Patriot Realm

‘We swear by the Southern Cross, to stand truly by each other, and fight to defend our rights and liberties’

So said Peter Lalor in 1854 at the Eureka Stockade in Ballarat. The Eureka Stockade resulted from resentment.  

On 30 November 1854 miners from the Victorian town of Ballarat, disgruntled with the way the colonial government had been administering the goldfields, swore allegiance to the Southern Cross flag at Bakery Hill and built a stockade at the nearby Eureka diggings. By the 3rd of December, 22 diggers and six soldiers were dead.

As the days pass by, I am increasingly thinking that the world has gone mad. 

Mad. Insane. Where Reason has popped off the perch and idiocy has entered the room and is now holding court.

Life has become so crazy that the old song about the hole in the bucket is now more prophetic than amusing.

It was Christmas Day 2019 Residents of an old folks home were eagerly awaiting their Christmas dinner. Their anticipation turned to regret when they saw the plate set before them. Baked beans and mashed potato.

Here we are, 3 years later and I have to wonder how many older folk and, indeed, younger folk, would be happy to see such a feast placed before them?

Because, let's face it, things are pretty grim this year and not looking as if they will get any better. Maybe a cold can of baked beans and a candle are going to be the least of our worries. 

I have been thinking a lot these days about the dying art of conversation. There are so many topics that are taboo and even talking about the weather has become a no go zone. 

I heard someone say that people are so accustomed to texting that they feel uncomfortable talking face to face. While I freely admit that technology has been an incredibly exciting pathway to opening channels of communication previously unavailable - being able to communicate with friends and relatives in far distant countries - it does have its downside.

People sit down to dine and are busy taking photographs of their meal and posting them on social media. Heads are bowed over smartphones and fingers are busy typing and no one seems to talk with each other.

“A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.”

~ James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

Contrary to popular belief, “waking up,” as in seeking and accepting truth, is not something that requires outside assistance, force, or consensus. It is not something that can be bought. It is not something that can be given to you.

Every year, global climate summits feature a parade of hypocrisy as the world’s elite arrive on private jets to lecture humanity on cutting carbon emissions. The recent U.N. climate summit in Egypt offers more breathtaking hypocrisy than usual because the world’s rich are zealously lecturing poor countries about the dangers of fossil fuels — after devouring massive amounts of new gas, coal and oil.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushed up energy prices, wealthy countries have been scouring the world for new energy sources. The United Kingdom vehemently denounced fossil fuels at the Glasgow climate summit just last year but now plans to keep coal-fired plants available this winter instead of shutting almost all of them as previously planned.