Peter Slattery

I really thought that GFC meant ‘Go find carrots’. Yet while I was seeking vegetables I discovered my error, and that in fact GFC makes reference to our globe, to finance and to, apparently, a crisis. So I got in touch with a financial advisor I know and asked if I should be worried or doing something, because I was just about to have a coffee. He sent me this reply:

‘Pete
Have a double shot!!!
Nothing you can do except to sit tight and watch your super go back up
and interest rates drop!!!!
Regards’

And I was relieved because I really was about to buy a diamond mine in South Africa.

On the front page of this morning’s paper I read a description of the GFC (see how fast I learn!) that said:

‘This is the calm before the storm.’ And: ‘The point is that the bad stuff hasn’t really started happening yet.’

I am really interested in these views because:
1. I am intrigued that we still have people who are regarded as financial experts when it seems to be the very same people who were experts before the GFC and unable to do anything to avoid it. Handy having experts who can do nothing.
2. While noticing that we do indeed seem to have a problem, some (reasonably realistic) views and expressions of hope, optimism and positivism (is that a word?) seem much more useful and certainly much more welcome.

So I think I will attend to the advice that says: ‘Sit tight and watch your super go back up
and interest rates drop!!!!’

And while I am sitting around..and possibly having a coffee, here is a video that I found heart-breakingly beautiful and uplifting. I know I am a big sook but I think it might just be lovely anyway. I hope yous enjoy it too.

Ingrid Poulson has been in the news a little lately. In 2003 her then husband, murdered her father and her two young children.

I listened to an interview with her on Radio National (‘Life Matters’ 7th August 2008) and she sounded really lovely, really well, really positive. Pretty amazing. And she has written a book ‘Rise’ and I am only too pleased to say so. I have no idea if it[s any good but I intend to take a look. In the interview I was struck by a number of things. She said that when her children were killed she was ‘un-mumed’. And she asks: what are we without a role? She asks: if we lose our role do we lose our identity? Good questions I think.

She also said something along the lines that at one point she had been telling her story so many times to so many groups that: ‘I was…it was becoming a little bit too much of my story…I’ve really chosen to move on…’ This also seems a great comment about how to deal with tragedy.

Of her current partner she said that perhaps the radio interviewer could ask him to help her with children. So even after her experience of 2003 she wants more children. She says: ‘…it’s something I wouldn’t mind doing.’ Pretty impressive I thought.

And from the Sydney Morning Herald (August 9th 2008) I read that her idea of resilience is based on four ideas:

- Resolve (Giving yourself permission to survive)
- Identity (acknowledging your wins and embracing flexibility)
- Support (You cant do it alone)
- And everyday (eat well, get some exercise and don’t watch too much TV)

I think my top four would be:
- A sense of belonging
- Identity and a clear sense of self
- Good relationships
- A sense of being in charge of yourself

I wonder if we really differ so much? All the very, very best to Ingrid. An inspiration truly.

This is where it gets tricky. I love excellence. It’s wonderful to see human beings excelling, at whatever they do. Striving, achieving, moving, developing…and I mean both the personal…like…‘wow…that guy is loving and kind…how fabulous!’ As well as the …‘I can run really fast!’…type of achieving. Doing stuff is good. And doing it well is wonderful. I have been running since I was a teenager. I have run marathons, been in triathlons, walked in the Himalayas. I think I have some understanding of the joy of doing physical things, and of pushing yourself.

And yet,..and here of course is the ‘rub’…when it comes to the Olympics for every winner there are many, many losers, and for every gold medal there is a long list of ‘never heard of them.’

And then, and THEN there is how we spend our dollars. The Olympics is costing how much? And China has just had a major disaster and the best thing to do, naturally!…is to have a GREAT BIG opening ceremony. (The pic below is from the Sydney Morning Herald 9-10th August 2008)

Of course, this is not particularly about China. Most countries would do the same. And the next Olympics I am sure, will be ‘the best ever.’ And right now there are the most horrific and moving photos coming out of Georgia. And the one I have included here from the Sydney Morning Herald (August 11th 2008) is not by any means the most disturbing.

I actually scanned in a number of pictures that I might use in this post but some are just too distressing to reproduce here. The one above is tough enough in telling us what is happening in that part of the world.

So with all this, I feel I have to ask: what matters? What do we care about? How do we spend our dollars? Where do we put our energy?

So in June we went and did it again. The Beyond Empathy camp in Northern New South Wales. Many of the old crew, and some new crew. Around 50 or so of us, mostly yungins but some of us older ones to add something we hope. And we did a bunch of stuff. And the animoto video here gives you a pretty good idea of what that all was.

And if you can’t make that work for some reason or if you just prefer pics that don’t move about…here are some stills.

A very good experience of people working together, getting on, finding differences, finding the common ground…eating, talking, laughing, pushing boundaries a tad…all in all … a good thing.

If this website is about people and our lives…then here is something that blew me away. My source, as it often is, is ABC Radio. In this case Hindsight March 18th 2008
about an amazing woman Mrs Mac, 1892-1982.

There are lots of parts to her story whch are just wonderful…Australia’s first woman radio telegraphist (1924); the only woman member of the Wireless Institute of Australia; founded and directed the Women’s Emergency Signalling Corps…which led to the Women’s Royal Australian Naval Service. Okay they are facts and as impressive as they are…check this out…she wants to become an Electrical Engineer so she goes to Sydney Technical College to enrol and is told she has to be working in the field to enrol. (Catch 22 had not been written then!) So she prints cards with her name on it saying she does electrical work, checks the newspapers and finds a place at the end of the transport lines where they need electrical work done and it’s too far for most people. She gets the work and then goes back to the Tech College and is accepted. Now how cool is that!

During the war she trains thousands of servicemen and trains the women to train the men. Something like 10,00n men and 3,000 women are trained in all.

She goes on doing this work for something like 10 years after the war.

She uses music as part of her teaching…morse code goes dada dadit..sing ‘to hell with it’ to get the rhythm.

She does it all for free!

And then to leave one more things behind her, as she gets older she says: ‘To keep one’s courage and faith to the end, is the chief goal of life.’

What a great woman.