An excellent use of time that makes you look engaged and not bored?
Or a gross misuse of company services for personal means?
I think I'm going to go the latter - but its a public holiday, the store is clean, there are no customers, and to those that are walking past in the centre look in and see that I am enthralled and typing into the computer - no doubt typing a highly important email about a bulk sale of Leatherman waves.
But little do they know!
***
As many of you will know today is Australia Day. Like every other public holiday - I think it means many different things to many different people, but perhaps its more so with a day like today.
For some it means the end of a long journey to citizenship, the day where they finally can say - with pride and honesty - they are Australian, and their children are Australian, and their children's children.
To the natives of this land, many view it as "invasion day" the day where their "world fell apart" - as the Australian of this year...or last year...preached to a nation.
Perhaps for others still it just means a public holiday - a day that they don't have to go to work, and can sit back and relax with the kids, or have a barbie, or a beer. Or, on the opposite side of that coin - it means double time and a half pay and casuals can't wait to be at work.
To many others its a day of indifference. Ones that whine because the shops are only open 10-4, or that restaurants use it as an excuse to be closed.
And others still, like myself, see it as a day to look back, reflect on, and celebrate the discovery of the great southern land by the English, and the eventual birth of a nation. Every time I leave Australian, I come back thinking how wonderful it is to be able to call Australia home - call myself Australian. There is something about the unique flora and fauna that we take for granted is so enticing to me. Those dull greens and browns of our gum trees - perhaps unattractive to those used to the vivid greens of European bushes, and the tranquil beauty of Japanese gardens - something so out of the ordinary that its difference makes it startlingly beautiful. The bizarre evolutionary twists that Australia is renowned for, animals like the Platypus, which people thought was an elaborate hoax, to the Kangaroo's perfect bouncing and balancing act. The blue haze that settles over distant mountains, and the rolling roar of coastal beaches.
Yes - I'm a sucker for the sun burnt country, but I'm little tentative when it comes to praising Australian society. Pictures of the Cronulla race riots still run through my head. Cronulla, one of the beaches that Australia is famous for - sweeping sand and breaking waves - is now a place where the mere mention of the name leaves a bitter taste. And it was all in the name of Australia, there was even an Australian flag in the pictures. Australia - the sunburnt, multicultural, yet hideously racist country. There is the alcohol fueled violence, and the rude and abrasive nature of many, all of which to a certain degree seem almost excusable - as part of our 'lovable' cultural persona.
On the same token I feel Australia is maturing as a country. Our higher educational facilities are amongst the best in the world. Our health system - though a little unhealthy in places - is applying state of the art technologies. Our economy, though crippled by the global crisis, hasn't gone the way of American and the UK and fallen into recession.
Australia has talent that breaks into markets around the world. In the literary scene Australian writers such as Tim Winton, John Marsden, Hannie Rayson and Kate Grenville have achieved remarkable domestic success - the former two have achieved international acclaim. Australian sports people are held in high regard around the world. Australian musicians are being exported to the world, and our animation companies have produced global success stories such as Happy Feet. Much of our television has also been exported, the two most notable examples that I can think of off the top of my head - Neighbours and Thank God You're here.
The nation has come a long way since the First Fleet landed on this strange outcrop between two great oceans. In fact, its even become a nation. We have room to improve, space to mature, and problems to face domestically and internationally. From our humble beginnings as a colony of the British empire we have become a player on the international scene. And though we aren't perfect, we've built a country with much to be proud of.
So let's not make this day a day of indifference.
Let's make it a day to not only 'celebrate what's great,' but also a day to acknowledge whats not so great and look to the future of our land down under and how it can and should be shaped.
...Now where is that republic I've been looking for?
"And he sang and he watched and waited 'til his billy boiled...you'll come a-waltizing matilda with me"
-Waltzing Matilda, Banjo Patterson
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