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It's Saturday 4th Sept & it's raining. There was a 10km run at Manly this morning which we decided to miss after extensive consultations with the team. In lieu of that I managed an hour on the bike (indoors) followed by some stretching & tomorrow we'll do a long run. On the physical front I'm still a touch tentative with the right leg & have been doing exercises to rebuild strength in the ankle, around the knee & to strengthen the gluts which have not been engaging on that side. I'm due to see the Endocrinologist in a few weeks to see how the bone density is shaping up. Currently I'm uncertain if it's just lack of muscle strength or weak bones that make my right leg feel weak. I'll do a 2km swim at the beach this 'avo to loosen up.
From training to reading: anyone who has the slightest interest in how white & black Australia interact would do well to read The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper (Penguin books 2008). It's a wonderful book that retells the story of the death of Cameron Doomadgee, a 36yr old who was arrested by Snr Sgt Chris Hurley on Palm Island for offensive language (Hurley was the one offended) and 40 minutes later he was dead on the floor of the local lock-up. I highly recommend the book. Having worked in numerous Aboriginal communities in my ten years with the NSW Police (I was the Adviser to the Police Commissioner on policing Young People for ten years) and our business being engaged to work in Far North Queensland (including Joe on Palm Island where Cameron Doomadgee died) it seems to me that we're a long way from providing justice and equality to Aboriginal Australians. It's not obvious what we can do beyond voting for a political party whose policies we believe will work towards reconciliation. Our peculiar history seems to have left so many indigenous Australians devoid of motivation and locked in between two vastly different worlds that I always cringe a little when I hear non-Aboriginal people starting a ceremony or a public event, with an acknowledgment of the traditional owners of the country. Perhaps it's all we can do in the City, but it comes across to me as tokenism at best. Maybe it does make a difference, especially if there are Aboriginal people listening, but it doesn't work for me. I'd be interested to know what any of you think & to be convinced otherwise. . .
Moving from an ancient culture to one I'm starting to become a little more familiar with. While pedaling the bike (on an indoor trainer) Gene put on a DVD called Leap Year. It's set in Ireland & uses an old tradition whereby every women had the right to propose on 29th February each leap year, as the basis for the story. It goes back many hundreds of years to when the leap year day had no recognition in English law (the day was 'lept over' and ignored, hence the term 'leap year'). It was considered, therefore, that as the day had no legal status, it was reasonable to assume that traditions also had no status.Consequently, women who were concerned about being 'left on the shelf' took advantage of this anomaly and proposed to the man they wished to marry (thanks to Wikipedia for that bit). It's a sweet film and a good rainy day flick to watch with your soul mate. Check it out if you get the chance. It's not that memorable but it's fun. And BTW for any of my mates who might be getting married in Ireland in the near future, it's also an old Irish tradition that the earrings you wear on your wedding day will bring you luck & happiness ever after, so any prospective bride with ears not pierced should get them done before the big day! And I understand this applies to the groom as well!
Moving from Ireland back to Australia, one aspect of my work which I love, is the way we get access to different groups of people representing the best & not so best of contemporary culture. Take Australian emergency services. A female staff member recently summed up one of these agencies as Male, Pale & Stale & it's hard not to agree with her.We're currently working with one of the agencies in this country & as a group, the sooner women come to make up at least 50% of the staff, the better. These men can be hilariously funny (if you're a man), supportive in a crisis and dedicated to their job. Many of them also seem never to have heard of feminism & to exhibit an unnecessary machismo in so many of their interactions with each other, that it's like being back in a boys only high school in the 1970s. There's almost no culture diversity, very few women, only one religion, no gay men (in the same sense that there are no gays in Iran) and little interest in actively setting out to prevent emergencies in the first place. They are under threat from the 21st Century (we're part of that threat) as we speak, which makes them an interesting group to work with. And they're not alone. Many of the organizations we work for are more segregated than we think. Again I'd be interested to know your thoughts on this.
Before I sign off, my next blog, apart from detailing the ongoing training for my little journey towards the Iron Man in 2011, will explore the importance having of a good principal in a school & the cost of not having one. Any thoughts on that welcome as well.
Time to check out. I've gotta get some work done then kit up for a swim.
Reflecting on 9/11
ReplyDeleteJohn Ward
13.09.10 2:20 am
The history of empires is, they expand, become wealthy, build armies to protect extended borders, and then finally collapse under the cost of blood and treasure maintaining that military effort.
The lesson is do not invade but trade instead.
Now is the time, 990 years after the event for us to apologise to Islam. Now is the time, for the Christian world to reflect on the last almost one thousand years of carnage that has dogged the human race in the name of religion and loving gods.
When Pope Urban urged Holy war he spoke in these words:
“O race of Franks! Race beloved and chosen of God… From the confines of Jerusalem and from Constantinople a grievous report has gone forth that an accursed race, wholly alienated from God, has violently invaded the lands of these Christians and has depopulated them by pillage and fire… Enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulcher; wrest that land from a wicked race, and subject it to yourselves.”
In his call to war, Urban held out the promise that all crusaders’ debts would be suspended (or cancelled, if owed to Jews) and that the Church would take care of lords’ estates while they were away fighting. The pope invited robbers to turn soldier, plundering abroad instead of in their own lands. He urged “those who have formerly been mercenaries at low wages” to reap eternal rewards by fighting in Palestine, and promised that the sins of crusading soldiers would be wiped out “by the power of God vested in me.” His strongest enticement was the promise of plunder and rapine: a new territory was being presented to be carved up, to the glory of god.
Along the road to Palestine, through Germany, Bohemia, Hungary and the Balkans, the crusader mob burned Jews alive in their houses and temples, forced them to baptism at swordpoint, raped and committed other atrocities against young and old. In Prague alone they murdered several thousands Jews. [Poliakov I, 42-45] They did their blood work to a fearsome cry: Hep! Hep! This shout has a clerical origin, abbreviating the Latin phrase: Hierosalyma est perdita, “Jerusalem is lost.” It survived as a pogrom chant into the 20th century.
The Crusaders battle cry of Hep, Hep, was added to as they moved through Hungary. In Hungary they saw executioners taking off the heads of unfortunates, by having the victims kneeling, hands tied behind their backs with head up.
So when the sword came horizontally from behind, the heads would pop up in the air leaving a geyser of blood to leap momentarily into the air.
The executioner dispatched his victim with a cry of “To Paradise” which sounded like ‘Hooraa’.
When Jerusalem finally fell to the Christian armies. The crusaders slaughtered the city’s inhabitants: Muslims, Jews and Christians, men, women and children. The Franks’ own chroniclers admitted to killing 10,000, the mounted knights splattered in blood up to their hips. One wrote, “We slaughtered without regard for age or sex.” [Gontard, 250] Muslim sources wrote that the crusaders killed 100,000 people. Their violence shocked the Muslims, who had peaceably allowed Christian pilgrims to visit Palestine for several centuries.
And to this day, we god loving, church going, hypocrites, celebrate happy times, by crying “Hip, Hip Hooray” and throwing our hats into the air to simulate heads flying into the air.
Yet, we still don’t seem to understand how Muslims might find us hateful? Or why Osama Bin Ladel calls our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Crusaders? Or why some people find having a religious belief is some sort of delusional fantasy?
You asked for some thoughts....about aboriginal reconciliation, I don't think there is any way justice can be provided for the atrocities that occurred. And like you say, we are still a long way from being a world of equal opportunities, but this seems like something that can at least be worked towards. How, I don't know! Based on my short travels to New Zealand, their culture seems to blend seamlessly between its Maori and 'white' counterparts. The history is different I know, but it was a glimpse of how life could have been for Australia.
ReplyDeleteYour comments on the fire brigade reminds me of the army, which obviously harbours similar old-fashioned tendencies. The recent undoing of the 'don't ask don't tell' policy in the States is a big step forward. I've just learned that this was originally introduced by Bill Clinton who had intended to completely repeal the former gay ban policy, however was forced to settle on a compromise due to opposition. It's a shame that it should take so long to provide equality (that word again!).
About segregated organizations, I just wanted to add that working for the UK NHS has been a great opportunity to experience the other side of the coin. The mix of races and religions found in London are represented in the staff (and of course patients)of the hospital which generally makes for a wonderfully open-minded and tolerant atmosphere.
P.s. a male workmate was proposed to by his now wife on Feb 29, 2008 - the tradition lives on!