Refugees, Foreign Aid and Aussie Anger

We claim to be a generous, compassionate people. Yet when it comes to refugees and foreign aid those claims are challenged. On one side there are those who claim we should be doing more for refugees and giving more in foreign aid. The other side say we should stop all foreign aid and forget refugees and look after our own.

I believe there are some on the 'put Aussies first' side who are racist, Islamophobic, Neo-nazi or whatever label you want to give them. Yet these groups do give voice to the discontent and anger felt by too many of us.

Suicide rates in rural areas are consistently 40 per cent higher than the rates in metropolitan areas, according to Sane Australia ... "We know from the research that 50 percent less money is spent on mental health services in rural and remote Australia, so access to medical help is compromised. (ABC Rural, 12/11/17). Drought, cheap imports, green tape and more is really hurting the bush with farmers being forced off farms that have been in their families for generations.

Police, emergency workers and veterans to name a few suffer the scourge of PTSD. My interest is more with Veterans and I am more familiar with their situation. Whether on active or peacekeeping service these people see things that human being shouldn't - and the same is true of the police and others. Vet's are drowned in red tape, an obstructive Dept of Vet Affairs that some advocates claim has driven their mates to suicide. Many vets, not just those with mental issues, feel betrayed and let down by the Government - and there is plenty of evidence to support that claim.

The globalisation of the economy that started back the Hawke/Keating days has led to the loss of many manufacturing and other jobs.

Many of our fellow Australians are hurting, feeling betrayed, forgotten, abandoned by Government and the comfortable metropolitan majority.

How do these people feel when they see comfortable, educated elite on 'our ABC' dismissing them as racist, Islamophobic and more. How do they feel when they see someone who is obviously a refugee or the child of one who has the privilege of an Australian University education and a comfortable job lecturing them on white privilege, someone who has opportunities given them by this country that many of them didn't have?

I believe we should not limit our generosity and compassionate to our own. We are are wealthy country by world standards and if there was a will to do so we should be able to strike a fair balance between one and the other. Let's face it, our foreign aid is rarely for purely altruistic purposes - it is driven my national self-interest.

Every problem in the world happens within a broader context. If we fail to recognise the bigger picture, focusing on simplistic solutions we are likely to make things worse, not better. We will never change things for the better by preaching, yelling, lecturing and abusing. Those who go down this road will only entrench the very attitudes they say they want to change.

I do feel for refugees and asylum seekers. I support foreign aid, seeing it as part of our being a good international citizen.
Maybe if those hurting, angry Australians felt their plight was been understood by the many advocates for those off shore, if they felt these advocates were as passionate about their cries for help, there would not be the antagonism that now exists.

We need to look for win-win solutions.

What About the Children?

I have wondered for some time if we are not seeing widespread social re-engineering with little thought given to the long-term consequences. Last Thursday night the ABCs 7.30 Report included a segment that only reinforced that view for me.

Over the last 20 years or so we have seen how important it is for many adoptees to reconnect with their birth mother and family. This for many has not been in any way a rejection of their adopted parents. To the contrary, many have known nothing but love in their adopted families and have been grateful for what they have been given.

Obviously, it seems, deep within our psychology who we are really matters to us. And that was the subject discussed on the 7.30 Report. The Prime Minister has promised to streamline overseas adoption and that proposal has met with opposition by some adoptees. Professor Nahum Mushin, Monash University, who met with hundreds of adoptees, believes it is time to rethink the whole process. He says many are troubled and have mental health problems and that this should not be ignored.

The fact that many of these may have been forced adoptions seems irrelevant. The adoptees could not have known the circumstances of their birth. One of those interviewed on the program was Korean, adopted by an Anglo-Saxon-Italian family. She was to find out the story she had been told about her family of origin was false.

Our world is not perfect. There will always be orphans or children who have lost one parent. In different times and places these have been adopted, raised by a single parent, extended family, tribe or community. They may have been raised in single parent families, as was my grandmother, or by any possible combination of siblings – brother/sister, sister/sister, etc.

Now science is opening up a whole new world – one of surrogacy and same sex couples. In some places birth certificates legally record two parents of the same sex. I acknowledge research that has shown these relationships do not harm the children and some claim that same sex couples can be better parents. But all research can and should be challenged, for it is only as research is challenged and repeated in different ways that we begin to understand.

Regardless of the relationship of the adopting parents, or that of a couple and a surrogate, the first consideration should always be the long-term interests of the children. Children were never meant to be fashion accessories, status symbols, or simply to fill maternal or paternal instincts. The future of any society is dependent upon its ability to raise children in a loving, supportive and safe environment. And where there is evidence that what we are currently doing fails to do this, we should give careful consideration to what that means for our future.

Interestingly, around the same time I saw the 7.30 Report I saw a YouTube post of an Irish gay couple opposing marriage equality. They had concerns over the future implications of gay marriage and the welfare of children. Their belief was that the welfare of the child should always come first. I concur.

Personal Stories

Nothing like a personal story.

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.

We lose when

When we become that which we oppose, we loose. We loose when we respond to:

1. Hate with hate.
2. Abuse with abuse.
3. Violence with violence (not precluding reasonable force to restrain).
4. Lies with lies.
5. Slander with slander.

The Truth Will Set You Free

"And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32).

I had a mate at Richmond in the mid 70s that had married a girl from Sri Lanka or another former British colony in that part of the world. At school she had been taught about the terrorists in her country. Following independence school children were taught about these same people - except that they had become freedom fighters.

There are always two sides of history - that of the victor and that of the vanquished. That of our political masters and that of the other peoples political masters.

We in the west are not taught the same history as those in the Middle East. From our perspective the Crusaders were defending the holy land from the infidel. From the Moslem perspective it was the Moslems defending the holy land from the infidel. I remember as a kid watching a TV show about Richard the Lion Hearted and his noble conquests on the crusades.

We know the history of the holocaust and the settlement of the modern state of Israel as a safe haven for Jews. Moslems can tell us every act of terrorism carried out by the Zionists as they displaced the Palestinians.

Arabs and Persians (Iranians), and the various tribes of each, have hated each others guts for centuries. But all these tribes also know the history of Western interference and betrayal and it is this hatred of the West that can unite them.

A mate of mine spend a few years working in Dubai. He was told one day by one of his Arab mates that if it was not for Israel the Arabs would be tearing each other apart.
Its not only the Middle East that has long memories. A Catholic mate of mine and his brother were hitch hiking through the Republic of Ireland some years back when they were given a lift by the local Protestant minister.

'What's your name?'

'Fitzgerald'

'You Fitzgeralds! Your great-great-great ... grandfather ...'

Also a long memory that saw decades of violence.

So what am I trying to say?

Perhaps if we in the West were to be honest with our history, to admit to the historical wrongs our side have done, and to try and avoid those same mistakes in the future, we might begin to diffuse some of the anger on the other side. And if we did that perhaps we could give ISIS and their ilk less ammunition to play with in their appeals to the Arab/Iranian world.

Reformation and Islam

The Church of the Middle Ages was no better than the Islamic State of today. Heretics were tortured on the rack, burnt at the stake, and hunted down by the Church. It has been said that the Waldensian Valleys ran red with the blood of the martyrs - those who refused to bow to the bishop of Rome.

Crusaders were sent to the Holy Land to fight the Infidel on the promise that if they died on the crusade they would go straight to Paradise, bypassing Purgatory. Sound familiar?

The Church controlled the universities and the educated used their authority to reinforce the doctrines and corrupt practices of the Church to protect their own vested interest. The Bible was printed in Latin and interpreted by the Priests in harmony with the decrees of the Bishop of Rome. Those who challenged the authority were given the choice of recantation or excommunication - or worse. I suggest some similarities to the fundamentalist mullahs of today.

There were, however, courageous men and women who gave the people the Bible in their own language, who challenged the authority of the Church, and encouraged people to interpret the Bible for themselves.

The Protestant Reformation and the accompanying Renaissance liberated Europe and broke the power of the Church in those lands that embraced the Reformation. And that gives us hope.

Taliban and IS hate education, unless of course the educated are those that back their cause. The last thing they want is for people to think for themselves, hence the attack on schools and women who want an education.

Some Moslems will always buy into the hate doctrine, and some people will always seek to use education for evil. But history tells us that education liberates. It took centuries to beat the Medieval Church, so we should not expect IS and their ilk to be defeated over night. But, with proper support, I believe we can encourage educated Moslems around the world to challenge the crazed, especially where they have begun to enjoy the freedom of the West and can make comparisons with life 'back home'.

Modern Australia - mate, we've come a long way

Australia. Ok, we're not perfect and have a few skeletons in the cupboard. But compared to a lot of other places we have done pretty good.

White Australia started out as a dumping ground for convicts and then became a land of hope for people who had no future in the UK. Our forebears worked hard to build a decent future for their kids.

They pulled together through famine, flood, fire, depression and war.

We talk of Aussie values - standing by your mates, sticking up for the underdog, giving a bloke a fair go. That's where we came from.

And, as we developed we began to do things for the next generation - universities, health care, education, and a social welfare net to look after those who had somehow fallen through the cracks through no fault of their own.

But somehow its all gone wrong. Now those government support systems that were meant to look after the battler, those down on their luck, or to give someone a hand up are seen as entitlements without obligations. No need to work, no need to go without, just squeal about entitlements, especially if it looks like they might be reduced or you might have to do something for them.
We are fast becoming a two tiered society - those who have and those who have not. Pull together - stand by your mate. What does that mean? The underdog - kick him in the guts while he's down.

Modern Australia - mate, we've come a long way.

Its all in the interpretation

Whether it be the Bible, Koran, or any other religious text, what it says is not as important as how the reader interprets it. How the reader interprets the text is dependent on the cultural influences that have formed the reader's paradigm, or world view. Our brains readily absorb data that is consistent with our paradigms. Data that does not fit may not be acknowledged or, if it does, will be quickly dismissed.

Then we come to those who may lack the education that enables them to read, or interpret, for themselves. We all have our authority figures, whether they be priests, imans, doctors of theology, politicians or football coaches. Then it will be their interpretation that counts, not the text itself.

I will never presume to tell others what the Koran says or how it should be interpreted. I have seen interpretations of the Bible that I believe just do not add up, and I am offended when others who hold these interpretations tell what I should believe because of their interpretation.

Rather than focus on those things that divide, I will continue to try and find common ground and build better understandings from that starting point. People of good will must join together to defeat this world's evils, including Islamic State.

On Immigration, Asylum Seekers and Things

In discussions regarding immigration and Australia’s treatment of refugees, asylum seekers, boat people, illegal arrivals, or whatever else may come within that broad parameter of things, there is one fundamental thing that must always be understood – the world, and life, is not fair.

Is it fair that people should be forced to flee their homes because of persecution, war, drought and the like? Of course not. And is it fair that such people should languish in detention centres, refugee camps etc? No. And is it fair that a rich country like people should turn people away? Of course not.

But – life is not fair.

Second thing that we should insist on. The first priority of the Australian Parliament and all our elected representatives is to protect the unity of the Australian nation. If there is a risk that uncontrolled or knee jerk policies result in the breakdown of social cohesion we run the risk of creating the type of society that others are fleeing from. Rather than solving one problem we have created another.

Fact. Many of these asylum seekers come from cultures that have values that we find abhorrent. They have different understanding of how society should be regulated. Their treatment of women, for example, is not in keeping with our values of equality. Arranged marriages, child marriages, honour killings etc. Not to mention centuries of hostility between one group and another.

Some may label our attitudes as racist. There are things that get around on Facebook and social media that are, I believe, ill-informed, especially when it comes to the amount of money these people receive after they arrive. But there is also, I believe, a legitimate fear among many about the impact that immigration from some of these countries may bring.

While our politicians may play to those fears for political advantage – and I believe there is no doubt they do – that does not mean those fears are groundless.

I am all for giving people a fresh start. And that extends to people from any country, culture or religion. But we need to do it in ways that preserves our freedoms, that allows our citizens to travel without fear to any part of the country. And the only way we can do that is manage the change carefully.

And if that means we let people suffer in refugee camps and the like – remember, life sucks.

Its not about compassion, its about reality. Refugees are more than people on boats. There are millions of Palestinian refugees in the world, many of them on the Gaza strip and West Bank. Some still have the keys to the houses their parents or grandparents were forced out of in the late 40s. Palestinian refugee kids with stones fight highly trained soldiers in tanks.

This is only a small part of the total number of displaced persons around the globe. Yes - life sucks.

People on boats get all the attention. Is compassion selective - only directed at those who can afford to pay people smugglers? A refugee camp on Mannus Island or Naru may not be paradise, but if managed properly it should give people a basic safety, nutrition and health care - which is more than a lost of other displaced persons in this world get. And they are not going to get run over by Israeli tanks of have their houses bulldozed because one of the family is suspected of being a terrorist. Not an ideal solution, but better than where they were. Done properly, it is a measure of compassion.

If there is a solution it has to be a world solution, because Australia can't be the solution.

And if unmanaged immigration means my granddaughters end up being treated as second class citizens, denined the rights to which I believe they are entitled, and cannot walk any street in this country in safety because we have been 'compassionate', then I am not inclined to be compassionate. But then, I don't equate compassion with opening our doors to anyone who rocks up in a boat, or who steps off an aeroplane, and says 'I am a refugee.'

The Aussie Bastard

One thing that intrigues me about our Australian culture is this - we can call someone a bastard and they'll turn around and buy us a beer. In most, if not the rest of the world a broken nose is probably a good outcome - many places we'd have our throat cut. Why?

While I have never been able to find anything to confirm my theory, I suspect it goes back to the First Fleet. If my memory is correct, there were 11 ships, one carried women. The women were there for one reason, and one reason only - the authorites in England believed there would be riots if there was no female company.

Unlike the Americans, whose first white settlers gave thanks to God for their new land when they first embarked, our forbears rolled out the keg and had a good old fashioned drunken orgy. The first white bastard concieved on our shores was probably conceived that night. And perhaps that's why we are so relaxed about the term. In our early days we may well have been a pack of bastards.

Now one would think that given the differences in our orgins - Australian and American - that America had the more enlightened origin and we would therefore expect that they would have developed a more enlightened society. Yet, from where I sit, I see us as having developed a more cohesive, fairer place to live and it concerns me now that we seem to be going down a different road.

If someone can correct my understanding of our history, please feel free to do so.

Is marriage equality irrational

There is something I see as irrational in the debate over so-called marriage equality. Now if I were gay, Christian, and believed that gay marriage were consistent with my faith, then seeking to have a relationship recognised as a marriage makes sense.

But what if I reject religion, and specifically the Christian version of such? What, if in that rejection I see Chrisianity as inhibiting and repressive, putting silly, stupid restrictions on human freedom?
What then is my rationale basis for a monagomous relationship? 

When I look at both the world of humans and the larger world of living things, monagomy seems a rare, unusual sort of thing. There are few animal species that mate for life. And in the human sphere, monagomy seems to be something that largely evolved in the Christian world. Polygamy was allowed, and in one place even commanded, in the Old Testament and seems to be the norm in other cultures.

So, if the only basis for monagomous marriage is Christianity, then why would those who reject Christianity clamour for the right to relationship that appears only to have any basis in that which they reject?

Iraq - a 'well-rooted country'

Iraq means 'well-rooted country'. It came into being as a result of a decision by Winston Churchill in 1921.

Arabs are not one homogeneous bunch - they hate each other with a vengeance. But the Ottomans had held their empire together for a few centuries by recognising the different groups and organising them into some form of autonomous regions.

The Ottoman Empire crumbled with the end of WW1, leaving the area to some extent under the influence of the Britts - but there was not support in England for a continuation of the Empire. Against all advice from his advisors Churchill drew lines on a map and divided the area into different countries without regard for ethnic tensions. He then handed power over to local strong-men who he believed would look after England's interests - forget democracy.

And part of that legacy is modern Iraq, a mix of Sunnis, Shites and Kurds - a 'well-rooted country'.

(History's worst decisions and the people who made them, Steven Weir, p.p. 134, 135)

There is no free education

There never has been, nor never will be, free education in this country. Whether your education has been private or public I and every other tax payer have paid for it. And if you have accrued a HECS debt at uni - your education has still been subsidised by the tax payer.

As someone who has contributed to your education I expect you to give something back to the community. That means, if you are able to, get a job. It also means if that education has given you opportunites that others haven't had and you now find yourself earning an income that may be the envy of others you recognise that not everyone has had your opportunity, or that they have made their equally, if not more, valuble contribution to the welfare of our community in ways that have not brought them the same financial reward. So don't complain if you are asked to make a contribution above what you may or may not give through your employment.

Random Stuff

If we support and endorse a predatory economic model should we then complain when it chews us up and spits us out?

What if we valued work according to what it contributed to the betterment of the community? 

The power of an idea, philosophy or belief is seen in the willingness of people to embrace and hold onto it freely without inducement, fear or force. 
 

The first role of government and our elected representatives should always be to maintain the social cohesivenss of the nation.

It should be to this purpose that they frame their policies and their debates.

To the extent that they fail on this point they fail the people and on this point they should be judged first and foremost.

Frustration

One thing I have learned from Karate is this. Frustration, if understood and managed the right way, is good.

When I try to learn something new after a while I get frustrated with my efforts. Frustration tells me that my brain now knows that I could be doing it better but my abiity does not match my ideal. It is a natural part of learning, necessary if I am to improve.

And right now I find this world and this country frustrating. Ideals, like perfect karate technique are something to be pursued, but will always remain unattainable. But to stop trying is to accept mediocracy.

The Wisdom of the Ages

There was once an Emperor who wanted to leave something for posterity. So he called his sages together and said; 'Gentlemen, I want you to write down the wisdom of the ages.'

Away they went and applied themselves diligently to the task. The weeks and months passed and finally they returned with the sense of satisfaction that can only come from a job well done.

'Your majesty', they said, 'it is with great pleasure that we present you with the wisdom of the ages'. And with that they handed him ten beautifully bound volumes.

The Emperor took one look at their finished work and exclaimed 'Gentlemen, this will never do. No one will ever take the time to read all that. You need to do better.'

So away they went. Again the weeks turned into months and finally the sages returned. 'Here it is you majesty', they said. And with that they handed over one beautifully bound volume.

'Gentlemen', the Emperor returned. 'Your work is still too long for no one will take the time to read it. Go away and make it shorter.'

So off they went again. They worked and worked, long into the nights. Finally, they felt they had achieved what the Emperor wanted so they approached him again.

This time the Emperor was satisfied with their efforts. 'Gentlemen, you have excelled yourselves. Surely, you have discovered the wisdom of the ages.'

And with that he took from them a single sheet of paper on which were the words 'There ain't no free lunch.'

Anonymous

The Story

For as long as humans have walked the planet is the story. We each have our own story, yet we share the story. It is passed down from generation to generation, forever changing yet remaining constant. It presents us with our highest ideals and confronts us with the dark side of our being.

The story has always entertained us. Throughout our history it has defined us, helped us understand who we are in relation to others, and passed on values and the knowledge we have needed to survive.

It is ours to decide what we do with the story we inherit. The story we receive is the amalgamation of many stories, that of our parents and their parents, our community, our nation and more. We can accept it as read, or take from it that which is good and discard the bad. We can also add to it by taking from the stories of others. If we are wise we will recognise the good in their stories and understand how we can weave that into the story we leave our children.

Our land has an ancient story, the story of the Dreamtime. It has been passed on in dance and painting and narrated around the campfire from ancient time. Most of us know little if anything of this story, for we have a different one. The majority story is still one of Anglo Celtic origin. Informed by our Christian heritage it has shaped our laws, values and attitudes. We have made it uniquely ours with tales of convicts, squatters, bushrangers, suicidal swaggies, miners and soldiers. Since the end of World War Two especially people have come to our shores from other places. Europe, Asia, Africa – indeed, in the words of the song ‘from all the lands we’ve come.’ Their story is not of depression – at least in this land – squatters, ANZAC, Eureka, shearers’ strikes and bushrangers. They are Hindu, Moslem, Buddhist and Orthodox. They bring different values, attitudes, and ways of understanding. The story is fragmenting, changing.

Today the story is all around us. It is on our plasma screens, IPhones, tablets and movie screens. It beckons to us from the book shops and newsagents. We can fill our minds with the latest gossip about our celebrities of choice or the latest conquests of our sporting heroes. Never before has the human race had such an abundance of story. But do we ever stop to reflect on, discuss, analyse and understand it. Is it simply entertainment, or does it still shape who we are, how we think, and what is important to us? Does it still help us to survive?

If we lose the story we lose who we are. We have no meaningful legacy to leave our children and their children. We leave them wandering confused, without meaning, and devoid of lasting values.

The future of our nation and that of our children belongs to them, not to us. Ours it to pass on the story that will help them determine the values they will live by, that will help them to survive, to give them their identity and place in the world. We fail them if we do not do this.

If we are to bequeath them a worthwhile legacy we must understand our story. We must listen to the stories of those who have come to this land from the different nations of the world. If we can add to our story the good that others offer and discard the dross that permeates all stories we can help our children build a strong and united nation. The alternative is division, insecurity and meaningless and all that comes with that.

The future may not be ours, but it is ours to shape.