Remember my gra’s first law that I blogged about a while ago?
Thoughful reflection conserves human energy and time.
Well, people like me make up things like this because they are trying to tell themselves something. I’ve been busy doing things and not reflecting. I’m overdue for some reflection.
There is a reason to do it today. I’m forty years old today. Turning forty has been in my mind for a while, but I’ve let any reflection wait until today, I’ve been busy doing things and not really reflecting for a bit.
So here I’m going to focus on the reflection, not the doing. Let’s see where I am at, and where my thinking is taking me at the moment. I’m going to start with the big external stuff in this entry and reflect on myself more a bit later. The big stuff is occupying my mind a lot. I need to tell you.
World
Iraq is a huge mess, especially with apparent US arrogance stirring up civil war. Israel and Palestine are a huge mess. The UN is weak, little more than a huge toothless committee. The standard solution to inter-national problems now seems to be tit-for-tat militarism justified by deception and lies from the highest level of government in the US, UK and Australia.
Nobody in power seems to want to do anything about this. As if the solution to terrorism is to bomb the crap out of a few countries. Of course it isn’t, we all know that.
The doomsday clock is sitting at seven minutes to midnight, indicating the threat of nuclear war has been on the increase since 1991 when the START treaty was signed and the clock sat at seventeen minute to midnight.
A change of government in Spain is positive, as are the now flagging popularity of Bush, Blair and Howard. With these three out of power, there is a chance that we can get the world back on track to a safe and fair modern world.
Australia
Today my country is lost. As a nation we are stuck in a fear-driven make-more-money work-really-hard cynical follow-the-US close-borders pacific-solution lock-up-all-the-refugees-because-they-are-terrorists space. Australia and Australians have lost their self-respect, and people with a sense or the rest of the world are looking fondly to foreign shores and away from an Australia stumbling back into the 1950s.
I’m looking for signs of change. I’m a big optimist and I’m looking for the next wave that redefines Australian and brings our self-respect back.
The rise of Mark Latham as head of the ALP looks exciting to me. He brings youth and freshness with him. Could it be that Latham will help us find ourselves?
Bring on the federal election. I’m scared but hopeful. A conservative victory in the next election would darken my soul. May the conservatives reap the harvest of their fear and desperate lies.
Western Australia
Some emerging good stuff is happening locally. Great local people like Will are doing amazing, aware, beautiful things.
At the end of the day, though, we still have an economy driven by digging stuff out of the ground and shipping it overseas unimproved.
As a state, we are still way isolated. That is lovely because it is safe, but it also tend to mean the future seems to happen somewhere else. Folk here wait for thing to change elsewhere, then bring changes here. Not very progressive. I’d like to play some part in changing that over the next few years, but I don’t know how.
Perth has the potential to be quite liveable in the future, IF governments keep up investment in public infrastructure (trains, busses, …) and adopt some sensible, sustainable development. Mapping out enormous sprawling dormitory suburbs surrounding the city will be a nightmare without good planning and infrastructure. Perth has always had the potential to turn into a mini Los Angeles, hopefully this can be avoided.
To be continued…
Coming in my next few postings: Stuff closer to home. Like me. And Technology and Society.