Views in Verse on Bigotry

We read graphic details this week of an Australian Academic Professor Spurr who had regularly sent around emails to his peers promoting racism and religious intolerance. This same man had been appointed to review Australia's English curriculum. When challenged on this outrage, he retorted that he was entitled to his own views on such matters and yet be totally objective in setting context and policy in relation to our national learning program for our children. Wrong man ...hand in your guns and get out of town!


In fact this bombardment by 'fire breathing' individuals spreading hate via email has taken on a very unwelcome level of late.

Only this week I received an elaborate chain letter detailing how a Christian Pastor and an Imam had crossed paths at a lecture in an American jail. The story spread by the Pastor tells how he boldly confronted the Imam on the lack of tolerance by Muslims in relation to all non-believers. The Pastor built a healthy case of disdain against what he saw as outright bigotry himself. All was plain sailing and mildly convincing till I got to the Pastors name, church but beyond all of this ...his address: ALABAMA. Hmmm ...stirs a few too many memories doesn't it? 

The question I ask is: do we ever learn? The thing most common to all this hate mail I see is that the authors always sees themselves as coming from a position of absolute righteousness.

Alabama

Oh Alabama
The devil fools
with the best laid plan.
Swing low Alabama
You got spare change
You got to feel strange
And now the moment
is all that it meant.

Alabama, you got
the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac
has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track

Oh Alabama
Banjos playing
through the broken glass
Windows down in Alabama.
See the old folks
tied in white ropes
Hear the banjo.
Don't it take you down home?

Alabama, you got
the weight on your shoulders
That's breaking your back.
Your Cadillac
has got a wheel in the ditch
And a wheel on the track

Oh Alabama.
Can I see you
and shake your hand.
Make friends down in Alabama.
I'm from a new land
I come to you
and see all this ruin
What are you doing Alabama?
You got the rest of the union
to help you along
What's going wrong?

NEIL YOUNG

The Others

You took me in when I needed help

I know that you are my friend

He vouched for me also at that time 

A ready hand to lend

She too was like a sister to me

Without asking a thing in return

But it's not about them of whom I speak

It’s the others that I spurn

I didn’t mean you, when I spoke of ‘a plot’

I didn’t mean him, involved he’s not

I didn’t mean her, I’d be needlessly hurting

It’s the rest of the others to whom I’m referring

It’s all the others, who offer a threat

It’s all the others, whose intent I get

It's all about them, their motives aren't true

I know this just simply, because …I do!

from my desktop Grahame J Flynn

views in verse on behavioural change

What type of trees do you see?

No it is not a trick question...

they are of course trees typical to Australia :

eucalyptus or gum trees, but ...





In sketches still kept to this day, in colonial times in Sydney Town and in the extended penal colony of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania), the English scribes continually drew their impressions of the forests they saw before them as oak, elm or larch trees. Or indeed any other tree that reminded them of the way things were back home. A case of mind over matter.

So remember when faced with behavioural change issues: never underestimate the human mind's urge to return to what it was comfortable with yesterday despite being faced with a new 'modus operandi' being demanded today. Beware a convenient myopia that may resurface for some time.

Confidence in 'the new' requires coaching, documentation, reinforcement and reassurance in order to ensure complete adoption of the required standard.




Renewal

Release
the past
It's spent
and gone
Accept
my friend
it's done!

Embrace
tomorrow
as a child
plays in rain
The future
holds promise
for some

For those
who open up
their hearts
and trust in
themselves
Good things will come
to them
as if by chance.

To lovers
who caste aside fear
the odd
chortled jeer
and boldly
march up to the floor
and dance

And to those who
take a
selfless route
in fulfilling
their pursuit
Reward will come
to them
with seeming grace...

Live to love 

the day
before wishing it away

on the past
...spent
but never

out of place!

From my I-pad - Grahame J Flynn

Views in Verse on achievement

This guy is one of the really impressive Australians of our generation...Ric Charlesworth. 

Perhaps the pinnacle of his career has now come as an author in the passing on of the knowledge that he has acquired as a high achiever in his career, sport and politics. His profile as a team leader, arguably, unsurpassed in our time.

In his book 'The Coach' he shares with us 10 KEY ELEMENTS that champion teams depend upon to achieve the highest level of success. Ric sees these factors as being equally applicable in business!

Ric is a doctor of medicine, a former captain of the Australian Hockey Team, the WA State Hockey Team and the WA State Cricket Team. He was also in Federal parliament for 10 years. He then 'retired' to take up the position of National Coach of the Australian Women's Hockey Team and then the Men's Hockey team. It goes without saying that these Australian hockey teams have taken all before them over these past twenty years - he has been without doubt the cornerstone of this great success.

The 10 KEY ELEMENTS that champion teams depend upon to achieve the highest level of success Ric defines as being : quality, work ethic, flexibility,growth through adversity,breadth of leadership, continuous learning, a team first attitude, common goals, honesty, ...humility. 

The last being somewhat the key, as it recognises that: today's raw performance alone is, of its own, just not good enough. As without always recognising that 'what you don't know about yourself' today is the biggest threat to still being the best tomorrow. There must be an accepted mantra within the team for constant 'performance improvement'. 



Views in Verse on achievement


Life is jelly-bean colours,
Fireworks in the sky.
A silvery beam is shining...
Out of a wondering eye...

They say in truth we set our goals
far short of what we presume
Instead if we were to 'shoot for the stars' 
We might just 'hit the moon'

(Extract from the poem 'serendipity')

Forwarded from my Iphone - Grahame J Flynn

Views in Verse on the Rabbitohs

Latest betting tells us that Russell Crowe's South Sydney Rabbitoh's will tear into Sunday's Australian Rugby League Grand Final against Canterbury as favourites despite not having won one since 1971. The club emblem is of a rabbit ...why are they then known as the Rabbitohs?





 Since Russell Crowe bought the club they have seen a dramatic and stylish resurgence not in keeping with their historical image which is more reflected in their name - the Rabbitohs.

They were one of the foundation club's of the Sydney focussed league (1908) and effectively from the wrong side of town around Redfern as the area housed mainly the poor in these days - and continued to recent decades. The stories have it that especially during the depression years that rabbit was a low cost source of food and was readily sold in tougher hotels around the south of the city.

The guy who came in to sell them would announce himself as "the Rabbitoh". Thereby to be forever the association with 'the struggler' image.

The club battled hard to survive financially into the 1980's and were effectively removed from the competition much to the chagrin of their loyal supporters, who successfully managed to turn that situation around.  This included marches through the city and up to the town hall steps. Many well known, well heeled supporters came out of the woodwork at that time and would help with that struggle.

This period saw private funding dramatically enter the scene to rescue the club - eventually to end with Russell Crowe's ownership - himself a lifelong supporter. A new trend in NRL circles then emerged along the lines of other overseas sports franchises.

Crowe has dramatically changed the image and in some ways has taken 'the brand' to the world. The team now features two of the best players in the game Greg Inglis and Sam Burgess.

So how will they stand up to the pressure come Sunday against Canterbury? ...a regular premiership winner over the recent decades. Well, we'll see come Sunday. But I reckon most people would love to see them get up again off the canvas (Bulldog supporters excluded of course).


The Anthem in case anyone has forgotten the words:

Glory, Glory to South Sydney
Glory, Glory to South Sydney
Glory, Glory to South Sydney
South Sydney Marches On
When speaking of the champions
One stands above the rest
Of glories old and records proud
When often put to test
Of fine traditions, history
That others cannot best
They wear the red and green
Glory, Glory to South Sydney
Glory, Glory to South Sydney
Glory, Glory to South Sydney

Views in Verse on a 'fair dinkum' society

The Trade Union Royal Commission was brought to a halt this week for a fortnight as a key witness  (the alleged link to the underworld) was excused from attendance given he was suggested to be in need of mental health care in the wake of his recent charge of sending threatening texts and emails to a woman over the prior six months. He was given bail subject to a doctor's letter...


Meantime this week a Sydney lawyer who crashed into an L plated motor cyclist and then suffered a road rage moment will plead that he should not be judged under criminal law as he was 'mentally ill' at the time.

Such absurd 'legal' instances stand as complete anomalies in 'mental health week'. Compare this with a minor news story in the letters section of the SMH newspaper on 2/10/14. Wherein we are told of a seriously ill man who took off his clothes in searing heat and wandered aimlessly around a country city for 36 hours and then was jailed for his incoherence despite his mental health history.

This man has since been locked up in Silverwater jail for 18 months awaiting trial given he was charged with trespassing (go figure?). He can't be found fit to plead given his mental state (meantime he rots in jail!!!). Mr Ingrey in that same letter offsets the case of a Sydney barrister's son who hit a jeweller over the head during a recent armed robbery and only received a suspended two year sentence for his crime.

There can be no doubt at times that the law appears an ass. This is not new. But the disturbing thing is this 'bi level society' is so closely following what we see in the US today as 'the norm'; it truly makes you wonder whether we are going forward or backwards ...back into our own colonial past. It also highlights the truly veiled state of mental health in this country. The law too is being manipulated to its own ends.

One thing is for sure. We are deluding ourselves that we are participating in a 'fair dinkum' society as we would like to think. 'Fair dinkum' being Australian for ...'fair and reasonable'!

The Rose, the Sun and the Sea

She was the kindest of woman

her beauty long lost to the sun

She came to this port as a stranger

for the love of "a wayward one"

Most thought:

 "he'd since died a sailor"

Put it down to his 'late father's bent'

But back to this headland

she'd return each day

Early ...without relent

After this vigil

She'd walk through town

Shoulders thrown back as she'd go

Watching out 

for new arrivals

the Coachman's brow would lo'

In the early years 

neat and composed

Never missing the odd chance to talk

Her appearance waned

with each new year

yet purpose still clear in her walk

She'd stop and she'd chat

to the waifs and the needy

A port town carries it's share

Helping out at the sailor's home too

Plenty of work to do there

She also worked hard for a living

under the Milliner's shop

Until one grey morn'

when the Constable announced:

"her rounds had come to a stop"

It seems the Squire

from a nearby cove

had called that very same day

With ghastly news 

that a body was found

Floating ...face down ...in the bay

Her funeral was said to be touching

All of the children were there

Even the seamen 

made their way up the hill

with flowers ...to rest in her hair

The Mayor declared her (to be)

"of good breeding"...

who came to us 'through the back door"

Describing such situations as "travesties..."

"...such things shouldn't happen at all"

Most would have noticed too

a stranger there...

Sitting amongst the throng

A refined old woman...

Who said not a word...

In a short while she was gone

The Landlord later noted:

"personal things were taken...

...right to the very last one"

All that was left 

in his seaward loft

Was a rose...

...now bleached by the sun.

Forwarded from my I pad - Grahame J Flynn