Over the last few months we’ve been witness to the best and the worst of humanity. In the depths of Tham Luang cave in Thailand we saw a miracle take place. Not just the inconceivable rescue of 12 boys and their coach, but people from all over the world, from all walks of life, cultures and beliefs, working together for the common good. It was a beautiful sight.
So too is the view of convoys of trucks hauling the breadth and width of this vast land to support our drought stricken farmers in NSW and Queensland. Suddenly we are reminded of the depth of the Australian spirit as people everywhere find a way to give and help our Aussie brothers and sisters in distress. It touches a generosity of spirit that runs deep in the Australian psyche.
The stories are hard to hear. Just yesterday I heard an employee of an electricity supplier share his fury that a farmer he was sent to visit had to choose between buying hay for his cattle or paying his electricity bill. He chose to feed his animals and the employee had no choice but to turn off the farmer’s electricity supply. It is unthinkable in this affluent land that those who are the mainstay of this country have to make such choices.
So too is the view of convoys of trucks hauling the breadth and width of this vast land to support our drought stricken farmers in NSW and Queensland. Suddenly we are reminded of the depth of the Australian spirit as people everywhere find a way to give and help our Aussie brothers and sisters in distress. It touches a generosity of spirit that runs deep in the Australian psyche.
The stories are hard to hear. Just yesterday I heard an employee of an electricity supplier share his fury that a farmer he was sent to visit had to choose between buying hay for his cattle or paying his electricity bill. He chose to feed his animals and the employee had no choice but to turn off the farmer’s electricity supply. It is unthinkable in this affluent land that those who are the mainstay of this country have to make such choices.
While farmers and their families look out over the dustbowl that was once their livelihood, men who have been elected to govern this country, who are paid an inordinate amount of money to do so, are missing, squabbling behind closed doors. Not squabbling about the best way to lead the country forward or even how to support the desperate farmers, but about personalities and ideologies, vengeance, payback, power, bitterness and self-interest.
Politics seems to have a way of corrupting even the best of us.
For eighteen years we have seen instability amongst those elected to govern this country. On both sides of politics we’ve witnessed power, greed and self-interest override justice, compassion and working for the common good, the very attributes required by those who stand for such high office. We witness the power, manipulation and hypocrisy of the media, the corruption and cruelty of the banking system and big business, and we ache for a better way.
Politics seems to have a way of corrupting even the best of us.
For eighteen years we have seen instability amongst those elected to govern this country. On both sides of politics we’ve witnessed power, greed and self-interest override justice, compassion and working for the common good, the very attributes required by those who stand for such high office. We witness the power, manipulation and hypocrisy of the media, the corruption and cruelty of the banking system and big business, and we ache for a better way.
Photo: Bidgee
We ache for politicians who comprehend the seriousness of the present drought and its implications for Australia’s future, men and women moved to compassion to do better than handing out more loans that farmers have to repay, just putting them deeper into debt. To do better than providing enough grain to feed their sheep for three weeks and then asking farmers to wait 6 months for the next lot.
Politicians who can understand the despair that leaves no other option but suicide … who can feel for a farm family surviving without electricity or enough food on the table … who can move beyond their own petty squabbles and self-centredness to put the good of the country first. To stop 'selling off the farm' and allowing mining to undermine the farmers livelihood, and in the end, ours. Where are the men and women of integrity and compassion?
They are the ones driving hay across the country, putting together hampers to keep farm families in food. They are the ones feeding the homeless or finding them a place to call home … or rescuing victims of domestic violence … people who lead with their heart.
Crisis brings out the best and the worst in humanity ... war, cave rescues, bushfires, flood, drought, and broken political systems. Right now we have both the latter. What a contrast to see the ordinary mums, dads and children (10 year-old Jack Berne began A Fiver for a Farmer which has so far raised close on $500,000), pouring out their hearts in love and compassion while those elected to care for our country are otherwise occupied.
One of the greatest minds of our time, Albert Einstein, suggests there is a better way.
In a letter to his daughter, Lieserl, he said, “There is an extremely powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation to. It is a force that includes and governs all others. This universal force is LOVE. Love is power, because it multiplies the best we have, and allows humanity not to be extinguished in their blind selfisness. Love is God and God is Love.
If we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer. When we learn to give and receive this universal energy, dear Lieserl, we will have affirmed that love conquers all, is able to transcend everything and anything, because love is the quintessence of life.”
Take a moment to read this thought provoking letter: Farmer's poem
Politicians who can understand the despair that leaves no other option but suicide … who can feel for a farm family surviving without electricity or enough food on the table … who can move beyond their own petty squabbles and self-centredness to put the good of the country first. To stop 'selling off the farm' and allowing mining to undermine the farmers livelihood, and in the end, ours. Where are the men and women of integrity and compassion?
They are the ones driving hay across the country, putting together hampers to keep farm families in food. They are the ones feeding the homeless or finding them a place to call home … or rescuing victims of domestic violence … people who lead with their heart.
Crisis brings out the best and the worst in humanity ... war, cave rescues, bushfires, flood, drought, and broken political systems. Right now we have both the latter. What a contrast to see the ordinary mums, dads and children (10 year-old Jack Berne began A Fiver for a Farmer which has so far raised close on $500,000), pouring out their hearts in love and compassion while those elected to care for our country are otherwise occupied.
One of the greatest minds of our time, Albert Einstein, suggests there is a better way.
In a letter to his daughter, Lieserl, he said, “There is an extremely powerful force that, so far, science has not found a formal explanation to. It is a force that includes and governs all others. This universal force is LOVE. Love is power, because it multiplies the best we have, and allows humanity not to be extinguished in their blind selfisness. Love is God and God is Love.
If we want to save the world and every sentient being that inhabits it, love is the one and only answer. When we learn to give and receive this universal energy, dear Lieserl, we will have affirmed that love conquers all, is able to transcend everything and anything, because love is the quintessence of life.”
Take a moment to read this thought provoking letter: Farmer's poem
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