In Australia, we are bombarded by folk telling us about all the wrongs committed by previous generations, for which we must apologise. Well, I haven’t heard any apologies from the people of Rome about their invasion and take-over of my homeland in AD 43, when they took some Britons as slaves. Or even from the Scandinavians who raped, pillaged, and held my ancestors under the Danelaw for a couple of centuries from AD 73. They also took slaves.
Then people say our present lifestyle is ruining the planet for future generations – more apologies perhaps? Should I shiver, eating cold food in darkness? Or should I buy an electric car that needs re-charging at least every 300 miles as I drive across the Nullarbor. Not many electric stations in the desert.
I’m confused when an acquaintance tells me the female child she gave birth to 20 years ago, once considered herself to be male but has now decided to be non-binary. Despite still wearing dresses, the child/daughter/son/lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer/questioning/intersex/asexual, will no longer acknowledge her birth name and only responds to being called ‘them’. I’m informed anyone can be anything they choose these days, so I’m giving serious thought to what I might decide on for myself. However, there’s been no apology from ‘them’ for stuffing-up the English language so badly.
Celebrities splutter awkwardly when asked for a definition of ‘what is a woman’. Any woman in Afghanistan could tell us what it truly means – if only she dared, and we really listened. We indulge in rhetoric, ignoring reasoned argument instead of applying common sense. Unfortunately, that isn’t common these days.
Homeless folk live on the street and in parklands, existing on free hand-outs from foodbanks while business executives are given millions of dollars as bonuses on top of obscene salaries and hidden perks. Many people would be happy with the perks alone.
I’ve discovered Santa is already missing from the lives of children whose parents insist they know the ‘truth’. That means knowing Santa is a myth and parents buy the gifts. I’d like to return to the magic that happens when parents stitch together a fairy-tale for wide-eyed offspring, giving them something that keeps them excited for weeks. Childhood is fleeting. Enchantment disappears when Santa does. The same folk avoid discussion about Christian beliefs and fill Easter with only bunnies and chocolate.
Am I a ‘miserable moaner’ railing at the inevitable? Unfortunately, well behaved, silent bystanders get drowned out by vocal minorities.
By the way, when Christmas arrives, I shall wish everyone (even ‘them’) a good time in December and January, which might be construed/misconstrued as Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all. However, remember – don’t cut down holly or mistletoe (sabotaging flora) – don’t eat turkey (killing fauna). Forget the log fire (carbon emissions) but put an article in the newspapers saying – I apologise to everyone for everything!
Mahatma Gandhi is attributed with saying ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’. The world may be changing, but is this the change we want?
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Burnside Writers Group 