Unity Through Diversity In Freedom

Growing up in a 98% white, Anglo-Saxon community in Australia wasn’t much of a preparation for the life that I lead, and relationships that I maintain now!

Back then, indigenous Australians were fringe dwellers, and most migrants in our area were from northern European countries, with a few Greeks and Italians.

Things finally began to change for the better for indigenous Australians (Kooris) in 1967 when they were finally granted citizenship. While change has been slow for them, it is continuing.

During the 1970’s, more Middle Eastern migrants started to trickle into our area, and have been followed in recent decades by people from different Asian countries.

While the newcomers have been mostly welcomed in this area, there has been trouble in some larger cities where different ethnic groups tend to gather in one area.

Change is often hard to embrace, especially when it is on your ‘home turf’, and I can understand how some might resist change.

However, the one thing that I would consider to have remained constant in Australia, and the world, over the past thirty or forty years is the rate of change.

While many will point to the changes in technology over that time, I look more to the changing face of Australia, and more specifically, my own town.

I count among my closest friends people from other ethnic groups, where as in years gone by, that just wasn’t possible in this area, though during my time in larger cities, I had come into contact with people of different nationalities.

My friend Jim is a Koori elder, and we have had many a discussion over coffee about the problems that aboriginal youth face, and the challenges that lay ahead for our society,

Peter is my Lebanese ‘mate’! He just called in out of the blue with some tomato plants for my wife, and we sat out under the stars having a beer together.

His wife is Italian, and we have some great times at dinner parties sharing Australian food. Tina shows us how to cook Australian – Italian food, Peter handles the Australian – Lebanese cuisine while I can do a pretty mean Indian curry with an Aussie twist!

My wife does an expert job in combining all of these, and adds some traditional English style cooking too.

When Peter left a little while ago, I started to think just how wonderful it is to be able to live in a country where people have the chance to come and live in freedom, and to make a contribution.

So that’s my thought for today! Unity in diversity, and freedom! Freedom to make choices, and to build a life for one’s family!

Have a great week!