The Once and Future Blog

A simple challenge between three friends was the trigger for starting this blog although it was just one aspect of a nine part challenge. Another part was completing a full 42.2km marathon. I was the only one to complete the marathon and I particularly enjoy reminding them both of that.

I’m fortunate to have known these guys for twenty years. Not everyone can say that. I hope that I won’t be able to say I’m the only one to have completed a full marathon in the allotted time (six hours) for much longer.

I’m just an ordinary person. You’ll find no letters after my name. This absence of letters however does not lessen my ability to reason or to form chains of logic. It doesn’t make my thoughts or idea’s inherently less worthy. The only measure of an idea is the evidence which supports it.

Many people would not consider me an educated person. You don’t need letters after your name to be educated. All you need is to be willing to be educated and to actually make an effort to educate yourself. Initially this might start with the things that interest you. Later on it’s important to try to understand about the things that don’t interest you.

It’s perhaps most important to educate yourself about the things you don’t agree with. I know many people who consider themselves educated. They have letters after their name. Yet they regularly espouse the ridiculous because they rarely bother to read opinions which differ from their own.    

As important as it is to understand yourself, only through understanding others, empathising with their view, are you able to really appreciate the nature of many of the world’s problems. It’s so rarely black or white. It is almost always black AND white.

In my experience people often suppose that to truly make a difference you have to be a political, business or religious leader. I accept that those leaders can drive change but they are still just one person. Alone they can’t achieve anything. Change happens when other people see what a leader does. This changes perspective which in turn alters behaviour. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

In reality anyone can drive change. All that is lacking is the motivation to. The internet lets us shout out to the world, or to whisper to it. I wonder if we can only experience the types of changes in the world that many of us would like to see if everybody starts doing this. It doesn’t matter if you whisper or you shout.  

I’m going to keep writing.  Mostly because I want to live in a world that is better than it is now. I want my son to live in a world that is better than it is now. I’ve realised with age that if I truly want that then I have to fight for it. Fighting has a bad rep. Fighting doesn’t have to be with fists. You can fight with words, you can fight with ideas. You can fight with non-violent action. 

There is also strength to be gained in struggle. If for no other reason than this the struggle is its own reward. I’m going to continue to raise awareness for others while I go along the journey myself. I want to be questioned. I want to be criticised. I want to be challenged. If I was to look back on the content I’ve produced today in five years I want be disappointed with it. If I was still happy with it then how would I have grown?

In the coming year the content will evolve. In particular I will make an effort to promote those people and organisations which I believe do a good thing. I think it’s important to do so. We don’t do it often enough. I don’t think we should be paid for it.

For this reason in the future I’m going to intersperse my efforts with pieces about people who are doing helpful or useful things, and about why I believe the things they are doing are helpful or useful. I Hope this will bring people together so that they might do other useful things together in both the internet space, and in my local community.

Lastly I want to thank those who have read these pieces. I can see you, referred to me from Stumped, Facebook and Yahoo. I’m sure you’re all comforted that not only is Big brother watching, balding middle aged Australian is in on the gig to. Happy Christmas and best wishes for the future to all.