Wow! Summer time in Perth is just so good. Cricket, the Arts Festival, blue skies, time with friends, a little travel, good conversation and Australia Day.
We live in a wonderfully safe country, we have jobs and businesses in a booming economy, our health and education services are very good indeed, our community is safer every year, our parks are green, our tap water is healthy, our transport systems flow freely, we are tolerant of others, our legal system works, our public services are excellent. There is so much to be thankful for.
On Australia Day I’ll do as I have for five years: join the volunteers, take a big bag of Council Welcome flyers and walk the foreshore from end to end all afternoon, welcoming people to South Perth’s free family events. It’s a marvellous way of meeting thousands of people, with smiles all around. On New Year’s Eve in Melbourne, when walking the whole length of the City area, with a total ban on public alcohol, through six hundred thousand people from six to midnight, I noted not even one aggressive incident. Perth: we’ve started a trend, we don’t need a boozy Australia day!
On Clean Up Australia Day - Sunday 4 March 2012 we’ll be working around James Miller Oval and Manning Hub in South Perth, starting at 9:00 am. You are very welcome to join us, to make our neighbourhood cleaner and have a chat too. Our event is on the web: click here to register or just turn up. With a few more volunteers I’ll even put on a free barbecue. Pickup bags are supplied free for you.
These are such positive events, where we get to connect with others, to make a difference around us and to help neighbours. We don't have to look far to find people much less fortunate, doing it tough, with physical and mental health issues, affected by discrimination or misfortune. Yet there seem to be numbers of ordinary people who are a little grumpy. My experience is that there’s a simple fix for a lot of this feeling - get out and help someone else, volunteer.
Our country is incredibly diverse in so many ways. Through events like these we can meet people from different backgrounds and rebuild some of Australia’s famous trust and friendliness. We have some inspirational community leaders. Can we join them in building our communities and connecting people? I feel really good when this happens, and hope you can too.
Please pass this on as far as you like. Have your say by clicking on Comments, below, (log in as Name) or just email me and I’ll publish for you.
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