal system to reach political goals, no matter whether that position is right or wrong, or whether innocent parties are hurt, bankrupted and sometimes even gaoled.

    It is the sort of conduct from a win-at-all-costs political ethos wanting to bully their way out of being seen as foolish for believing the allegations of a serial liar who calls herself a whistleblower, whilst living it up on Union members’ funds, because it suited their purposes at the time.

    It’s time for them to give it up so everyone can get on with their lives.

    The case is set to return to court on Monday.

    (My emphasis)

    http://www.independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/jacksonville-63-the-doomed-case-against-craig-thomson,5926

  29. There are three questions that need to be asked when it comes to NBN lite/fraud.
    1 What is the state of the copper wire now?

    2 How much will it cost to remediate, to bring it up to some useful standard.

    3 How much will it cost to maintain.

    Everything else is irrelevant.

  30. Super industry fights plan to scrap low income concession

    The powerful $1.75 trillion superannuation industry says it will continue to fight the federal government’s plans to scrap payments to the super accounts of millions of low-paid people…………………………………..
    ………………………….
    Four industry groups – Women in Super, the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees, Industry Super Australia and the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia – argued to retain the concession in Canberra on Wednesday.

    http://www.smh.com.au/business/super-industry-fights-plan-to-scrap-low-income-concession-20131127-2yac2.html#ixzz2ltlldbuL

  32. Apparently at the Senate hearings into the NBN nobody wants to talk about the state of the copper. Diameter of the wires is as important but only Sortius and SteveJ have addressed this issue which will see FTTN striving to reach up to 25mbps. Are the Labor and Greens asking the right questions?

  36. When it comes to Qantas, I do not see them as a National carrier. They lost this titled when Joyce took over, taking work force off shore.

    Now he wants overseas ownership.

    I do not fly any more, but I suspect we get equal or better service from Virgin.

  37. It appears for the last few years, they have been installing a finer gauge. No idea of how much.

    Tony Abbott now on.

  38. NBN Co revenue could drop under Coalition plan

    There’s a whole suite of both products or services that all have a negative impact on the revenue forecasts against the current corporate plan,” said Labor senator and former communications minister Stephen Conroy. Photo: Tamara Voninski
    JAMES HUTCHINSON
    Government bureaucrats have conceded the national broadband network could fail to recoup as much revenue under the Coalition’s broadband policy as under the former government, due to increased competition from other networks and an inability to sell higher-speed broadband plans.

    Representatives from the Department of Communications and Department of Finance told a Senate committee on Thursday that plans to use different broadband technologies, and potentially allow Telstra and Optus to continue operating their cable broadband networks, meant that revenues from the network would be lower.

    NBN Co has planned to use revenues it gains from selling access to its network to off-set the cost of building the NBN, and ultimately pay back the government for its capital cost.

    The company estimated in a draft 2013 corporate plan, released by The Australian Financial Review, that it would collect revenues of $21.7 billion by 2021 under the former Labor government’s $37.4 billion plan, and pay back its cost by 2040.

    But those revenues relied on an ability to sell broadband speeds of up to 1000 megabits per second to homes directly connected with fibre optic cabling.

    The Coalition government is planning to connect nodes on street corners with fibre cabling, and use Telstra’s existing copper network, meaning it would be unable to offer more expensive and higher broadband speed tiers.

    “There’s a whole suite of both products or services that all have a negative impact on the revenue forecasts against the current corporate plan,” said Labor senator and former communications minister Stephen Conroy.

    Under questioning from Senator Conroy, the bureaucrats said that revenues to NBN Co could also be affected if Optus and Telstra continued to serve homes in metropolitan areas with cable broadband services.

    “The overall revenue impact depends on where they are rolling out to as an alternative to those areas and the overall impact on the business plan will depend on changes in capital,” Department of Communications deputy secretary of telecommunications, Ian Robinson, said.

    Fourth-placed carrier TPG Telecommunications recently revealed plans to connect half a million apartments in the five mainland capital cities with fibre cabling to offer services separate from the NBN, a move that would also impact revenues for the government-funded project.

  39. Another demolition project of Abbott’s, that is going to add to the deficit, costing the tax payer more.

    Yes, demolishing all ion ones path can be very costly.

  40. Fiona,
    Does your legal knowledge/experience give you a basis for speculating how the Craig Thomson case is likely to play out (other than making you cautious about speculating)? I’m particularly interested in whether you consider Craig might have reasonable prospects of successfully suing for damages. It seems to this mug on the sidelines that many in the MSM have been extremely cavalier in their denunciations of him so since there is now some optimism about his beating the rap, it might be possible for him to have a go. Even if he’s not vindictive, the punishment to his financial circumstances would provide a motive for taking some of his detractors on.

  42. Poor Aung San Suu Kyi. After all she’s been through, now she has to do a presser with The Idiot.

  43. PC going on now, is good. That gracious woman is once again making our leader look a fool. Abbott is being asked questions on everything.

  46. Qantas lost me with their stupid checked baggage allowances. You could only check 1 item up to I think 24kgs. We were touring Melbourne & Hobart a few years back. We borrowed amps & drumkits from mates down there but we still needed to take guitars/cds/merch etc and of course personal clothing. I called them to get some clarification. Nope – only one item can be checked (although golf clubs are exempt!) I ended up stuffing what I could into 1 guitar case and had to cram a weeks worth of clothes into carry on. Fuckers.

    Compare that to Virgin. I buy a ticket with no checked allowance, send an email with my APRA details, and they upgrade me to 32kgs FOR FREE. No limits on the number of items. Bye bye Qantas.

    APRA =Australasian Performing Rights Association. They look after copyright & royalties for songwriters. It’s free to join

  48. Narns – I still use Qantas mainly for Domestic travel because Virgin cancelling flights pisses me off.

    For International flights, and I’ve done a few, it would be about 25 years since I’ve used Qantas.

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