This world of altering hope and hopelessnes
In the 'Local web of life' Time Flannery speaks of his modest home near the water and bush where he spends most of the year outside.
'You feel the weather on your skin, and the birds and animals - you watch the rhythms of birds and animals come and go and it does something profound to you.'
It roots you in a particular environment in a way that is very hard to articulate. Suddenly you feel the interconnection of lives building a whole from many parts.
Watching 'Home' a film by Yann Arthus-Bertrand I was taken on a sensational journey above planet Earth.
Seeing breathtaking images of over 50 countries from the sky I shared his wonder and also his worry. In 200,000 years, humans have disrupted the fragile balance...
on which Earth was living for 4 billion years. Global warming, shortage of resources, endangered species, humans are jeopardising their own living conditions.
"But it is too late to be pessimistic," as he said in the movie: "We have barely 10 years left to reverse the trend...
We need to become aware of our abusive exploitation of Earth's gifts and change our way of life."
Walking along the winter beach that conveys the message of isolation and melancholic mood, the message from the movie sends shivers up my spine...
This is my place in Western Australia, there was a beginning of my new migrant's life, but also it felt like a rebirth for me...I can't imagine it as the end of something...
I climbed up to the nearby hill and looked down at the beautiful picture of an untouched beach, a nature at its best, subtle, shadowy and sparingly defined by touches of light...
I looked back at our arrival in Australia, going up the road, soon to abandon the formal European dress to become more tanned and casual....
more modern and well fed and yet lost somewhere in midway...there is no way back. Australia represents the modern world in its pure form for me.
Europe has always been and remains the homeland of memory, to leave the past behind. Amnesia was a way of abolishing regrets and nostalgia, and opening oneself to a new beginning.
It is a place with no memories for the new arrivals, a place of aspiration and endless possibilities so diametrically opposed to European assumptions of traditions and well planned continuity.
And yet a glimpse of a desert bleached of life, a glimpse into the abyss of an almost unliveable existence reminds me that if things go wrong everything could vanish without a trace.
I was content and something has gone wrong and my life has slipped into free fall. Once again it is as through my own memory and those of others concerning me have been erased and I am no one.
If there is a beyond in the Australian imagination, it is the introspection and anxiety to be lost in endless expanses of arid land traversed by few highways.
The melancholy of a land on which nothing has ever been built to withstand the time. The vastness of the natural environment although now in the sense of emptiness seem timeless and untouchable. Hopefully it will stay the same long I am gone....
Not to be afraid to do what is right
One day the arms dealer,
we all know,
find his name in a newspaper
'a merchant of death'.
The author of the article
called him,
holding up a mirror
to his beliefs,
to him,
and has demanded
to look at what makes him believes
what he believes in.
The arm dealer
looked at himself,
really hard
and didn't like what he saw,
he changed his life
all around
to dedicate
it to peace
and prosperity.
The merchant of death
changed to
someone, who knew
beliefs could change
and we should
always
honour
the people
who shape
our view of the world
for good.
Alfred Nobel's name is on everyone's lips,
but the author of the famous article
remain anonymous
just like many others.
Who are those PEOPLE...
who know what does it mean to be saved.
We don't know their names,
nor their pictures look at us
from piles of glossy magazines
nor their achievements pop up
on our screens.
They are neither extreme
nor unreasonable,
unafraid to speak out,
against the crushing human crisis we face,
not to be afraid to do what is right,
making the hard decisions,
so our children will inherit
a place
at least as great as our planet Earth.
Some of us want to be somebody great,
some of us want to do something great,
some of us
just want to go with flow
and wait where it takes them.
It is not easy to be an everyday hero,
beyond the honour it signifies,
there are still prejudices
and stereotypes to confront,
every time you turn around.
The term 'racism'
encompasses much more
than just skin colour
and anti-Muslim sentiment.
It is also your belief
there is a superior and inferior race.
Are you upset by a racist insult
at a party
where you are the only one
who thinks otherwise?
80 per cent of us
remain passive
and let the ugly moment pass,
we are even less troubled
if the racist in question
is the person we like.
Bystanders are powerful
in feeding racists' strength,
giving insight
into the herd
behaviour
spiralling into violence
against powerless.
If there is a big discrepancy
between
what you say
and think about racism,
think hard,
would you be able
to defend those
who can not fight for themselves,
if you are not able to voice your outrage
to the racist in question mentioned above?
Do you have the courage
it takes
to stand up to
religious,
racist
or other
supremacy resistance
we still encounter every day?
IT IS NOT EASY TO FOLLOW
THOSE PEOPLE
ON THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED:
THE ROAD OF ACCEPTANCE
THAT WE ARE FAR FROM PERFECT
AND YET
WE HAVE A POWER
TO MAKE A RIGHT DECISION,
THE ONE
WE WILL NEVER REGRET.
Nor it easy to give to other people
the light of hope
at the end of tunnel,
the enthusiastic surge
quickly changes
to disappointment
with challenges
and people's demands
ever increasing.
It is not easy
not to be afraid
to do what is right.
Not to be fooled by
what most people
define
as success
have courage,
intuition
and faith
to forge your
own unique path
intent
on bettering the world
along the way.
It is not easy and yet there is no other way.
Look at those nameless and faceless PEOPLE,
who give us an opportunity to change lives forever,
to pursue things that seem unreasonable
and unreachable
until the very moment they become reality,
while living ordinary lives,
filled with hard work and fair play,
hope and resilience,
a willingness to listen,
a determination to do their best in a busy world,
as hard a battle as each of us fights every day.
Once we choose to honour
THOSE PEOPLE,
who really matter,
those who put us at ease
with their honesty
because we are always ready
to respond to truth.
Once we strive hard
to be one of THEM,
we can say
we live
in a better
and
more advanced
world
that is worthwhile
to leave behind
for our children to share.
Alfred Nobel Peace prize
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