TheBanyanTree: Musings on a day of national humility

[Jim Miller]

Robin,

Very thought provoking, and as always, exceptionally well written.

It is an interesting juxtaposition; the ignorance and bravado of youth;
those who believe they already have all the answers, and the lust for power
of old men. The old men (even some women) in their greed and deception,
will always have their audience and supporters among the youth who believe
that they are entitled to have it all, and have it now.

We can all hope and work for that level of compassion and humanity that
will resolve conflict and unite us, rather than the divisiveness we see all
about. Yet I fear human nature being what it is, and as long as we allow
the power brokers to sell wishes, greed will win and chest thumping will
continue.

Finally, never underestimate the power of mob psychology, or the influence
of well honed rhetoric.

Cheers back at you, and hope for a brighter, more humble tomorrow.

Jim

On Fri, Jan 25, 2013 at 11:27 PM, Robin Tennant-Wood <rtennantwood at gmail.com
> wrote:

>             Today marks 225 years since the establishment of a British
> penal colony where the city of Sydney now sprawls around the harbour. The
> colonists promptly lay claim to everything on the continent – the extent of
> which, at that stage, they were unaware – and displacing the indigenous
> inhabitants in the process. It’s a bureaucratic anniversary. The British
> flag hoisted up a pole, a stroke of a pen and an entire continent annexed
> for the pleasure of King George III, his heirs and successors. I’m not
> entirely sure what actual pleasure it brought them, although beating the
> French to the claim by a matter of weeks must have been deeply satisfactory
> to the mad king and his government.
>
>             The union jack still nestles smugly in one quarter of the
> Australian flag. That part of Australia, presumably, that is forever
> England. The flag was draped from the top balcony of the pub in Braidwood
> this morning. It fluttered on many of the steady stream of cars passing
> through town on the way to the coast for the long weekend. Ah, yes, the
> great Australian tradition of taking not one day, but three, to celebrate
> the founding of a small, far-flung British outpost. It also adorned the
> bare backs and shoulders of several young men swaggering through the local
> park. The Southern Cross tattooed on their chests and the flag draped over
> their backs they wore their narrow vision and empty pride as only young men
> can. In such hands the flag stands as a symbol as divisive as it is
> unifying.
>
>             Pride. It’s one of the seven deadly sins, you know. There’s
> pride, sloth, anger, envy, lust, gluttony and greed. Yet all this week
> newspaper columnists and politicians have been encouraging Australians to
> be proud, to take pride in being Australian and to be proud of what we
> have. Little wonder then that the other six of the seven deadly sins are
> seldom far away when pride is tossed around like a footy on the beach, like
> a shrimp on the barbie, like a stubbie in an esky. When, I wonder, did
> pride sneak across the road from ‘sin’ to ‘virtue’? Taking pride in one’s
> nationality seems to me to have resulted in nothing more than an inflated
> sense of entitlement and a blind insularity.
>
>             Perhaps if our leaders and those in positions of influence
> encouraged more humility in our national identity; more gratitude in what
> we have; more modesty in our acknowledgement of nationhood, the result
> would be more harmonious. Perhaps also, with more humility and less pride,
> the prominence of the other deadly sins might give way to a more peaceful
> and inclusive celebration: patriotism without pride.
>
>             It was one of my father’s dearest wishes that the British flag
> be removed from the corner of the Australian flag. A World War II veteran
> and unswerving patriot, he held no fondness for either the ‘mother country’
> or its colonial ties and though a political conservative, he strongly
> supported the cause of Australian republicanism. We stopped short of
> cutting the union jack out of the Australian flag before we draped it over
> his coffin – there are some things at which even I draw the line – but made
> mention of his views in the eulogy. An old man who looked to the future of
> his country, not the past.
>
> Yet these young people, wearing the flag like a superhero cape and their
> pride like armour strut and swagger and mouth the platitudes of patriotism
> with no thought to how they came to be here and the painful path of
> nation-building that has handed them their opportunities. Pride, it is
> said, goes before a fall. For next Australia Day my hope is for more
> humility in our observance and less flag-shrouded prerogative without
> responsibility. It’s the least we can offer the next generation.
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Robin
>