Heroes Come First, Others Later

Blue lips, no breath, floral tights, soft feet, lying beside Manning Road on a Saturday afternoon. Asthma, drugs, heart attack, who knows? A hundred cars whisper past, not seeing. Death crept closer.

Two off-duty coppers slow down and have a look. Quick, jump, mouth-to-mouth, no time to think. Colour returns, breathing again. Whew, that was close.

Thank you for caring. I don’t know any of the people involved. The bloke who gave his breath washed his mouth with hand-cleaner, for the next fifteen minutes. I sure wish more of us cared this much.

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Same day, not far away. Beautiful day on the river. On the path at Salter Point. A local resident has donated big bucks for hundreds of trees. Built new steel steps for walkers too.

I sure wish more of us cared this much.

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Same day, same place, same view. To the right is more river mercury than anywhere else in Perth. In front the dominant fish species is an import from the Gulf of Mexico. Underwater cane toad. Upstream, water hyacinth, just found. Covers thousands of square kilometres of lakes and rivers in Africa. Deadly to the river. Imported and dumped. Grows fast.

The SERCUL team is onto it. I sure wish more of us cared this much.

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Same day, same river. Shiny wagon, deep tracks, our river bank, who cares?

I care. I sure wish more of us cared this much.

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