Around Oz the First Time - Chapter 91 - Eleventh Week Down

Focus

Those who know me, know I suffer from depression. It comes from a clinical issue then exacerbated by emotional turmoil. It is medicated now and although there are still days when the hole in the rabbit burrow seems a very long way up, my family, Robyn particularly, take the journey with me, but the others on the trip are not a party to my issues, nor should they be.

But depression is not the issue here. Whilst I suffer, the issue is more the focus we put on the wrong things, captures us and throws us down in a spiral of thought, that leads to, not only depression, but misconception, prejudice, racism, and all sorts of nasty things. Looking for an answer, we may look to the ones with the loudest voices, that initially may seem to have the answer and like sheep we follow, read here Adolf Hitler and Asama bin Laden etc.

We often look to religious leaders, clerics, those who would be dictators and dare I say it, our own politicians, for the answers, yet we have the ability as individuals, if we simply take the time to make an informed decision to make things happen ourselves. Many a time on this trip we took in rumours and innuendos about various places, only to find our experience the exact opposite appeared to be the case.

The classic cases are the “boring” trip across the Nullarbor and the Aboriginal “problem”. We, as white indifferent human beings, don’t do the trip across the wide open plain, and we don’t associate with the Indigenous because we have heard only the bad things. Why, because the news of catastrophe sells, and no one seems interested in good reports, unless its from a trusted website, and then there are suspicions.

And therein lies a huge part of any “problem”.

My medical issues are exacerbated by the belief, after hearing I will probably require medication for the rest of my life for this condition, that there was nothing I could do. The rut I was in, bounding from client issue to client issue, bound by the rules of engagement, were my lot forever. Certainly the clients would have liked it that way (or so it seems, because the phone keeps ringing). Not the case, we had amassed more than enough resources to make the break, and yes, we have done this trip in comparative luxury, but many we meet, are simply wandering on a budget.

Focus is about not being led, and certainly on this trip we have fallen foul to being led. Not by Silver Leader and his agenda, but by time. We succumbed to HAVING to be back by a certain date, and when the breakdowns occurred, several of the planned excursions met with the axe. If nothing else this trip has caused us to take stock of our lives and priorities. We have both worked, non-stop for in excess of 40 years, slaves to the “man”, and in my case with only two real holiday breaks in that entire time. I also suffered the stigma of bankruptcy, going broke, after making a business error, and a failed marriage, but that is a topic for another time.

We are told we must be “successful”, another of those ideals that drive us to “madness” and reduce our focus on outside factors for the safety of conformity. Inertia is, in my opinion, one of the greatest dangers to society. Change is inevitable, but we want someone else to arrange it for us. It’s only those, brave enough to break the norm, or in our case break out of the rut of the focus on success, and join another “mob”, the Grey Nomads (yet another name with a huge stigma attached), that might truly remain sane.

Focus is a danger and a burden. We all need to focus. On the road, we focus, or we may end up wrapped around a tree or sharing the front end of an oncoming vehicle, or worse. In life we need balance, but not 40 years of work, then 40 years of retirement. For most, life doesn’t work that way.

Ruts are dangerous. We get stuck in them and it’s hard to get out. Capitalists, the root of all evil as far as the myriad of those with a climate change activist agenda will attest, are stuck in the wealth rut, and with their power and money appear to control governments. They get the blame, rightly or wrongly for all the issues of the poor and oppressed, and governments seem to have no ability to curb their thirst for money (read here the big banks not passing on interest rate cuts, or the fuel companies and their price gouging at holiday time, not to mention immediately after the big oil refinery attack).

We, the people, bitch and complain about our lot in life, but do we do anything about it? No, one individual cannot make a difference is the opinion of the masses, and elections are rigged, if you believe the conspiracy theorists. That didn’t stop Greta Thunburg from getting up in front of the United Nations and call out our leaders on climate change, not that it did any good, and the result was those who enjoy playing the slaying of tall poppy syndrome, to have a field day in attempting to take her down.

Harry Chapin in his song ‘The Night that made America Famous” created an analogy with the lines “we have a choice to make each man who dares to dream, holding out his hand, a prophet, or just a crazy God damn dreamer of a fool – Yes a crazy fool. But something’s burning somewhere, does anybody care”. Yet we play tall poppy syndrome, we make snide, anonymous remarks on social media platforms. The uninformed take them digest them, and because it came from the only one doing the talking, the masses start to believe. Those who do care, are apathetic and stuck in their own ruts to try to either defend the poppy or add strength to their argument. The step in the “crazies” and the media have a field day.

Another line from a movie I like, “The American President”, where Michael Douglas as the president and Michael J Fox as one of his trusted advisors are arguing about the message, the script goes, “in the absence of genuine leadership, they (the people) will listen to anyone who steps up to the microphone. They want leadership. They are so thirsty for it, they will crawl through the desert toward a mirage, and when they discover there is no water they will drink the sand”, to which is retorted “The people don’t drink the sand because they are thirsty. They drink the sand because they do not know the difference”. Isn’t this indicative of the arrogance of governments? People as individuals do know the difference.

Men in Black put it best when Tommy Lee Jones is speaking to Will Smith about the consciousness of the people, Smith starts “Why the big secret. People are smart. They can handle it” to which Jones replies. “A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals, and you know it. Fifteen hundred years ago, everybody knew the earth was the centre of the universe. Five hundred years ago everyone knew the earth was flat, and fifteen minutes ago, you knew humans were alone on this planet. Imagine what you will know tomorrow”.

On one hand you have the dreamers, the ones with the answers if we were only able to listen to them. They are either drowned out by others trying to put forward their answers, probably just as relevant to the issue your solution will achieve, whilst having their collective reputations muddied by every uninformed Tom, Dick or Harry on social media, and an unlistening, arrogant government, hellbent on saving their jobs rather than doing their jobs. It’s the focus on that, which matters, that causes many of us to simply throw our hands in the air and hit the roads.

But I digress. Focus, for what it is worth, can be the root of all evil and the saviour this world is looking for, but it’s the focus on the things that need real focus is the issue.

I can talk to you one on one, calmly presenting my point of view, to which you may agree, but speak to a crowd and it becomes a much different story. The question then is, how does and individual get those who should know better to see the error of their ways.

Perhaps Eddie Murphy, in Brewster’s Millions had the best answer, next time there is an election vote NONE OF THE ABOVE, perhaps at least our politicians might take notice and rethink their arrogance towards the voting public and learn to listen and focus on the real issues.