Ah Home!
Australia. Bewdy. Straight down to the coast to my beach house. Long walks each
morning and evening with the dogs down on the Back beach. There are miles and
miles of empty sand and not a another soul to be seen. The simple joy of throwing
sticks for the doggies Jess and Callum who are Border Collies and can run and
swim all day.
They love
it.
Swimming and
body surfing in icy water. Men and beasts. Falling into deep sleeps each night
tasting salt on my lips. There is salt in the air too. I am mentally rocked
into sleep by the sound of waves crashing on the shore. The sound of the sea is
rhythmical and soothing and there is no traffic noise. None whatsoever.
It is so very
nice.
Sunday morning
spent sprawling across the deck just basking in the morning sun. There are the Sunday
Newspapers spread amongst the adults. Broadsheets. We have tall glasses of
freshly squeezed orange juice. We chomp away on croissants and toast. Eggs and
bacon. The bacon in Australia is the soggy sort and not the crispy stuff that we
have in Singapore and in the US. There is lots of fresh black coffee. The odour
of coffee beans permeates the air and it smells of waking.
There is intrusion
of the adult space and peace by brown-legged children of various sizes and ages.
They pick paths amongst us and over us in the sea of newspapers.
They smell of
coconut tanning lotion.
These youth are
impatiently seeking out sunscreen, wet suits, surfboards, towels. Beach gear.
Summer Fun. I know this and I remember it. It is good hustle and bustle.
There are many
of these restless children. Some of them I recognized others I didn’t. They are
making demands in normal teenage ways. They are loudly declaring their needs
for food and their wants for car and boat keys. There are enquiries about the
whereabouts of mobile phones and headphones and IPods and IPads. This
generation communicate electronically and instantly They do this by Facebook
Messaging - even when they are in the same room. They live in the Now.
It is
insane.
It is funny
though.
It amuses
me.
There is
always Money too. Give me Money please. Is that all? They are Loud. Very Loud.
Amongst this
throng and noise I was reading an article. It was by a mother and journalist
who described being witness to an Act of Kindness at a school Christmas Year
Concert. The article was beautifully written and the story touched me.
It moved
me.
The Writer
described attending her child's end-of-year school concert where graduations
were also being celebrated. Speeches were being made and there were performances
with singing and dancing and Awards. All the usual stuff that one would expect
at such Graduation ceremonies. The Writer observed that the main Award for the
year was the Kindness Award. The Writer liked this and so do I. When the School
Principal presented the Award to a shy but beaming nine year old boy he asked
the crowd of hundreds to put their hand up if they had been affected by an act
of kindness from the Recipient that year. The Writer described feeling a lump
in her throat at the sight of the sea of hands she observed that were raised
from teachers, students and well, everyone.
Me too.
I wish I had
been there.
Kindness can
sway masses. It can move mountains.
So I grabbed
the tanned leg of the next teenager that endeavored to step over me. I made
them read the article too. The first one happened to be Georgie who is my
favorite niece. I made her sit next to me and read. Georgie read it and she
told me that she thought that the story was nice. I suggested to Georgie that maybe
she could do something nice for someone every day. It told her that I thought
that we should all practice more kindness. Georgie smiled and said that she did
this already and I suspect that she probably does. She's a very good girl is
Georgie.
I very much
like that they teach and reward kindness in Australian schools. I think
that it is a very good thing.
It
is something worth doing.
It
is something worth celebrating.
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