Many years ago I read a story 'My Place' by Sally Morgan. It told of her search for identity, of not knowing as a child that she was aboriginal because her family kept that from her. It told me that there was something wrong with this country that made that necessary. For me, it was also personal. I have an adopted cousin who worshipped me as a kid, so much so that she was devastated when I married for the first time. I always thought she was Indian, or Pacific Islander or something. It was only around the time I read Sally's book that I learned that my cousin was also aboriginal. Why did families feel they had to protect kids by not telling them who they really were.
Then, some
years back I was staying in a motel room in Hobart. The paper I picked
up had a piece on Bob Brown, not his politics, but his struggle with his
sexuality, of knowing he was different and wanting to be normal. As a
young person he was told by his Christian counsellor to pray about it
and it would work out. He did, nothing changed. Finally, while studying
in England a GP told him to accept who he was. For Bob, that was
liberating.
Not long ago I saw on Australian Story the story of an Australian Army Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Cate McGregor, who had lived all her life being mixed up until she accepted and acted on the fact she was a woman trapped in a man's body.
I can't really identify with Sally, but listening made a big difference to the way I see our indigenous Australians. I have no idea why it is that some people are homosexual or transgender or anything else. The evidence that I have seen tells me that for some, if not all, it is not a lifestyle choice. Rather it is something complex that perhaps no one really understands.
But listening evokes empathy, and empathy leads to acceptance. This does not mean that I need in anyway to change my personal values on how I should live. But when it comes to the way adults relate to one another, so long as one is not hurting another, lets live and let live. And lets work with one another to try and make our world a better place for all.
Not long ago I saw on Australian Story the story of an Australian Army Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Cate McGregor, who had lived all her life being mixed up until she accepted and acted on the fact she was a woman trapped in a man's body.
I can't really identify with Sally, but listening made a big difference to the way I see our indigenous Australians. I have no idea why it is that some people are homosexual or transgender or anything else. The evidence that I have seen tells me that for some, if not all, it is not a lifestyle choice. Rather it is something complex that perhaps no one really understands.
But listening evokes empathy, and empathy leads to acceptance. This does not mean that I need in anyway to change my personal values on how I should live. But when it comes to the way adults relate to one another, so long as one is not hurting another, lets live and let live. And lets work with one another to try and make our world a better place for all.
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