Peter Slattery

I have no idea why this post appears to be oddly arranged on some computers and less so on others…I will ask Jacob about it when we return. In the meantime, you might have to match my comments to the appropriate pictures as you read. Oh..and we are continuing to have a most wonderful, inspiring and oh dear…’educational’ time. Travel really does give you a view of not only other places and people…but if you care to look…a view of yourself. Occasionally disturbing…but always useful.

Here we are staying with friends in Maulden Woods Bedfordshire England.
It really is very pretty.

And the word ‘bucolic’ springs to mind. And despite what a friend of mine thinks, this does not mean ‘blustery and red in the face.’

Adrian and his family live here. And as we stay we notice the decisions that have been made about a way of living; about what matters and what doesn’t.

Adi makes extraordinary pieces of (furniture? art?)…
And…the dishes have to be washed in a plastic bowl thing and emptied onto the garden because the drain doesn’t work. But the garden itself, and the view from the kitchen into the garden…

.

.. just gorgeous.

The bathroom floor is made of lovely tiles…heated…

…and yet the wall doesn’t go quite all the way up to the ceiling.

And then again there are the things that are made…created…

This one with the dark wood being 5,500 year old (yep that’s right) bog oak. Lifted from a swamp and dragged across a half mile of bush to be loaded onto a truck. Doing things not the easy way. For exquisite results.

And the room we are staying in has no power and its cold and dark at night and so we run a power cord down and in through the window of our totally lovely bedroom which is a caravan…located and brought in just for us…friends arriving who need a bed.

So what matters? What do you care about? What is at the top of your list of things to do? To have? To experience? To be exposed to? To spend your time on? To have around you? To have in your life on a daily basis? Yeah, what’s important and what really matters?

So here we are on Fisherman’s wharf and there is this fella. Is this kinda funny? Or a bit sad? Okay or not? Should we laugh or be worried? Me…I kinda like it.

This isn’t bad, in a time when optimism needs a little nudge. See what you think.

A few weeks ago I heard Arlo Guthrie on the radio doing a live show from Melbourne. He is as interesting as he has ever been. In between his songs, which are in themselves comments, he made an interesting comment on the state of our world. With his crinkled sense of humour and optimism he said something like…

“Never before in history has it been so possible for so few to do so little and for it to mean so much to so many.”

Now that’s handy to know, encouraging, and a back-hander all at the same time.

And just in case you would like to check the famous ‘Alice’s restaurant’…all 19 minutes of it…here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_7C0QGkiVo

Listening to the radio the other day and there was a talk back show about our favourite topic, the global financial crisis (GFC if you are “in the know”) …and someone rang in to say how it was like a near-death experience. I was delighted to hear one of the financial expert people say something like..

“No no, it’s more like a bad dose of the flu. Our economy will be in bed for a few days, recover and then get up and get on with it.”

What a sensible thing to say.

Who is advising spokespeople for…well anyone really…at the moment, because of how things economically, I am particularly thinking about banks. So who is advising spokespeople on HOW TO SPEAK?

This on the radio a few days ago… a bank somewhere in Europe is under threat because of a run; people withdrawing money. The spokesperson on public radio said something like:

‘Under normal conditions we would be okay. If you keep coming to the bank and taking out your money, our liquidity will be jeopardised.’

I think the stand out messages people will take from this are:

‘LIQUIDITY JEOPARDISED’

‘COME TO THE BANK AND DRAW OUT YOUR MONEY.’

We needed to hear that the bank could do business as it always has. Yes, times are tough and we ask everyone to do as they always have and we will continue to look after all our customers.

Or something like that…it needs to be truthful and also sound as if it is. And this bank can continue to function as it always has…and what it needs is for everyone to continue to act as they always have. How likely is everyone to relax upon hearing the words: ‘DON’t PANIC’

Each year Mission Australia does a survey of young Australians (aged 11 – 24) and what seems to be concerning them. It’s always interesting to have a look at and usually it’s pretty encouraging too.

Toby Hall, chief executive officer of Mission Australia, makes some comments on their website about this report. Here is some of what stood out for me in what he had to say:

‘More than 45,000 young people, aged between 11 and 24, took part in the poll this year. The results show that while young Australians are facing a range of serious issues, when it comes to their priorities and values, they are also incredibly well-balanced.

They’re not just “generation Y with iPods”. Their close connection with family and friends, the people they admire (entertainers with consciences such as Angelina Jolie) and their high level of volunteering, flies in the face of media stereotypes of young people as shallow and materialistic.’

Pete’s comment: I love hearing this. And I’ve gota say I’m not surprised. Over and over again this is what young people tell me.

‘While body image, drugs and family conflict are the biggest worries for 11- to 24-year-olds – with one-in-four regarding each as of major concern – it’s drugs that are increasingly weighing on their minds. Concern about drugs was not a top-three issue in 2007.’

Pete’s comment: I find it Interesting that ‘drugs’ are a worry. Drugs aren’t like climate change where it is happening to us, (and yes we can change it but it take time), …drugs require our active participation at any given moment, drug use is an action on our part. Sometimes a choice, always a response; a person’s response to their own needs and desires intersecting with the pressures and influences of the world.

‘The other standout result from the survey this year is the degree to which young people are worried about their personal safety…

…If you’re afraid of your community, how do you get involved in local activities?’

Pete’s comment: This, I think, is important stuff. And for me, a reason why we need to continue to look at ways of helping people feel part of something…family, community, neighbourhood…ESPECIALLY the guys doing some of the more annoying (at times destructive) stuff. People are either inside WITH us or outside AGAINST us. Inside always seems like a better option to me.

‘The final take-out of the survey is that overall young Australians are well placed to tackle the issues affecting their transition from youth to adulthood.’

Pete’s comment: Good to hear. Onward and upward.

In response to my post below about gloomy predictions and communication, I said I would post something more positive when I found it….

Here is John Huxley writing in the Sydney Morning Herald on 7-8th Feb. 2009. The headline reads:

‘And now for the good news’
and then;
‘A recession is no laughing matter, writes John Huxley, but we might as well have a bit of fun’

And then goes on to tell us various things. Like, people tend to drink and smoke less in tough times. We tend to lose weight, exercise more. And he says some people are kind of saying:

‘Bring it on.’

Times are tough, so what the hell!

In his article John tells us that many people seem to be saying ‘no; to rampant consumerism and ‘no’ to all that information that we thought we needed. So, hey, here is another voice to doom and gloom sayers. Ta John.

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.

I have been quick to put something up here as Amy (below) tells me that although I claim her as a favourite person there is no pic of her on my website…there is now Amy!

And so we went bush again with the Beyond Empathy mob…hip hop, circus, indigenous dance, film-making, percussion…and oh dear…paint ball…

and it was amazing as on other occasions.

Not always easy…but easy is easy. The tougher moments are the test and the negotiations and discussions were truly remarkable. I would vote for you for Prime Minister Danny…an 18 (19?) year old young man who raised with everyone something that he thought was important and with no expecatation that his preferred option would be taken up, was fair, assertive and articulate. Fantastic stuff…I will post more about this week as it was terrific. Just thought I better get Amy up here fast!