Maturity...

... for Knots in the String.

One of the things I really appreciate at ballet is that our whole class is of like mind. We don’t talk about the state of the world often, but when we do, it’s heartening to see common beliefs and I wonder if it’s an age/wisdom thing.

I had a birthday this week and maybe it’s because I’m another year older (and hopefully a little bit wiser) I feel it’s a week for deep thought.

My ballet friends and I have seen a lot of the world (one of our number is just back from Uzbekistan and another is due to return from the Cook Islands, another’s husband is in Tunisia and my own husband has just returned from working in Nuie in the Pacific) and thus we are able to draw valid conclusions about what we have to lose.

As Australians, we have observed our place in the world and within the human race without ego. It’s the Australian way. Australia isn’t perfect – we have our share of radical far right and far left advocates. But we have a strong democratic government, a solid and excellent system of elections where everyone must cast a vote by law. We are a truly free country. Long may it continue.

I value living in a multi-cultural society. I have an Indian eye-specialist, a Chinese dentist, my ear-specialist was Rumanian and the man who guided me through last year’s major surgery is the offspring of Italian migrants. Some of my nurses were from places like Nepal, Malaysia, and India and they were gentle and kind. I’m descended from Irish, Scots, English and German migrants, my husband from English and Italian migrants, so we, like most of Australia, have much to thank migration for.

That said, I believe our First Nations, some 60,000 years old, should be recognised and respected, and I’m happy I live on the island of lutruwita, an island intrinsically tied to palawa culture.

Deeper thoughts further down, but perhaps an intermission.

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Other things:

I’ve started writing the next novel – Phoebe’s Prime, while I wait for Act III edits to return. Once again about an individual of mature age. Set right where I am now, on the coast. No surprises there…

Pups and I went to a Dog’s Breakfast on Sunday, for the Suicide Prevention Network. Poor little Bozo – it was his eleventy-month birthday, and he so badly wanted to play but none of the other dogs were welcoming. He tried so hard. You know, the bouncy one at a function who has probably taken something and is all over everyone and whom no one can stand? All the humans thought he was simply gorgeous. All the canines? Not so much.

I spoke to my dog-trainer about it, and she said whilst the intentions of a multi-dog function are always good, it’s not particularly good for the dogs. They are in a circumscribed spaces defined by the length of their lead which can make any dog defensive. Better to take them for a long walk where they can sniff and pee to their heart’s delight. My chap’s tight lead to curb his enthusiasm would have been seen by other dogs as a flashing amber light. Interesting, isn’t it?

It’s all a learning curve.

To celebrate my birthday this week, my husband and I did our traditional hike on Maria Island. We always take special ribbon sandwiches made to Mum’s recipe and favourite Florentines, a flask of tea and of water, along with fresh fruit, and we criss-cross the northern end of the island.

(Old Ruby’s cottage. Ruby once read my mother’s future on one of our childhood Swallows and Amazons trips to the island.)

(Looking up at Bishop and Clerk, known by the locals as the Coxscomb, for obvious reasons…)

(Dating from the 1880’s - restored to its original state and still with the old plaster walls…)

We have a favourite spot which tourists seem to bypass – a restored and empty late 19^th century workers’ cottage set in a little dell off the beaten track. We sit solitary, disturbed by no one, leaning back against the convict brick walls on the cottage verandah. Just us and the bush. The twitter and burr of tiny birds play chorus and descant, cut glass beauty that fills the air, and we look up at the peaks of the Coxscomb (which we’ve climbed) and Mount Maria. The cottage is surrounded by late narcissus and blooming Arum lilies, a perfect place filled with ghosts and I feature it in a crucial part of Act III.

The wind of course had once again arrived by the time we walked back to the wharf. The journey over the exposed hills required a sweater to be tied on to prevent the sunvisor flying away and to protect ears from baffling, which can induce vertigo.

The ferry journey back was rough! We had to veer well north off the usual course, driving into the wind, to then turn and motor down with the swell behind us. But we are in one piece after a super day – sore feet and legs but worth every moment of pain.

The eleventy month pup managed six hours alone without a skerrick of damage, soiling or barking. He had been for a sniffathon walk before we left and I had hidden treats around the house, a chew stick and Spotify’s calming music. We had set up a Ring camera (with sound) and we checked in very very often and all was quiet. Lovely dog!

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“It’s not arrogance. It’s clarity.

There comes a moment in life when something inside you quietly shifts…

You start to understand the true worth of your time, energy, and peace…

It’s maturity. A calm declaration that says: ‘My peace is my priority.’ And maybe, just maybe … that’s the most powerful form of freedom there is. — Meryl Streep

This is a small portion of a long quote I found online which may or may not be from Meryl Streep. It occurred to me after I read it that we don’t have time to muck about. There’s a need for those of us who have reached that ‘mature’ stage in life to stand up and speak for peace. If I know that I have supported something meaningful, then I’m at peace. Thus:

1. I am pro a two-state solution in Gaza. This does not mean that I’m anti-Jewish in any way. What it means is that in the same way I believed the WWII-driven Jewish diaspora needed a home, their own home on historic lands in the Middle East, so I believe fractured and battered Palestinians with no love of Hamas deserve their own home on traditional lands in the Middle East, living in peace.

2. I am pro Ukrainian, believing that Russia should withdraw, return former Ukrainian lands to their rightful owners and allow people to live in peace.

I look at Numbers One and Two and realise how naïve they sound, the likelihood of such things happening minute, but I have to believe in them because I have to hope that rationality and compassion will ultimately prevail. I am however, not naïve enough to assume that the temporary peace in the Middle East will last or that it was engineered by Trump. There were/are many players and in 50 years time, I would love to read the way history records this very transient moment. My bet is it will be nothing like what we’re being told.

3. I believe that the First World, with its vast wealth and knowledge, should be helping all poorer countries of the world to live safely with food, water and self-determination. It’s a quid pro quo – the First World became rich on the backs of many of those countries after all.

4. I have strong views about industry upsetting the balance of nature, usually with flagrant government acquiescence across the globe and no vision for the future. When Jane Goodall passed away we lost such a powerful voice fighting for our world.

5. I would love to see free America repossess its country from the grip of authoritarianism/fascism. With Trump playing snakes and ladders and cheating at the game, none of the world is safe. A man who calls Netanyahu, Erdoğan, Orbán and others his friends, is at best suspect, at worst, extremely dangerous and I would prefer Australia had no alliances at all with the USA. As I’ve said to friends in Europe, it will be at least a generation until the Western world can trust the USA again, so much damage has been done.

These are just some of the thoughts that drift through my head as I sift through a day. I realise I will probably find myself offside with many readers, but I can no longer sit on the fence, be invisible, hide away. At newly-minted 74, I must speak whilst there’s still time.

Jane Goodall taught me that.

I’ll finish with an image of the most adorable little thing in the world…

Music for this week?

I’ve played this before. It’s my favourite Peace song, this arrangement in particular, as it exemplifies everything that is remarkable about multi-culturalism.