WHAT MATTERS?

WHAT MATTERS?

By Frances Harris

Philosophers and scholars have been trying to define the question of WHAT MATTERS? Since records began. Even as Homo erectus left the plains of Africa and fanned out over the globe, their cave drawing and carvings revealed a yearning to define a greater purpose or add meaning to their existence. I too have been searching for this very same thing. It’s not with any urgency or panic, but as a steady inner need to make sense of this complex existence, with all the good the bad  and reasoning that goes with it.

The one enduring theme that stands out like a beacon of history is that we humans will invent another more pleasing self-serving reality if we don’t like the one we are in, then we live in it and defend it, sometimes to the death. There is nothing more apparent than the stories handed down to populations just before a leader plans to take their country to war. One classic example is the story of World War one. The German leaders told their innocent public that the French were coming to overrun their country. Unfortunately the French citizens had been left out of the loop. When they saw the military escalation in Germany they concluded the Germans must be coming to take them over.

So the honest German’s dropped everything to enlist in the armed forces and went off to ward off the French invaders, and the French armed themselves to do the same. Near the end the Germans realised they had been duped, so refused to kill any more Frenchmen and wanted to go back to their families. Eventually it all came to a very sticky end. What mattered then? Well I suppose we have to look at from whose perspective we should follow. From the leaders; their agenda was obvious. From the perspective of the populations; defending their territory and way of life is what mattered above all else. Doesn’t that story sound familiar?

The first time I became aware that things didn’t add up, is when I was an eight year old learning Australian history at primary school. Our teachers read to us that Captain James Cook discovered an uninhabited Australia in the good ship Endeavour. Because he and his crew were the first to set foot on this land and the flag was raised, it was claimed for the English. This neat package led to the settling of the New South Wales colony in 1788, and was an ideal place to offload the burgeoning number sof poor people, convicts and undesirables who were growing in numbers back in England.  

I wanted to know about the little matter of the local inhabiting aboriginals, but this was quickly dismissed and we were told ownership of the country was proclaimed. English scientists and scholars at the time had been fiercely debating whether aboriginals were in fact human, which served the interests of the English establishment. Aboriginal remains were shipped over to the mother country in an attempt to get the evidence.

Statue of Captain James Cook - St Kilda Beach.

Even thought so much about we humans is apparent I was still not satisfied I had found what really matters. Perhaps the only way to reveal the answers was to look at the world through fresh eyes. I went back to many of places that have been my reality at different stages of my life.  Those experiences are vivid in my memory still. The place where we lived with my grandparents’ house in Brighton is gone. A new house, with all its history is unfolding right now on that spot, just as it did when we were there. One day that will be gone, and soon. All I could think that mattered was - the thoughts I took away from it, and little else.

 I went back to the family home where my husband and family lived, with all of its vivid events, so intense at the time are now all gone. The new two story building stands in the place of our once suburban home. All that is left are my memories and what I took away from them. I thought after these journeys I would have a better insight into what matters, but had become more puzzled than ever. It’s like making a big splash in a pool of water, just to turn around and find it’s now clear and still.

I walked in many places and searched and found a few historical monuments that told me interesting stories. With my detective mind, I thought I was on to something useful. Around the city of Melbourne, Australia in out of the way places are statues and busts of people who mattered around the end of the 18^th century. One, Tommy Bent, a wealthy property developer still towers of the Nepean Highway, Brighton. He was a very portly man and all I could think of, was he had such a huge midriff; he was in line for a heart attack. Perhaps that’s not what people of the 18^th and 19^th century had seen as what matters. He was a revered figure in his time, a politician and man of note. He lived to the age of 65 years. Not surprising, I thought.

As an afterthought, a small bust of his wife was placed well away from his monument, by his daughter. The divisions and importance of men and women of the times was very apparent. Another bust of a man said he was - A good colonist, another was revered as – A good public servant.  Churches were built to tower above the populations and huge amounts of money ensured they would endure way after all of the other buildings crumble. Religion was clearly what mattered to people’s in the those early years.

 Statue of Tommy Bent - Brighton

  

Carlo Satani - A good public servant

A small tribute to Tommy Bent's wife. 

Still no wiser, I asked myself what is it that endures well after the buildings, politics and people have gone? Then a light bulb lit up in my brain - the experiences and the important qualities we pass on to others is what matters. I think about the integrity and priorities of my grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts and how they have been passed on. I look at the good people of history and the wonderful works and philosophies and freedoms they have given future generations to enjoy. One in particular is Dr Fred Hollows and the people’s lives he transformed by saving their sight. Imagine how his work improved the generations that followed on after him. Yes, your deity, love, kindness, the willingness to share, generosity and the nurturing of our families and complete strangers, and lessons  we have learned - is - WHAT MATTERS!



ADVERTISING

ADVERTISING

By Frances Harris



Advertising is the spice of life that employs a huge workforce. But sometimes there can be too much spice to swallow all at one time. I often wonder why so much money is being poured into more and more advertising spaces, competing for our ever decreasing attention. Glitzy messages go into every little crevice or opening that can be legally, or not so legally accessed; places like our web pages, email, or our home letter boxes. How much paper is stuffed into our letter boxes and never read, that goes straight into the waste bin.  All that paper amounts to forests of trees!

I sometimes wonder if the advertising gurus give thought to whether their hard work actually does any good. Have they realised it might be irritating us enough to make us turn away completely? I hate it when I open my email inbox and an advertisement is plastered right across the screen so I have to peer over and under it to get to my messages. It’s like scratching fingernails down a blackboard. I can honestly say, I don’t remember the contents of one of them, but I do remember the frustration, and the times wondering if I should change to another carrier just to escape.

Then there is the advertising panel either on the internet or a billboard with brightly coloured windows and panels to attract our attention, but is so complex we can’t quickly follow the message. How many people would stop or break their stride to pour over an advertisement because they didn’t get the message the first time round? There is an approximate five second window to capture the audience, otherwise it’s all over.

My next favourite gripe is when I sign up for a monthly publication to arrive in my in box once a month, and when I go back to retrieve it, there are twenty or more publications I didn’t ask for and will never read, arriving once a week. I don’t think the advertising community has realised that in a complex world; less is more and the simple and reliable is more likely to succeed. Building loyalty organically seems to be a thing of the past. If I had received that one publication, on time and it was worth reading I would be less hesitant to explore further. Now, when anyone asks me to sign up for anything new, I ask myself what’s their motive? Are they looking for a way to swamp me with other offers and advertising that will keep me away from what I want to do? And how do I finally stop them once they get started when I don’t exactly know where to find the source?

And then, the thing I hate most over everything else, is when I search through news web sites for the latest headlines and a booming voice starts telling me about a weight loss pill I don’t need and despite all my attempts to stop it, I can’t. I have no choice but to close the window. Sometimes even that won’t work and the noise chases me off the computer altogether.  I can’t see how that idea is good for business. No wonder many oldies are sworn off computers and don’t read news any more. They were once the primary audience. These actions must be cutting out huge chunks of customers bowled over in the rush to capture them.

I don’t read the news very often now, and despite what the pundits of paperless news say, people are being turned off and some may stop reading the news altogether. Yes they are dropping away from news print, but it doesn’t necessarily follow they are signing up for electronic news. I expect to be one of them. Once I used to follow every headline available but have steadily reduced my exposure over time. Content is poorer than it used to be, and not interesting enough to capture my attention. I can take only so much celebrity scandal. I might read a heading, squeezed tightly between two large advertisements, but I don’t usually feel the need to go any further than that. Sometimes all three are misleading and have nothing to do with the subject. I regularly feel corralled into turning my attention to something I don’t care about, so I don’t go back. It’s amazing to think none of the major players has figured out that an unpleasant experience doesn’t win loyalty.

The only advertisements I do read now are the ones that tell me I can fly away on a holiday to some warm isolated island that has long sandy beaches and blue waters I can enjoy. I look for it to have no connection with either civilization or the internet so I don’t have to worry about aggressive advertising.   

THE TERMITE MOUND

THE TERMITE MOUND

By Frances Harris



Humans are strange creatures. Collectively we can send a rocket to the moon, produce plastic that has a memory of its own, we can delve into the depths of the sea in a tiny sea craft; send driverless drones to report back to a point thousands of kilometres away. Not to mention that we can obliterate our own kind at the press of a button. But what we can’t seem to do is keep our own kind fed, safe, comfortable and living without fear. We soil our homes with pollutions, destroy our natural food sources through greed, and there is continual unrest in our populations. For most of our lives we waste massive energy doing things that are of no substantial benefit to anyone. Then when our plans mess up, we spend more energy trying to fix them.

Termites, on the other hand seem to have life sewn up. Everything they do has a constructive purpose, there are very little wasted resources or energy and everything is executed efficiently and with a minimum of fuss. So why can’t we do that? When did we lose our focus? Or did we ever have it in the first place?

Termites don’t need spray bottles, rakes, wheelbarrows, hoses, cups saucers, plates, chairs, tables, heaters, coolers, fans, conditioners and the like. They don’t need to spend the bulk of their lives amassing and managing currency to pay for these items or digging holes in the ground looking for oil. They don’t seem to have the obsessive need to be better than each other or take more resources than they can use. No superannuation, taxes, management committees, funds management and the list goes out of sight.

The one thing termites have over humans is that they keep their lives in order without layers and layers of supervision or consultatnts. They don’t need a police force or management structure or political structure because there is rarely descent. They don’t need a budget to balance because life for a termite is uncomplicated and well planned. They have all that they need to look after their own.

Their termite mounds are often located way out in the desert, still they manage to maintain an orderly life. There is a reliable plan known by all and executed with precision. There is enough of everything for everyone. They go about providing nourishment for all of the members because they toil all day collecting and storing it. They ensure the colony produces a new well cared for new generation to preserve the species. The mission is to ensure there is a well fed, comfortable, insulated, dry, safe place to for all to live in. War is almost unheard of.

It’s at this point I start to feel uncomfortable about being a human because I realise we waste enormous amounts of energy procrastinating, supervising, making fragmented decisions and we spend very little time doing our jobs to completion. Everything we do is strung together or hitched up till another time. Not a lot of our effort works effectively to mesh with the efforts of others of our own kind. It’s been possibly eighty years since the water pipes in our street were installed, and now that the street floods regularly, the authorities have decided to work on them. That just about sums it up.

Termites can get the job done without sub committees, super committees or surveys. They don’t need three tiered management and they don’t seem to need elections, or technology to communicate with each other. Maybe because their lives are so orderly there is very little to report. It doesn’t matter what time of the day, each little termite knows what to do and when its working day starts and when it ends. Nobody starves and nobody is left homeless. The young have everything they need with armies of workers to take care for them for the full twenty four hours.  No child care fees, imagine that!

Maybe they could fight back if they were threatened, or have some wonderfully devious plan to hide until the threat is gone. When I get to thinking about these principles, isn’t the termite life close to our idea of utopia than we can imagine? So which ones of us are the smart ones? We design and construct multi story buildings nobody lives in that are empty but still consuming energy in varying degrees most of the time. Doesn’t that sound ridiculous? It does to me.  

Maybe it’s time to go back to the drawing board and take in some good lessons from those little termites that seem to have the game stitched up. If we were to lead uncomplicated lives like the termites, would there be more time to reflect on the real things that matter before we eventually destroy everything we take for granted? I think if we humans don’t take a good look around us, the termites might eventually be the only ones left to carry on.