Life has become complicated of late, hasn't it? Simple things have become difficult and that which once was taken as a given, has suddenly become rather tainted by political intrigue and manipulation.
Nothing is straightforward anymore. What we say, what we cook, how we cook, what we drive, what we think. All have been brought under scrutiny and are weighed on the scales of left or right; not on the scales of justice. It has become so political.
All around the world, we are being told to do the right thing. And it is subjective what this infinitely elusive " right thing " is.
To me, life is about having a life worth living.
My parent's friend Jack had a life that was WORTH having been lived. Like most lives. Only we are being told that this is not the case. As older people, we are increasingly being accused of being greedy, selfish and " past it. "
Our crime? A life when hard work and a solid marriage and having children and a home were all that one aspired to. And that was an accomplishment.
A normal life. So here is my story about Jack. A normal man. A good bloke. He was living an ordinary person living an ordinary life.
I first met him when I was about 12 years old. He was friends with my Uncle and Aunt – he and his wife became best chums with my parents.
Redhead was in her glory glory days - the gals would get dressed up in their long evening gowns and the men would wear their suits and each couple would entertain the other on Saturday evenings for a splendid dinner party.
My father used to cook the meals - Mum was a meat and 3 veg kind of cook: She still is. A no fuss, no bother kind of cook. Dad , on the other hand, was the culinary artiste. He had a cook book “ Food of the World “ ( which I still have ) and, from this, he would find menus to prepare on their bi-weekly soirees.
He would create menus that took all day to prepare. The meal was always something to celebrate. Many hours of preparation and dedication to the craft of cooking.
Jack's wife would also prepare wonderful meals and my Mum and Jack’s wife became firm friends. She, Jack's wife, like my father, loved the gift of cooking and the bounty of the food that people received in convivial surroundings.
And the table would be set and the best china would be brought out ( that was how it was back in the 70's ) and the ladies and gentlemen would arrive.
To dine and talk and enjoy the bounty that was friendship, food and the odd glass of wine or whisky.
Jack’s glamourous and rather magnificent wife ( who could glide into a room with the grace of Melania Trump) was in stark contrast to the down to earth tradie who slogged his heart out to make a buck and keep his family well fed, well clothed, well housed and well loved.
Yet they were the most loving couple: his wife balanced the books, looked after the kids and her husband went out to work. It was a fair and equitable relationship.
They were well off – spiritually, financially and in all respects.
Jack’s wife died of breast Cancer in 1978 and her death was one of the most tragic I can remember. Aged about 34… her beauty and elegance lost and her playful motherhood disappeared in a funeral on a cold , windy, miserable and rainy winter’ s day when we huddled together like shocked children; unable to comprehend that this beautiful woman had left us. The emotional outpouring that day was so quiet. Our grief was massive and Jack was stoic.
I was best friends with his much younger sister – a fiery young woman who had a joie de vive that I have never seen before or since. She said to me that this would kill her brother… he would never be able to cope without his beloved wife - yet his wife’s death did not kill him.
But he was never the same.
Over the years, he kept working, kept in touch with my parents and kept working hard.
Decades turned from one to another and even a century from one to another . My father passed and Jack kept popping in from time to time...
He retired and moved to a remote fishing village and lived out his life doing what he loved best: fishing, having a laugh, being a good bloke and being a good Dad, friend and neighbour.
He died, holding his children’s hands, and I hope and pray he is now with his adoring wife in Heaven.
When people like Jack leave us – hard working, principled and family oriented folk – every time one leaves, I do genuinely pray that he is replaced with another being born who will take his place.
I emailed his sister about the 1970's .
I smiled as I wrote:
And so it is as one ages. We hope that the young will step in and save the world. But I have to ask myself " If, in 1972 I was asked To save the world " I would probably have been too busy worrying about my makeup, my hair, and whether or not my jeans would fit.
Such is life.
I wonder: do our kids enjoy the vanity that we did? Are they preoccupied with computer games?
Or are they growing up before their time?
Sometimes, I suspect that our kids and grandkids are not having as much fun as we did.
They are worried about climate change and the end of the world.
I was only worried about my hair looking good and my jeans fitting.
So tell me, what has changed?
I wonder.
As one of our commenters here observed a while back
" So tell me, what has changed? The world or the way it is governed?
I say the world has changed because of the WAY, it is governed. Governed by those whose prime desire is pure GREED and POWER.
As for the 70's, I personally preferred the 60's to early 70's until Whitlam gained power as 'It was time'. Since then, our world in Australia, changed because of government, for the worse, and significantly so.
In the 60's and early 70's, I could go to a hospital and be treated, without waiting for hours or even days as it is now. I could leave my house unlocked and go out for the evening, to return with everything intact. I could leave the keys in my car parked in my yard overnight, it would be there in the morning. The music of the 60's and early 70's is filled with talent, so unlike the boom boom techno crap with sheila's wobbling their mostly naked, bums around, of today. These are but a few, of the many things which have most certainly changed for the worse since the early 70's.
The 50's, 60's and early 70's were the best times in Australia, all of which was buggered up by those bloody politicians, starting with Whitlam who begun the destruction of our industry, and Grassby, who set in motion the destruction of our society by importing those who do not, will not, and never will, assimilate. Political leaders since Whitlam, have fine-tuned this destruction of our society and nation, to the point we witness today, wondering who will be with us tomorrow, or next week, or if they will survive more than a year, after being poisoned by our government, our medical professionals and enforced by our police and cheered on by our media. "
Another went on to say
" Whitlam was the turning point and we have been going downhill ever since. Fraser could and should have stopped the rot but he was another Turnbull type. Completely up himself and when the call came for an arsehole to do a job that only an arsehole could do he was front and centre. Fraser teamed up with Whitlam years after they were both out of parliament. It was not the other way around. Whitlam killed off the Australia that we all knew and prospered under. Fraser and the Liberal Party ever since have been feeding off the carcass. There was a time that the Country Party was the strength of the coalition but even they have taken the left fork and are no more."
Remember the push for a Republic? A referendum that failed?
" it was not just Whitlam. All politicians are a part of it.
They have all been responsible for the demise of our nation since Whitlam, the Lima agreement is a major factor, and all other changes not for our benefit, are UN/WEF driven via our treasonous politicians.
Clearly, there must be substantial 'reward' for these treasonous scumbags, otherwise, why do they keep destroying our nation with no benefit to the people? "
It is sobering to watch these old videos and look at them in today's light and through modern eyes.
And to reflect on days when we were being shown a preview of the world we currently face.
Because the future is not going to be a 3 course dinner party of gaiety and laughter if The Voice goes through and the Misinformation legislation gets up: we will be standing at the graveside grieving for the death of the country we love so much.
And it will be cold, miserable, and full of grief for the loss of the good old times and the ushering in of spartan rations and hushed tones when we stand mourning the death of Australia and we whisper " Remember when we were happy? "
So why are they doing this? Another referendum?
This time to sabotage Australia by destroying everything that ordinary people sought to build? Another failed government initiative to destroy the ordinary bloke? The normal family? The normal woman? The normal kid?
Well, in a nutshell, Yes.