Today I am grateful for the seasons.
I was standing at the front of my home this morning looking at the Liquid Amber. It is covered in little sparks of green. It reminded me that life is never static. A few months ago the tree was totally bare. Now that the weather has warmed up the tree is covered in a sprinkling of green.
I know it might sound idealistic but the change of season always gives me hope. Hope that things don’t stay the same. Hope that things will get better. I have spent 20 years living on acreage watching what happens in my garden. It is an everchanging landscape. Plants grow and die. I can replant beautiful plants in my garden to replace the dead or diseased plants. These grow and can produce much beauty. I believe that what happens in my garden is an example of what happens in our communities and at the moment I need to believe that the world changes constantly just like the seasons.
I need to believe that the world can change because I am so distressed by lots of things that are being reported by the press at the moment. I have this overwhelming sense of worry that humanity is unkind and that our community is disintergrating.
Examples of issues that are really upsetting me at the moment are
- The manner in which the vetting process has been conducted in relation to Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
- The manner in which the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry has conducted itself in the past.
- The manner in which the ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie was sacked and the subsequent fallout concerning the ABC Board and the discussion in the media about not only the role of the director and the board but the place the ABC has in the media landscape in Australia.
- The number of Prime Ministers Australia has had since John Howard.
- The rise of the “Strong Man” – including Trump and Putin.
- The terrible care that has been uncovered in the elderly and disability sector.
- The lack of authority that our governing parties have because of the rise of the independents and smaller political parties and the arguments by some that Democracy is becoming a replaceable form of government.
- The pervasive nature of Social Media and the way in which Social Media affects the way in which the news is presented.
- The way refugees are treated in offshore detention centers.
- The amount of violence in the world both in our communities and as a result of war.
I read an article by Paul Kelly in the Australian this morning that reinforced my worry about our community and the demise of Democracy. – Democracy Faces its Final Crisis
I know the issues that are bothering me may seem to be an unlinked group of very different issues that have no thread. I think the reason I feel so despondent is because all of these areas show the deterioration in the respect shown by people towards other people. In many instances people have felt disenfranchised or powerless and that has resulted in individuals or groups of individuals trying to shift the power balance.
I am so distressed when our human race is disrespectful to other members of our human race.
Madeleine Albright sums it up perfectly for me in her quote:
No institution, however well-constructed, can help us if we lose our sense of shared humanity and if people everywhere see themselves as victims with a licence to trample the rights of others in search of revenge.
I believe in an individual’s right to resist what they believe is wrong. There are all sorts of ways to resist. Violence is one way but according to the Albert Einstein Institution there are 198 methods of non violent action. https://www.aeinstein.org/nonviolentaction/198-methods-of-nonviolent-action/
I am seeing lots of examples of non violent resistance happening around the world at the moment. For example movements such as the #MeToo movement , art such as The Pussy Hat Project , Protest songs such as American Idiot by Green Day.
The title track of Green Day’s 2004 album was originally written as a response to US President George W Bush and the war in Iraq that came out of the September 11 attacks. But interest in the song has seen a resurgence following the election of Donald Trump.
I find violence in any form abhorrent but I also find the non violent methods of resistance upsetting when the rights of others are trampled.
Although I admire the sentiments of the #Metoo campaign I am distressed that the movement has gone too far and is trampling the rights of good men.
There are however people who behave in ways that I admire immensely.
Zainab Salbi is a humanitarian, media host and founder of Women for Women International an Organisation that helps female war survivors recover from their experiences. Salbi entered the war torn capital Of Bosnia, Sarajevo and met with women impacted by the violence there. She asked them what they wanted her to bring back for them upon her next return. One woman asked for Salbi to bring back lipstick. The woman explained to Salbi:
” I want lipstick because it’s the simplest thing that each woman can put on every, single day and we feel beautiful. That’s how I’m resisting the war,'” Salbi says. “This woman told me, ‘I want that sniper, before he shoots me, to know he is killing a beautiful woman”
https://youtu.be/SS8T-f2srSw
I am not creative enough to produce art that shows resistance. I am not creative enough to write a song or poem that articulates my resistance to the lack of shared humanity and the growing use of revenge and trampling of others rights. I am in awe of people like Zanaib Salbi and Madeleine Albright but I cannot imagine ever doing things that will have such incredible impact in our world.
I can however choose a quieter way to show my resistance. I encourage anyone who reads my blog to do the same.
The ways I will resist are
- Be kind
- Question what I am reading in the newspaper and on social media and try and critically analyze what I read and hear.
- Talk to my family and have regular robust discussions and debates at our dinner table and take time to listen to what my children believe and take time to share my opinion and value theirs.
- Choose and vote for my leaders based on merit not on gender or race.
- Talk to my family about what is good and right and show through example what being kind is like.
- Work in my community to be kind by volunteering in organizations that I am passionate about.
- Continue to hope and believe that people want to be kind and that by showing kindness in my part of the world that it will spread to others.
And I hope that like the changing beauty of my Liquid Amber that if people like me and you believe in kindness and practice kindness that democracy will survive, leaders will be elected on merit, peace will prevail and we will care for people in our community who are less fortunate than ourselves.
I will always have hope that we will evolve from races of humans to one human race.
Until next time
I urge you to challenge unkindness, talk about how to show kindness and be kind.
