Best wishes to Lactnetters and their families for a happy, healthy, fulfilling and inspiring 2002.  May this be a year when IBCLCs (and like-minded  colleagues) lead by example and show that breastfeeding is not only the *normal* way of feeding an infant (not just some nice little value-added option), but that it is do-able in whatever "difficult" work situation or community environment they happen to live.
  May this also be a year when we lead our colleagues and friends in tolerance of others of different backgrounds, appearances, and belief-systems - this doesn't mean giving up our own, but it does mean questioning stereotypes and meeting the humanity in the people we deal with in our lives.  Yes, this even includes the work colleague who believes breastfeeding is disgusting or not do-able by contemporary women!  Establishing lines of communication and building respect will get more cooperation than the response built on gut reaction - and you can always debrief on Lactnet and get ideas!  (I once gained a softening in attitude from a director of nursing who inspired fear in staff, by being genuinely solicitous of her bad back.  Here was a patient who actually saw her as a human being, not a starched uniform!)
   There's a whole community out there, that in many places isn't breastfeeding-friendly, and in 2002 we can look at ways in which we can, even in a small way, improve the community attitudes towards breastfeeding.  Let's try, those in a position to, to put local newspapers and other media in touch with positive, human-interest stories on breastfeeding, or to get breastfeeding input into the kindergarten or school curriculum, and not just in Human Relations courses.  At the grassroots level let's create a positive attitude towards breastfeeding, without being preachy, in the young people in our families and friends' families.
   Impossible?  Consider this:  The sandy beaches or river banks are made up of grains of sand that used to be mountains.
   Have a great 2002.
         Virginia

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