Of course, the best way for such people to be "protected" is to learn how to protect themselves from things which are disharmonious [3] ... that will come, but, for now, some people have other priorities in their lives which are more important or more compelling, or other responsibilities (e.g., caring for small children or infirm family members or friends) and so do not have the opportunity to learn how to do so (or may not have the contacts in the physical world to do so). Hence, I consider that there is a valid need for protection of some to be provided by others.
In seeking to accomplish this, I am very much aware that change is inevitable - it is one of the best lessons I learned from being Buddhist. It probably helps that I've seen so much change in my life. As a few of the smaller examples:
- As a kid, from before I was old enough to go to school and for my first years of school, we lived in a place called Syndal (it is now part of Glen Waverley). In those days, it was on the outskirts of Melbourne, and we used to walk to a State forest at the bottom of the hill, and find all sorts of fascinating things like discarded snake skins. Now, it is not too far from the geographic centre of the population distribution of Melbourne. I went back there when I came back to Melbourne, many years later, and could not even recognise where our house used to be - all the houses had been developed, rebuilt, and retaining walls put in. The magnificent forest was, sadly, long gone ... I did buy a set of tuning forks, though, at a music shop, which I used for many years while meditating on sound and vibration.
- After Syndal, we moved to Parkdale (I still support the Parkdale Seagulls [I signed the petition not to change the name of the women's team from the Seagulls to the vultures when the mens Parkdales Seagulls and Mentone Vultures combined to form the Parkdale Vultures, so I'm stickin' to that :) ] in the VWFL), where I had my first "first day" at high school [4]. I also went back there when I returned, as an adult, and was struck by the fact that the streets were half the size I recalled. (I was also struck by the fact that somone who had subsequently owned the house we had lived in had concreted over the front lawn and painted it green! Uuughh! Vandal - ENVIRONMENTAL vandal!)
- After we moved back to Queensland (I was actually born in Brisbane, but was adopted at three weeks and then flown to Melbourne shortly after, in the back of a DC3; the next few years were, I found out later, a lonely time for my [adoptive] Mum), we wound up involved with the now defunct Mackay Sailing Club because of my interest in sailing (I've mentioned sailing and my love of the sea in passing elsewhere: it kept me going through some personally very challenging times as a teenager, as I came to terms with myself). One of the highlights of the year for me, both sailing and personally, was out two week stint during the August school holidays at Kurrimine Beach [5]. In the few years I went there, I witnessed the coral reef just off the beach being desecrated by tourists taking bits of coral (this was long before anyone had even started talking about Marine Parks), and I also witnessed the change of character of the regatta as it became better known, and we had more skilled but more aggressive sailors come up from down south for a warm winter's holiday. In fact, I have witnessed the changes in a few groups that happens when the groups becomes larger: this was no exception. I haven't been back there for ages, but was still sad to hear of the devastation caused to the area by Cyclone Larry (I am very pleased, though [proud, even], one of my nephews helped with the clean-up effort).
- I have seen lots of changes happen since my return to Melbourne, not all for the better, but dome definite improvements to the physical environment and, above all else, to the psyche of the place and the people. Discrimination against LGBTIQ people is now largely prohibited (see here for a history of the changes, and here for the current legal situation in Victoria), and there are active changes to improve inclusion of a wide range of people - for instance, see here and here.
Love, light, hugs and blessings
Gnwmythr
Notes:
- I'm still working on training materials - in-between having a life and meeting my commitments :) Hope to get this ready to start before I finish this incarnation ... :D Or maybe someone else will be able to do so ... :) (hopefully in time for it to be useful in coming world changes ... otherwise, I might have to find another world in a similar bind and do all this all over again. I should point out, to, that I do NOT know of any impending calamities: my understanding is that the improvements over the next few centuries on this planet is going to be by the efforts of those on it.)
- I am adult enough to know that not all who join the military do so, these days, as one younger person I know thinks, "so they can kill people" (although that unquestionably has been a motivation, perhaps more so in the past). Many do in fact join the military out of a sense of community service or nationalistic fervour. You can argue all you like around the world view - and the world situation - which makes it necessary to have a military (and won't get disagreement from me over the need for this world situation to change), but the fact remains that NOT all who join are crazed people out to kill other human beings. In Australia, there was a period when many (including a relative of mine and several friends) joined so they would learn a trade (some joined the Navy so they could experience going to sea). Of course, that they subsequently found themselves in conflict zones (some in the Vietnam War, others in more recent conflicts, was a shock to some, and I understand the military has altered its recruitment to make sure that surprise is less likely to happen. Of course, given our currently destructive inclined world situation, some wars have actually been against quite evil forces - for instance, the Second World War fight against Hitler's mob and the Imperial Japanese Forces. Unfortunately, such conflicts, and the desperation that goes with them, means the conduct and attitudes of those involved is not crystal clear and blameless. In fact, I consider one of the biggest problems (and there are a few others, not only war crimes [by both sides in many conflicts - see here, for instance; also, I grew up with rumours that Australians didn't always bring back prisoners during the Second World War in PNG [my beloved Uncle Clive, who I've mentioned before, was one of the "chocos"; also, see here, here, here and here for some basic info about the Second World War, and here, here and here for some effects of the two World Wars], or other crimes against humanity [which I consider includes world hunger and world poverty) remaining with military forces is their homophobic prejudices. Similarly, I have VERY grave concerns about the conservative elements of police forces ... (Interestingly enough, these days there seems to be good training by the Australian military forces on what a lawful order is: I know of at least one case [from a media report a few years ago! I have no special "insider" information] where Australian pilots would not undertake an air strike ordered during one of the Iraqi invasions by their US commanders, as the target was too close to a school. [I also know of a case where Australians shot someone walking into a school, in summer in a desert town, who they found had explosives under his very much out of place overcoat ... he had been going to kill as many of the kids in the school as he could. Given that evil does already exist, it can be good to have some competent defence against it ...]. The emphasis on mindless obeying of orders which was so necessary to the military during the mass slaughters of the US Civil War and the First World War [and, to some extent, every armed conflict], may be being replaced by a more balanced approach to developing combat effectiveness ... oh, but then there's violent computer and sidewalk games, and the flaws in dealing with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and adjusting all ex-soldiers back to civvie life. Darn - the world seems to be taking two steps forward, one back ...)
- Something I have observed that is "interesting" is that people often assume that, as soon as one mentions "protection", one is talking about "evil". Wrong. In my experience, most often what one is protecting oneself against is merely incompatible ("disharmonious") energies. It's a bit like the psychic or spiritual equivalent of making sure you aren't eating food that hasn't been stored or handled properly, or - perhaps a better analogy - that you aren't eating something you are allergic to. After all, does anyone say peanuts are evil because a few people are allergic to them? Or that penicillin, which has saved many lives, is evil because some people are allergic to it? And, of course, what is disharmonious today may not be disharmonious tomorrow ...
- When we moved to Queensland, at that time the system was 7 years at primary school, and 5 at high school, as opposed to Victoria's 6 years at each. As I had just started high school in Victoria, I was given the choice of going to high school or primary school, and chose the latter: it would give me more chance to adjust to the different system, the kids were a bit friendlier and I actually considered the Queensland primary school more advanced than the Victorian, and wanted to get some of that knowledge. After that year, of course, I started high school under the Queensland system, so I had - as I think of it :) - my second "first day" at high school ...
- Kurrimine Beach is near South Mission Beach, and there is a National Park nearby. Now, the type of boat I was competing in was a Heron sailing dinghy (an 11' 3" long dinghy that we used to take out - without getting into trouble - in 20'+ waves off Mackay; the Wikipedia entry includes the following: "The stability of Herons was demonstrated in South Australia on January 26th 1995. Forty-four yachts competing in a state title heat being held at the Largs Bay Sailing Club were struck by a violent thunder squall that lashed and wreaked widespread destruction across the city of Adelaide and surrounding districts. Winds speeds were reported in excess of sixty knots[3]. Although almost all yachts capsized immediately, two of the fleet remained upright and were surfed into shore, having had their masts broken before capsize could occur. 'Hot Eclipse' (sail no. 9299, skipper Gareth Eastwood) was at a point adjacent the windward jibe buoy around two kilometers offshore when the gale struck. It was manhandled to shore atop waves around four meters high, with the forward crew leaning across the front deck holding the sails down. The wild ride to safety lasted about an hour. Few small sailing dinghy designs could have managed this".The Australian Heron Association website is here). For the regatta (over two days of the holiday period) that we competed in, there was a trophy: the Harold Holt Memorial Trophy (for which I understand permission had been obtained). This is only slightly less ironic than naming a swimming pool after this former Prime Minister, who disappeared while swimming (although that would be a good selling point to encourage people to learn to swim, perhaps - which I think every child should do), and is (officially - and by me) believed to have drowned, but we had the connection of Holt's widow, Dame Zara Bate, occasionally being at her holiday house (well, I think it was hers; it may not have been) in South Mission Beach. Once she actually presented the trophy, and on a couple of occasions we sailed over to have morning tea on her lawn (didn't go inside the house, of course :) - well, we were dripping wet, I suppose), which a bit surreal when she commented on how peaceful it all looked to see us sailing, and then reconciling it with the noise and shouting that happens in competitive sailing :) Ah ... such a small claim to fame :D
This post's photo is yet to be posted.
Tags: about me, change, discrimination, peace, personal characteristics, personal responsibility, protection, violence, society, war, military,
First published: Saturday 3rd July, 2010
Last edited: Saturday 3rd July, 2010
