I went on a lovely hike over the weekend. A friend and I hiked down at Wilsons Prom and visited the lighthouse. What struck me about the weekend, other than the obvious beauty of the surrounds, was the local wildlife.

Whilst sitting down and preparing dinner I happened to get the fright of my life. As it was dusk and starting to get dark I did not notice a Possum creep up and steal the bag of fruit cake sitting less than 10cm from my leg until it was scurrying away. After I shot up and chased it it dropped the bag of fruitcake. The possum was so brazen that it continued to try and sneak back to steal more food. After waking at midnight to the sounds of the possum trying to get into our packs we had to put the packs into the tent with us for the rest of the night.

The next morning we hiked down to the lighthouse. We left our packs at a track junction leaning against a rock. Upon our return we found that a crow (or perhaps a group of them) had unzipped the top pocket of my pack and picked out each plastic ziplock bag to find food. The contents of my pack were strewn across the ground.

Now one reason I love hiking is to get out in nature and see it in its natural state. Instead of seeing a possum running up a tree truck and eating possumy food I spent my evening chasing the possum away from my human food. Instead of being able to leave my pack safely at a track junction it was attacked by a couple of crows. Those animals were in their home, their natural environment. But because of their interactions with humans they have adapted. That possum knows that it can feed off the rubbish that has been left behind by other hikers. This has then led it to try and eat the food sitting within my arms reach while I cook dinner. The crows have learnt that the track junction is a good place to hang out because of the custom amongst hikers to leave their packs there.

It got me thinking about how we are all changed by our interactions. We are shaped, both positively and negatively, by our interactions with others. Sometimes we are influenced to be lazy and to seek the easy option, like the human food. Other times we are influenced to work together to achieve a common goal. (Did you know that crows can work together to open bottles, one holds the bottle while the other unscrews the lid.)

See, we can all learn a lot from hiking!

Just watched an interesting video discussing Jesus’ role as a prophet. It then flowed on to how Christians should stand up for justice.

I loved the description of a cartoon that was told. In the cartoon there was a person praying, “Jesus thanks so much for coming into my life, but did you have to bring all your friends?” The next frame of the cartoon had Jesus surrounded by ‘his friends’, prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers and other ‘undesirables’.

The role of the prophet is to stand up and tell people a message that they really don’t want to hear. The prophet challenges the status quo and questions people and their motives. The prophetic role is not a popular one. But it is a necessary one.

I wonder how often we seek out the prophet, seek out the challenging message they have to bring? A different perspective that could change the way we look at a problem, or the world.

Last night Wayne Swan delivered his second budget. Now I don’t want to comment specifically on the details of that budget, but it would be remiss of me not to take the opportunity to remain topical.

I believe that one of the many (and perhaps main) roles of Government is to provide for the disadvantaged in our community.

I believe that we shouldn’t have a two tiered health system and we especially shouldn’t be providing financial incentives for middle and upper class people to take out private health insurance. By directing money, both private and public money, out of the public health system means that it is the disadvantaged who suffer.

I believe that whilst there is a role for government to provide a positive incentive for behavioural change, legislation and punitive taxation are a better course of action. The government provides subsidies and grants for environmentally friendly behaviour (car LPG conversions, solar power, etc.). I think instead they should heavily tax the behaviour that society wishes to change. This has happened with cigarettes why not with other behaviour and lifestyle choices?

I believe that the taxation system should be used to redistribute wealth from those who have plenty to those who need the assistance of the Government to get by. A flat taxation system, such as the GST, is not equitable. (while we are at it, I think fines should be scaled to your income but that is a thought for another day). The government also needs to close taxation loopholes that make tax avoidance legal.

Just a few thoughts. I am sure many will disagree with me. I would love to hear your thoughts.

I got a new computer a couple of weeks back and with it I bought X-Plane. X-Plane is a very good flight simulator. Ever since I got it I have been trying to find time to sit down and practice my flying skills. For someone who has a passing interest in flying but will never have the budget to get into flying it is fun to spend an hour ‘flying’ in front of my computer. I can make a mistake, crash my plane and just press ‘restart’ and try all over again.

It got me thinking about how much of my life I spend in simulation mode. You know what that’s like. You go through the motions but its not real. The risks you take are not really risks because if you fail you can just press ‘restart’ and try again.

Perhaps its just me, but every so often I need a kick start to move out of simulation mode and into real living mode. Perhaps it is time to take some real risks, rather than simulated ones?

Want to join me?

Just a short post today to mention a couple of resources that I have found really helpful recently.

The first is Living the Questions. Although it is expensive to buy outright (we have borrowed our copy) it is a great resource that I am considering purchasing. It is a set of DVDs that is split into 20 minute session. Each session deals with a topic and has interviews/storytelling from numerous ‘progressive’ Christians. It has well known Christian authors, speakers and academics (Marcus Borg, John Cobb, John Dominic Crossan, John Shelby Spong, Walter Brueggemann, Hans Kung, Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza to name a few) as well as local saints. It tackles some of the big issues of the Christian faith. If you think you know all the answers and there is a ‘right’ way to believe then this probably isn’t going to interest you. A group of us meet together most weeks to watch the DVD, eat some supper and chat about the issues it raises. It has been a very life giving resource for all of us, we all highly recommend it!

The second is Something Beautiful Podcast. I follow a couple of these guys on twitter and have found their conversations really interesting. I decided to subscribe to the podcast and have found it really interesting. I am a bit behind on the podcasts, but the one I was listening today said something that encapsulates the idea behind the podcast. “We want to hear your story because people can’t argue with your experience.” The podcast usually interviews someone to hear their story and how God has impacted their life. My only warning is that it is usually hosted by someone with a thick Scottish accent but don’t let that put you off.

So check out those two great resources. Have anything your finding interesting or helpful lately? Let us all know about it in the comments.

I have just finished preparing a part of tomorrow nights dinner (am I organised or what?) and while doing that I was pondering how food tells us a lot about a culture.

For lunch today I had a beautiful kebab (Turkey), my preparation was getting together the marinade for Tandoori Chicken (India) and tonight I am heading out for Paella (Spanish). In the space of an afternoon and evening I will have engaged with, albeit in only a small way, three unique cultures.

What we eat and how we eat it can tell us a lot about ourselves or about another culture. Many cultures spend lots of time preparing meals that will be shared amongst an extended family. A Friday night sees Jewish families coming together to celebrate the Sabbath meal.

Sadly, for many people in Western countries, food has become utilitarian. We eat because we need to. We also eat alone, or in front of the television. The food we eat is either fast to cook or bought from a place that serves it quickly. Fast food for fast lives.

We could delve deeper and explore where our food comes from. For some cultures it comes from the backyard, or family farm. The animal is slaughtered and because it was the only one the family owns it needs to last all year. For others, we are so far removed from the food production we would struggle to know the difference between a pumpkin and a zucchini (courgette for my British readers) plant. Because we are removed from the farming practices we don’t care what goes into the soil or the animals to prepare them for our table.

So if what we eat and how we eat has a large part in define us, what does it say about you?

Photos courtesy of roland and Christian Cable

Today I want to try something different. I want to get to know you my readers better.

So I would like you to tell me a little bit about yourself. You can participate if you are a regular or if you are a first time visitor.

I would love to know your name (or nickname) and where you are from (roughly). What are you interested in and how do you fill your time? The idea, other than for me to get to know you, is also that as readers of this blog we can get to know each other. Feel free to ask questions of other readers or engage in discussion through the comments.

If you have never commented on a blog before, it is easy. You can either:

1. click on ‘Leave a Comment’ in the grey box at the bottom of the post, or
2. Click on “Getting to know all about you!” at the top of the post and type something in the box under ‘Leave a reply’

So let the sharing begin!

Photo courtesy of a2gemma.

Yesterday our church ‘team’ got together and went through a process called “Team Management Systems”. Basically we all filled out an online questionnaire that asked us about how we prefer to work and interact with people. We were then given a pretty detailed report on our ‘work preference style’. The importance, for our team, came in seeing how everyone preferred to work.

We were able to see that some in our team preferred to be creative and come up with new ideas. Some preferred to take those ideas and mould them into something that would actually work in practice. Others preferred to be given a task and knuckle down and get it done, while others like to evaluate what was going on and make sure we stay on track.

We were also given an assessment on our personality. Some are introverted, whilst others are extroverted. Some find routine and repetition comforting, while others find it constricting. Some make decisions based purely on rational facts and hard data while others rely on their beliefs and gut feelings.

Some might think that defining our personality into set types puts people into a box. I think yesterday most people found it interesting to read their report and have it presented to them how they like to work. It told you things you needed to focus on as well as things to remember about working with other people. For example it told me that I have to explain to others where I am heading so they come on board, rather than expecting them to meet me there.

Personalities are amazing things and to break points of our personality down to binaries and split people accordingly can provide a stark reminder of our diversity. Having the self awareness to recognise how our actions affect people of differing personalities will go along way to helping us work in teams.

Perhaps if we understood ourselves better, working with others might become easier. Just a thought.

In today’s Age appeared an edited version of Marilyn Lake’s lecture from a free series of lectures at Melbourne University’s School of Historical Studies. Lake is a professor of History at Latrobe University. You can check it out here.

In her lecture Lake questioned the role of the ANZAC legend, and particularly Gallipoli, in forming the ‘creation myth’ of the Australian nation. She points out that in Australia we don’t build memorials to past political and cultural figures (ie. the Washington monument and the Lincoln Memorial) rather we build war memorials and cenotaphs. She states:

Anzac serves as Australia’s creation story: in proving their manhood, Australian men proved our nationhood — a nation was born on that day of death.

The problem with this ANZAC creation myth is that it neglects so much of what made Australia the nation it is. It doesn’t acknowledge the indigenous people, or the colonialist treatment of them. It is patriarchal and violent, young men died to make Australia. What about the women? It promotes a colonial understanding of ourselves. We were fighting England’s (and Europe’s) war. What about the fact that we invaded a country?

Lake goes on to point out that before that fateful day in 1915 Australia had an international reputation as an,

egalitarian democracy and progressive social laboratory, a place that legislated to secure the equal rights of women and men, state pensions for the aged and for invalids, the rights of mothers, the recognition and remuneration of citizen soldiers and citizen mothers, all paid from general revenue. Australia enshrined the idea that workers should enjoy better conditions and be paid a decent living wage. As an advanced social democracy, this country led the world.

I think that Lake makes a very strong argument and I tend to agree with her. Now I am not suggesting that we throw out ANZAC day and forget the sacrifice of those who have gone before us. On the contrary we must remember their sacrifice and learn from it so that hopefully one day we don’t send off a generation (or even a few) young men to die on a foreign battlefield for an insignificant battle in a useless war.

But when we talk of what made Australia, when we share our ‘Creation myths’, we should share more than one. We should talk about Bligh and the rum rebellion. Hume and Hovell, Bass and Flinders, Burke and Wills, Douglas Mawson and all the others of exploring spirit who wandered this land. We should talk of Parkes, Barton and Menzies and the other political figures who shaped our nation. We should share of Macarthur and the other business people who drove the Australian economy. Or talk about Weary Dunlop, Simpson and his donkey and Graeme Clark whose contributions to medicine should be remembered. Of course we remember the many famous sports people and the list goes on. The social reformers and musicians, the authors and the artists.

As important as ANZAC day is, its place in Australian history is just that. A place. The ANZAC legend was built on the mateship, hardwork and egalitarian ethos of an already existent nation. Just perhaps, what it doesn’t tell us about our country is just as important as what it does.

If you have been watching the news here in Australia over the weekend you will have seen the political furore over the boatload of Asylum Seekers that caught fire and sunk, killing five people and injuring scores more.

Seven and a half years on from the ‘Children overboard’ fiasco both sides of Federal politics have learnt some lessons and forgotten others.

The Labor party has learnt:

• don’t speak to soon (you don’t want to make accusations that later turn out to be false)
• don’t victimise asylum seekers for cheap political points (the Labor base won’t allow that anymore)

The Liberal party has learnt:

• there are still political points to be scored from fear mongering around asylum seekers
• criticise early and criticise often (but that of course is the nature of being in opposition)
• it is never too early for recriminations

What the Labor party hasn’t learnt:

• Releasing a picture (or a video) doesn’t prove anything (especially if it only shows after the event)
• If you don’t say something, someone else will
• there is political capital in advocating for asylum seekers

What the Liberal party hasn’t learnt:

• People don’t take kindly to being patronised on national television (just because they won’t vote for you doesn’t mean you can’t be nice)
• People realise there must be more to people’s story than just ’soft’ government policy if they are prepared to risk their lives trying to come to Australia by boat

Both sides are captured by a politics of fear. The Liberals are continuing to play on the Australian public’s fear of the ‘outsider’ which was nursed so well by the Howard government. Labor on the other hand are to fearful of the PR ramifications of doing what is right. They have abolished Temporary Protection Visas and closed down ‘the Pacific solution’ (whilst maintaining offshore processing at Christmas Island as well as continuing the excise of islands from the Australian mainland). But when a huge PR problem comes up they stick their head in the sand and play the safe option. But by doing so they have handed the Liberal fear mongers the microphone and lost the momentum that could come from asking a simple question,

“what in these people’s past is so bad that they are prepared to risk their lives on flimsy boats to escape it?”