21 C
Byron Shire
March 27, 2024

Here & Now #66

Latest News

Splendour 2024 cancelled

It's official, Splendour in the Grass 2024 has been cancelled.

Other News

Queer family visibility

Did you know that, statistically, if you’ve met a redhead, you’ve also met a trans person? Over 800 trans and gender diverse people live in the Byron Shire, which includes at least 200 children. They’re often a bit hidden though, so come on down and celebrate with them this Trans Day of Visibility!

Big week in Byron Bay for adaptive surfers

Australia’s first-ever international adaptive surfing contest held in Byron Bay last week was an overwhelming success according to organiser Mark ‘mono’ Stewart.

Biz confidence up, says Business NSW

The state's peak body for business says confidence in the sector has increased but cost of living pressures continue to impact customer spending.

Dynamic, rustic yet polished

Animal Ventura is the brainchild of Byron Bay-based singer-songwriter Fernando Aragones. Growing up playing punk and reggae in noisy garage bands in Southern Brazil, Aragones ventured to Australia where the eclectic sounds of the Sydney music scene beckoned.

Safety and preparation saves lives on the water

A large number of boaters are expected to hit the water over the Easter long weekend and Marine Rescue NSW is reminding boaters to be prepared and log on to the Marine Rescue NSW app.

Workshop in Creative Writing For Beginners

Have you always felt like you have a novel in you, but don’t know where to start? Or have...

Here & Now 66 picS Sorrensen

My place. Monday, 10.10am

The collective human personality has always been violent, sure, but once upon a time there was limit, when a man went down, the fight was done.

Once upon a time, when Christmas day arrived, the bullets stopped and men sang hymns to the God of peace.

Once upon a time, land was honoured and protected as the source of life.

Now, you go in with the boot until the brain is haemorrhaging, the water poisoned, and the schools bombed, Ramadan or not.

It’s getting vicious, this human community, both to its members and to the planet which birthed it.

Twenty years ago, for instance, if you had said to Australians that the Great Barrier Reef is half dead and will be totally wrecked by the end of this century, there would have been shock and horror.

People would have been outraged that such a natural wonder, a national icon, a flashing jewel in Australia’s tiara, would be threatened by government-condoned corporate vandalism. People would have demanded remedial action. Of course.

But the response to this reef reality has not been a hue and cry, but rather a silence so complete, you can almost hear the coral, weighed down by the dredged sludge and coal dust, cracking off to thump dully onto an over-phosphated sea bottom.

Well, you could hear it, if it wasn’t for The Voice, and for excited radio voices extolling Australian prowess in the pool and on the battlefield. And how real is the awful reality when it’s wedged between a dancing cat and ‘What rock song are you?’ on Facebook?

And where is this frightening truth when you’re sipping coffee and eating fresh baklava in a Turkish resort only a hour’s drive from huge camps where desperate Syrian refugees wait for bread and peace? And is there really a crisis if you have a vacuum cleaner that drives itself?

Yes, the distraction of a million things is disconnecting us from reality and creating a ferocious humanity.

This makes me sad.

In fact, the weight of this sadness made me lie in bed this morning, unable to get up. I listened to the bush turkeys scratch through the garden. A kookaburra made the sun rise and poke its fingers into my shack. The phone rang, twice.

The sadness threatened to wrap my life in a suffocating despair as completely as corporate rule has wrapped the planet in plastic.

This morning, I saw the activities that fill my laptop calendar for what they really are: insulation against the chilling planetary truth. I hid under the doona.

Finally, opening my eyes to the morning glare, I saw the televison sitting there, smirking. The computer made a ping; my phone a beep-beep. Printer, radio, back massager, an empty jar collection, a picture of a virgin mother, a wind-up Superman…

Then an idea came to me: If it really is the one million things that are disconnecting me from the planet, then… I will chuck them out! All of them!

I will not fiddle with the remote while Rome burns. Unencumbered, I will regain my humanity. Undistracted, how could people possibly allow the reef to die?

Inspired, I jumped out of bed and grabbed the television. To the tip!

Then I hesitated.

Okay, maybe not the television. (Firefly has taught me much.) And maybe not the turntable. (What is life without Billie Holiday?) And I need the computer. (I am Brown Sugar.)

The radio has flood reports, Superman inspires me, the virgin with child is my therapy, and my back needs massaging.

But, I tell you what, the empty jar collection is going.

 

 


Support The Echo

Keeping the community together and the community voice loud and clear is what The Echo is about. More than ever we need your help to keep this voice alive and thriving in the community.

Like all businesses we are struggling to keep food on the table of all our local and hard working journalists, artists, sales, delivery and drudges who keep the news coming out to you both in the newspaper and online. If you can spare a few dollars a week – or maybe more – we would appreciate all the support you are able to give to keep the voice of independent, local journalism alive.

12 COMMENTS

  1. Not the jars! So useful for putting more things in – copies of [later] ron hubbard’s writings on how to avoid reality, or mme blavatsky’s version, or …. Oh the humanity! – without things to be kept, stored, protected, from predation, we would all have world enough, and time. But then we would all have time to think, get depressed, and seek out stuff to put in place of reality. Umm – that can’t be right – internal contradiction – system error. Start again.

  2. when was the middle east ever peaceful. As far as the Barrier reef is concerned, Australians are so affluent that they are busy spending their time looking after themselves.

    In our democracy, if we want peace we can have it, if we wish to protect the Barrier Reef, we can do it. All we need to do is decide on a course of democratic action to elect politicians who do what we want and replace those who don’t.

    Join a Residents Roundtable

  3. Strewth! Here’s another stupid crankyankerism – “done” is used incorrectly. When the meat is cooked it is “done”. When when a man went down, the fight was FINISHED!! Wake up Australia (not Straya) where’s your patriotism?

    • you are SOOOO on the money!!
      another “stupid crankeyism”!!
      and so delicately put…..why did you bother?
      the author of the article presents us with a polished, complex, thought provoking piece
      on the state of the world

      and yr entire response is limited to mere pedantry
      and questionable pedantry at that
      (in the vernacular use of the word ‘done’, the writer is entirely correct with the given usage)
      Jeez mate…..

      • Sure the article was great but S Sorensen using incorrect, crankyanker English usage ruined it. Our language is eroding at a cataclysmic rate. You only need to listen to “Aunty ABC” who was once the pinnacle of and set the standard for Australian English to discover that fact (& I don’t mean the “air, bee, sear” English of my youth). Because the rate of deterioration is so high, I felt it my duty “to insist on strict adherence to formal rules” or as you say to be “pedantic”. One of the reasons the world is in an undisciplined, bloodstained state is because many standards have been allowed to “rot on the vine”. Unless we pull up our bootstraps soon we’ll end up at the end of the list of greatest countries in the world along with the US, the Middle East, the Balkans and so on.

  4. the time is coming!

    humanity is reaching two great peaks simultaneously,.
    the peak of ignorance and illusion and
    the peak of awakening and consciousness
    choose wisely

  5. Poor TruBlu Trev….

    Love you S and Govinda!
    Yes, it is about choices.
    I am going to channel some of my distracting energy and focus more on these issues at hand.
    We all need to rally together against the ‘ferocious humanity’, get out from under our doonas, peel away the plastic and ‘Save the Reef”.
    Google ‘Save the Reef” and become better informed. Find out how you can make a difference.
    Thank you S, you rock.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

We just love him!

If you’re over 50 you might not be a fan of Tom Jones, but you can bet your mum is. If you’re under 40 you might not even know who he is, but your grandmother probably wet her pants at the mere mention of his name.

Peter Garrett gives Bluesfest the nod

If I say the words ‘US Forces give the nod’, I can pretty much guarantee that you will hear the unmistakable voice of Peter Garrett ringing in your ears. Your head may even start to bob up and down a bit. 

Save Wallum finalist in NSW 2024 environment awards

The Save Wallum campaign has been named as a finalist in the Nature Conservation Council of NSW Environment Awards 2024. The award ceremony will be held in Sydney tonight, and Save Wallum spokesperson and ecologist James Barrie will be attending with Tegan Kitt, another founding member of the group.

New report highlights gaps in rural and remote health

The second annual Royal Flying Doctor Service ‘Best for the Bush, Rural and remote Health Base Line’ report has just been released. Presenting the latest data on the health of rural and remote Australians and evidence on service gaps, it identifies issues in urgent need of attention from service providers, funders, partners and policy makers.