Happy Australia Day 2015!

Two good reasons why I love Australia

Aussie Humor and Aussie Slang

Laughter.

A good and wholesome sense of humor is a requisite skill in the Australian Army. True story. I once tried to become. Long story. You can not be a good Aussie digger if you do not know how to laugh like one. This I have learned: Laughter is a survival skill. Seriously, it is.

Aussie slang.

Aussie humor and Aussie slang are more modern reflections of the national style. It belies a deeper sense of intrinsic optimism that is in-built in the very ancient soul of Australia. They have it down to an art down there.

The great heart of Australia is a red desert, you see. Red as the rust on the surface of Mars. Along its fringes though, hope dwells and life prospers in the form of thriving cities, towns and tree-filled mountain ranges. Hope finds its way from hoping. Aussie optimism.

You really have to experience Aussie humor and Aussie slang fully immersed in Aussie culture for a few years, it's a great experience.

Of course, any experience of a national culture would be remiss if it were not for meaningful friendships. The basic experience of any culture in my book always begins with the memory of human connections.

Some people seem to want to make space in their heads for bad experiences. Personally, I don't. Doing this crowds out the heart I have found. The mind by itself may only carry so much worldly concerns. Too much thinking about too many of any these altogether too much worldly concerns exhausts the soul.

But not our love. For I have also found that a heart that knows Who, who, what and why it must love may carry all its treasures infinitely and indefinitely. Such is the substance of permanent remembrances.

I guess that's the essence of Mateship. I've thought about the concept of Mateship and associate it with the Love of Friendship. Mateship for me is the fifth and most inconspicuous star in the Southern Cross. It's right on the Australian Flag.

I've many good memories about Australia.

Two good Aussie mates I've had the pleasure of knowing among others Down Under is a bloke named William Eric Adams-White and another named David Bullen. Bill and Dave were their usual handles. Both are battlers. Dave is a reserve combat engineer.

You see, I came to Australia speaking my college English gleaned from my native Philippine setting. I carried with me on my tongue a conspicuously American slant. You can imagine how devastating that is when it comes to just plain, small talk in Australia. All big words and a foreign accent and all.

Devastating for me, that is.

I don't know but the Aussie accent and all that slang were all so alien to me at first. It all became all too much. Aussies began to sound like Martians to me. I got culture shocked and withdrew into a shell.

Then I met these two blokes at work. And oh, how they made me laugh. Another good mate of mine during that time was a proud Kiwi named David Polson. David was more or less my introduction to New Zealand culture. Though I've never been to New Zealand, I came to know some of its spirit.

Indeed, laughter did much to break me out of my shell.

And I slid right in there. Like a swimmer learning to swim, I learned in time to paddle into the culture and the lingo until I felt myself good enough to dive right in.

Bill must be in heaven now. He was already quite old when I was there. He gave me a cheapy calculator to help me with my work. He gave it to me with a big smile. I still have that cheapy calculator. It's priceless.

During my time in Oz, apart from my family, I must have met so many good people.

I can remember only one inexplicably bad incident of this one bloke, angry as hell at me, who blocked me off the road one random day and cursed me out for no reason.

As traffic piled behind me, who else did I see from my rear view mirror were rushing to confront the guy but other Aussies. There were suddenly plenty of us against this one, pathetic wanker.

A hundred ugly racists is not equal to one good Aussie mate, fair dinkum.

Within any given nation at any given time I believe, there are always reasonable and unreasonable people. Good times and bad times will come and go and persist in our souls. It's all about perspective, you know. I choose to remember good times. And good times are always made up shared experiences between good friends and good family.

This was before my time in the States. But that's another story.
--<--@

Lead with your mind but think with your heart. 

  

Australia is a laid back Country

Australia is a laid back Country, it is oft said... but what does this mean?



Every undertaking of Country
counts it's days according to it's own rhythm,
giving them form and measure according to its own spirit...
and those who belong to her nationhood
come to feel this passage in their moments intimately,
more and more so by the count of their years.

I would not compare Australia to other Countries...
I have learned to love her as she is... our Australia Fair
(And to judge none - for no nation of ours is without sin
and as such, no undertaking of Country is without salvation)
And though I know a bit of her, having spent some of my time

embraced by her - and in her spirit, soaking in the life, 

diversity and remembrance of her varied peoples, 

I can not truthfully say I have become blessed enough 

to fully appreciate the depth of her spirit as a nation... 

for Australia is not only fair, she too is ancient -

the roots of her community, quite vast and quite deep.

BUT this is do know -
and all my family and friends over there may agree:
Australia is a laid back nation, fair dinkum!

And when I say this,
I mean she is a land built with human communities
devoted to much happier, and much deeper human pursuits...
a nation inherently aware of a calling deep within herself,
reaching out together towards horizons a little bit above
that of the mere material... and the obviously temporal
for hers is that spirit that values things that are brighter
and more excellent than just the coin... and the clock
(to the point that civic generosity is sometimes exploited).

So there seems to ALWAYS be time in Australia
(at first, this was admittedly a source of boredom for me)
most especially, moments set aside and devoted
to the quest of other necessary things besides money...
(her shops close uncomfortably early, specially on weekends).

And this, according to yours truly, is why she is perceived
by her other kindred nations to be easy and laid back in her nature -
because it is part and parcel of her inherent wealth and wisdom
and so Australia keeps her time and treasures accordingly -
time for family, time for friends, time for mateships enough to mature
time for nature, time for fun and sports, time for learning a craft or a cure,
time for worship, time for politics, time for sacred remembrances to endure
time in abundance, time welling up from the dreamtime - plenitude!
Time enough for the benefit and enrichment of all Australians.
---<--@


Fairness and Mateship

A Crime Against All Nations

Is it right to unjustly take from a man his liberty and to threaten his own family with his own life?

At any time and at any place, this crime is an evil which no nation can tolerate - let alone ours, let alone if this man is a guest of our Republic!

Our national prestige and the individual honor of our entire citizenry is burdened (again) by this crisis.

Is it right to unjustly take from a man his liberty and to threaten his own family with his own life?

This is what is happening right now to this man - Warren Richard Rodwell - and the nations of the world, friends - both familiar as well as unfamiliar alike, are watching and remembering it.

What happens here is important - how much value we place upon this issue is determined by how important we generally perceive this unfolding crisis to really and truly be.

Let us dwell with open hearts upon the plight of this guest of ours - selah.

Because what we do here is important - all of us are somehow involved in this - because there is no other Philippines with which other nations shall seek to know us than this one.

I implore all who are directly involved to concentrate and employ all available means to secure justice for this man, working toward his soonest and safest release, and to bind the evil that had perpetrated this crime in our midst with all our might as one Republic whole.

I want us to bear always in mind - kidnappers are bound with the same gaggle of criminals as slavers and human traffickers - theirs is but one spirit - an enemy of Mankind - hostis humani generis.

This is a crime against all nations.

And as we are a nation of Mankind - we can not tolerate this here.

My prayers go with Wocca, his family, and to Australia - may God see us all safely through this unwanted and unwelcome ordeal.

UPDATE: As of 20130323, Saturday, I came across an article in the news that Wocca has been freed by his captors. Bless the LORD for this day!

This is welcome news but still, the safe release of Mr. Rodwell doesn't override the fact that this criminal act should never have been done to him in the first place.

There never should have been a break in the liberty of his person nor threats issued against his God-given right to his own life.

At this time, Mr. Rodwell should immediately report to his embassy. If I know Australia, I know that whole nation is anxious to know that he is safe and sound.

I believe there are still hostages being held against their will - in this Country - by threats, criminal in their nature, that directly violate both their dignity and their rights and so the work continues... for it must.

---<--@

Go now and do what War does not expect;

in a million forms, in a million ways, serve -

Love your own and others like your own.