Monday, March 11, 2013

Going Begging

IF you have never done it before, try it . Yes its intrusive and most people don't want to listen,  let alone talk to you , but its strangely good for them and strangely good for you . (Assumming the cause is not for you)
You see life is not all about letting people do what they like ; And its not all about GNP - how much stuff you can stuff . People who really enjoy life ( see map below) have learnt to do the hard things - like the washing up , like giving and giving for little return.   Mothers !


Begging begins at home . " Will you please pick up your clothes" our mothers said, said and said .  While dad's begging can often be about his needs , begging on behalf of others can be a necessary reminder to the blind (" If you get married son, let me remind you again ,  she, however wonderful or nearly like me she may be,  will not want to pick after you like I often do. I am begging you to not practice being a burden, but to give --- "How to make couples happy"  ABCTV recently  )
Cold calling too,  is full of surprises . A noisy house can suddenly go completely quiet when you knock on the door .   A struggling mum with 4 babes  can give you more than you would ever hope for ( like the widow who gave 2 mites which was a huge % of her income ) . Being there at that moment is a precious reminder of grace - a great place to be and to share;  Not everyone is held back by thoughts of scarcity ;  of their own pressing needs.
If you we thinking there is no good in the world,  go and beg for a good cause; have your faith in humanity restored.
You see its good ( I didn't say easy) for us to give . It is we are told , more blessed to give than 2 receive . You can see it on the faces of the people passing by . The shiny new 4WD with shiny new boat on tow is not smiling .  The person who was happy to give has got more joy on their face as they leave than they will get all day from anything else they do .These are the big things you see and experience and it does you a world of good , because the world is good and there is soemthing deeper that dumb preoccupations with scarcity . I even write songs and sing to some people when I am on duty walking up the traffic lanes ( I did at the weekend - the song featuered in West side story ) Many of them were off to a music festival  .
You see it s not all about me ( or you) and doing something for others can change your whole perspective.
Sure,  you,  like them,  feel a little guilt at pressing the need to consider .But whats guilt for except to bring in a change of heart ? A cahnge of heart that rejects what's easy and unsustainable  - to what's tough and sustainable .
You see too on the street that its good for all us to give so we we can grow and get something bigger and better in return . They don't teach you that in secular economics  class . There is a mystery here . God's mysterious economy . Give and you  getta lot;  give nothing and you get less than nothing .
The above map is an index ( only one persons) of happiness 
One thing too  is sure;  the cynics are wrong . For 9 out of every 10 who pass unblessed there is 1 who gives generously and shares a blessing that's much bigger than the amount involved.
Some cynics in the ABC seem to think that "chaplaincy in schools" ( forexample) is not a good thing .The testimony on the street is that they are wrong dead wrong .  . Sure the people of the town  may not think much of the churches or  the need for religious type talk  ( even though they choose to go there for school??  ) but they give and say gladly yes when told "what its for "  .( 95% of people who ask are happy to give more to chapliancy in schools). Talk is cheap really cheap !!  You see you don't see much unless you see what people are really committed to.


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

A nice cuppa if not a nice feeling


Met one of my old collegues yesterday , a park ranger,  to talk about why one major tourist track was closed this summer when so many people wanted to use it . It was also Bonhoeffers birthday and i am writing this to rememeber him and many other " angry men " who sought to get change through understanding and action.
The park rangers explanation was fine, and he told me how it would cost a fortune ( and some time) to remove some trees and shift some gravel , basically because a range of consultants were involved ( I used to advise them on  matters of river management in house and on demand so that fllod repairs were carried out quickly - not over 6 mths as in this case ) . 
Rather than be too negative about this waste and recipe for irresponsible results ,( 2 easy ) I hoped to share my passion and method ( you need an effective way to stop evil)

" to ensure some young people had the great decisionmaking jobs we had" .
I dearly hoped he would respond with " yes"  ( One job on the coast here drew over 2000 applications 20 years ago )
I was stone walled . Maybe he thought the situation was impossible to change ? 
Speak up before you lose your voice completely 
He said nothing in response to my suggestion that decisionmaking will continue to be taken off people in the bush if they don't stand up for themselves and their local right to be trained to do and to sort jobs like the ones listed above - Our home towns are all the poorer for having less people who care closely enough to be there on the ground with landmanagers .
The fly in fly out mentality is growing even without aircraft being used.
You have to speak up for others as Martin Neimoller ( Bonhoeffer's contemporary) said (" they came for the Catholiics but I wasn't a ......so I said nothing " )or eventually your future too will be taken away. Martin Luther King repeats these familiar friends of his when he said it wasn't the bad people he worried about but the silence of the good.

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Leaking roofs

There is only one reason to do some work on the roof when its really really hot . Being embarrassed is the reason I replaced the valleys on the old part of the building this week.

There is something worse than having mice in your house . Its having the roof leak in front of the visitors and onto the computer desk as you are desperately trying to do something .  
Its worse than mice because I am supposed to know what I am doing with house repairs and have probably " fiddled" with the problem before .
 "Get some more buckets "she says as the visitor struggles to drink her tea and avoid a conversation about the embarrassing scene before  her. Son is not happy as the drips are landing on his computer work .
The valleys I replaced on 3 hot days in January 2012 meant I had to remove the tiles .  . It was 9 am in the morning  I finished the job.  I  was thinking how clever i was NOT to break the tiles as I replaced the valleys over the last few days of incredibly hot weather . The tiles I had taken off were by 9:30 too hot to touch .
The only other 2 valleys on the house were created when I built the extension in the 1990's and were in good nick .( picture )  As always strong hardwood battons - they only thing to carry my weight .
One day might make the roof a better energy source and convert the roof to zincalum . Not so sure about that , as for the last 80 years its not  not the copper wire that hold the tiles on , the tiles or the hardwood,  but the zinc-alum that doesn't last .
We have yet to get some rain to see how good my work on the old part of the building has been.