Australia and the World Past and Present

If you are like me, you might be interested in things that are happening around the world. I scan the international news regularly. I’m interested in what Donald Trump is doing, or knowing about the causes to some conflict going on somewhere. I’m interested in other countries and other cultures.

But much of it is actually quite removed from me. If an earthquake happens on the other side of the world, am I really connected to it? If there is a coup in another country, does it really affect me? To what extent does the experience of other people five thousand of kilometers away impact on me?

One could argue from a point of universal principles. One could say that because we are all human beings, what happens to any one of us should be of concern for all. In terms of the environment, the world is an interconnected whole. Pollution often doesn’t care about political borders. Environmental destruction may very well concern us all wherever it takes place.

I’m interested in what happens overseas, but what is more relevant to me will be what is happening in my immediate vicinity. How much attention do I pay to my room? To my house? To my colleagues that I sit next to at the office? To the person at the supermarket checkout? What is the quality of my interactions with those I see on a daily basis.

What happens on the other side of the world may be very interesting. But if want to effect change, we have to start with ourselves. The reality tends to be that we can do little to effect change on the other side of the world. Modern communications and social media has changed that to some extent, but it is still generally true. The most control we have is over ourselves. The greatest impact we can have after this is on our immediate environment – in our home, our neighbourhood, a local sporting club.

It is good for us to pause, take stock and make sure that we are paying attention to our ‘local news’.