ON THE BEACH

     Do you remember reading the novel by Alex Shute? Australia was the last bastion of life on earth after a nuclear war, nothing to do but wait for the winds of destruction, of poison to reach them as they sat there, on the beach.
     Well, today, I noticed that suddenly I had quite  a large number of readers from Australia and the book popped into my head, particularly after reading recent articles about the country. There has been terrible heat, droughts, now a punishing rain with huge floods, and I realized that this country is as much on the beach now as it was in the book.
     Australia, so far away, yet so close in terms of the devastating effects of global warming. Huge turns and extremes in the weather. Angry populations, worried about resources, sharing with immigrants, dealing with the effects of a climate gone rogue - and does this all sound familiar? Look at the countries of he world, especially the western ones, the ones who used to provide refuge and hope for so many of the lost of the world. Look at the anger and the hatred now. Look at the intensity of these emotions on the faces of people who themselves are harmed by the policies and actions of the powers that be. How did we all get to be the Australia on the beach?
     We got there because we all forgot our responsibilities. We got there because we were selfish. Another car. A bigger house. Fancier clothes. Jewelry to knock one's eyes out. Pressured kids who cannot even take the time to play, just play. Competition. Spying on each other. We did not even need Big Brother for that - we did it ourselves. And we ignored all the consequences of our actions, refusing to see that it all added up to disaster for the earth. And worse than all else, we retrogressed, electing people, allowing people, who refused to see anything but money in their pockets to run the world. And the rich got richer and the poor got poorer, with fewer protections, fewer safety provisions, and people went hungry in countries all over the world that had once been prosperous and even here in the USA we had food insufficiency, food insecurity and should we not be ashamed at that!
     We invest our resources in tracking down the little dude who is taking care of our gardens and throw our hands up in victory when we find him. We chase down a woman who helps another to register to vote, not realizing that he had a green card but was not a citizen. So we throw an older woman in jail. Oh, yippee! Don't we feel so much safer now! And please do not forget the harm we do to our economy when we bust up and arrest the little business guys who came here, worked hard, but were undocumented. Never mind that we should show them a pathway to citizenship, a just reward for their contributions. Oh, no - we need to shut the shop, rip the family apart and perhaps engage in a contest as to how long we can separate the families.
     Somehow we have managed to turn our values inside out, ignored them, trampled on them, in the rush to what? Riches? More fat? Better gyms? Fancier clothes made by 8 year old kids? Where have we gone wrong and how do we turn it around?
     I am not of the pay grade that has all the answers, but what I do know is that we have to choose our leaders better, more wisely. We need to cut out the big egos, the talking heads, cut off the extremes, and let the vast middle talk to each other, come out of the woods where they are hiding. It takes a modicum of sense and a modicum of selflessness, a realization that we are all on this deserted island in space, no ships to come and rescue us, no more land to destroy, no more anything, unless we work together. 
     I do not wish to be the Australia of today or of On The Beach. I want the Australia of the tourist beauty, the welcoming natives and citizens, the glory of the Great Barrier Reef, the awesomeness of the great Outback, the potential for the future. I believe we mostly all wish for that. Now let us get started on the road back to it and we will progress forward. G'day!