I went down to Redhead's place yesterday morning. She was pretty angry because water was leaking from her bathroom shower into her toilet. No doubt a tap had a dodgy washer or there was a pipe that needed attention.
She had a plumber due to see if he can sort it out.
I was driving home and my mind went back over 37 years to a time when I found out what was causing a leak in bathrooms and how a plumber solved the problem.
A good bloke. Who could be used as a metaphor for today's problems.
I was a manager for hundreds of building complexes. My job was to identify problems in those buildings and find someone to fix them.
We had a building of 9 units. 8 had plumbing issues and water leaked out through the units to the floors below. No one could sort the problem. Money was thrown at the building and yet? The problem remained. Taps were changed. No luck.
My predecessor threw money at the issue and the building owners grew tired of the money going down the drain. I came on board and met a plumber: an older man who seemed to know his way around a pipe or two.
" What can we do? "
I asked.
He replied " Don't look at the 8 that are buggered. Look at the one that is working. "
So that is what we did.
My boss was not happy. The idea that we would look at the one shower that was working was nonsensical. But we did it, nonetheless.
My plumber friend found that there was a fitting at the bottom of the shower base made of copper. All of the others were made of plastic. A change in builder, halfway through the build resulted in cheaper materials being used, and the saving on a $49 fitting to a $9 dollar fitting resulted in thousands of dollars worth of work.
This is the problem with the world today. A cheap fix. Or a fix that is not a fix.
I told Redhead the story of the plumber and he looked at the shower base and not the taps.
Our problem today is that we are going for the cheap fix.
The obvious fix. Yet it has turned out to be a very expensive fix, much like my building all those years ago.
No one is prepared to look at the deeper problem.
Which got me to thinking.
Our western democracies were founded on solid copper fittings. Other countries got cheap plastic fittings. And the seal around them is buggered as well.
We had the right stuff to last the distance.
But we have had some people come in and put cheap fittings into our countries made by poorly qualified tradies from other countries wanting to make a quick buck.
The problem we face is that the crap that they are installing into our countries is flooding us within our safe homes.
Some of us have no idea why this is happening. No doubt because we don't manufacture anymore.
We have people come in and they are not like my plumber who knew his job.
They are calling themselves Doctors, Electricians, Gurus of our Salvation. Because, after all, we are too stupid to do anything without an overseas qualified, imported " expert. "
The Clever Country has become the Stupid Country.
In fact, so stupid that we cannot fix a crap government without calling in the Global Economic Forum.
Hell; I would just call a plumber.
At least he could sort the shit out and stop the mess.
Just pull the plug and look at the 8. Because we are the 9. And we got it right. Or at least, we did.
Update: the plumber has been. It was the seal around the shower base. Problem solved.
Whew.
If only we could solve our political problems by calling a plumber to pull the plug and get rid of the " duck snapping crazy shit " ( thanks PP ) and have a shower and wash the filth of the last couple of years off.
After years of standing in a sewer created by governmental mismanagement, I feel a desperate need to have a shower and get clean again. Not to mention seeing so much of our hard-earned wealth go down the drain.
Commonsense people! That is what we need!
Look at the Voice, for example. There have been billions of dollars thrown at fixing the life issues confronting Aboriginal communities. Nothing changes.
Why can't we look at something that HAS worked?
Geoff Guest OAM established the Geoff Guest Petford Youth Camp back in the late 70's. The camp was located in the bush, near the small town of Petford in Far North Queensland.
Geoff and his wife Norma, affectionately known by young people as the 'Old Man' and 'Aunty Norma' were well known around the country and overseas for their outstanding success in working with young people, particularly young Aboriginals.
The Camp developed primarily to help young people, who are suicidal, suffering from drug and alcohol abuse, petrol sniffing, aggression or habitual offending. The overall aim of the camp is to confirm and strengthen the young participants' identity and pride in being an Aboriginal, to elevate their confidence, self-esteem and respect for themselves and others.
The primary activity of the Geoff Guest Petford Camp was horse riding and horse care.
Other activities included nutrition, neuro-feedback therapy, leather work, swag making, eucalyptus and tea-tree oil production, tin smelting and pewter ware, and health and illness education.
The Geoff Guest Petford Youth Camp operated independent of government funding. Young people attended the camp living with the Old Man and Aunty Norma as members of their family. They were responsible for the cost of their own board and keep.
We really need to consider what are the true motivations of Juvenile detention centres and youth intervention programs. Is it to get the young off the streets and away from causing harm to the community?
Or is it a serious commitment to addressing the underlying issues these young people have and preparing them to become functional valued members of society?
If it is genuinely the latter, we need to consider all of these factors together and commit to changing the status quo in terms of service delivery, otherwise this cyclical dysfunction will just continue.
Geoff Guest
Forget the Voice. Forget the tap that Canberra turns on and let's get back to what works.
ol'man geoff guest out at petford, 93 years now, and a horse-whisperer since his early years, still cares for horses, and people. often utilising connecting with the horses as an effective therapy for over four thousand young, mainly indigenous at-risk youth over almost fifty years, (over thirty-three years with aunty norma who sadly passed some years ago) ol'man talks here of the care required in looking after the horses, including ex-race-horses, which often sadly otherwise end up in the abbatoirs as dog-meat.
Can you imagine what people like Geoff could do?
Yes, they would fix it. For a fraction of the price. And save the human cost of lives wasted and flushed away.
Our governments would prefer money going down the drain. And human lives as well.
What a waste.
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