Moving right along

3 min read

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BeauNestor's avatar
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The time has come the Walrus said....

It took a long time for the British explorers to have any understanding of the Aboriginals during the early years. The wisdom, philosophy and deep attachment to the land that they shared with nature seemed trivial and pointless to those colonists.

Although the Aboriginals had a deep attachment to the land, few stayed and protected their plots. Instead they followed the weather patterns across thousands of kilometers, hunting, gathering 'bush tucker' (wild fruits and roots) and they did this without shoes in a land without end.

As a matter of fact, they carried little with them. Primitive spears, or throwing sticks, stone knives and little else. Their philosophy was simple: If you can't carry it, you don't want it. Quite unnerving to the White settlers that brought all manner of comforts with them from England. 

Their counting system also seemed primitive. The concept of 'One, Two, Many' was hardly a way for bartering in the English system.(One is for Me, Two is for me and my wife, Many is 'enough to share with the tribe'.)

Slowly, some of this has worn off on us. We don't need a dozen plates, twenty chairs around a house, or even, a whole house. (As soon as you give away the plates, you don't need a dishwasher - how smart is that?!) We need somewhere simple to protect us from the wind, somewhere to get clean, somewhere to eat. If we are fortunate enough to have friends drop in, we hope they'll bring a plate, or we can eat in shifts. Time to minimize. The gathering part of our lives is passed, the distribution of our 'wealth' to our children is complete. Now let's see how well we exist on the barest minimums. There are plenty of places for the last of our belongings to be gainfully used. But the waste of space that a whole house takes up is no longer for us.

Many of you have dropped in for visits, stayed for a day or a week and moved on to your next destination. That no longer fits our lifestyle. We have not got the space available to have people stay, we haven't got any resources to feed you, and we are not expecting anything to change in the future. We are looking after each other and spending time understanding more about reality and less about the promises of others. We haven't spent a lot of time on here in recent months, and we will spend less. Age, health & time all conjure up new values as we hit them at break-neck speed. But you'd like me to take your photographs? - sure, better buy a camera, put it in my hand, and I'll shoot it. The order of importance of many things, has changed.


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Comments3
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TheHarlequinsMask's avatar
Mate, as someone who has been fortunate enough to have basked in the warmth of your fine hospitality, I can only applaud your decision to apply a certain amount of inner reflection and minimising to what has no doubt been a very full, rich, and entertaining lifestyle for many years. I do hope however that in the future you'll still be available for a fireside catch-up at a cafe, a casual e-mail, or even just the opportunity to sit on the beach with a bottle of something and reflect on life, the universe, and everything...

I'm well aware of the dominance health issues can have as time passes, and having time for the self can only be of benefit in the long term. My very best wishes go to you both for the future.

Do stay in touch. You never know when I may get up there again even if only to say Gudday.