Sometimes the F Bomb is Appropriate

Monday 11 May 2020  5.42am

Let’s begin today with something to think about in the form of a quote from Austrian neurologist psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor Viktor E. Frankl

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom

Today, I find myself battling the urge to be angry.

There is a difference between annoyed and being angered by something or someone. Anger is a little like hatred, it has a greater negative impact of the portrayer of the emotion than the recipient of it.

Even my annoyance levels have changed over time. I now aim for mildly annoying which is much easier to dismiss than the real thing.

So why is today the day where anger threatens?

Let’s look at the bunch of sportspeople who contravened quarantine in Adelaide. In doing so they may have threatened the immediate future of their sport and the employment of thousands of people, but that is not what is potentially angering me.

They may also have set a disgraceful example as to how to act and behave safely which if followed by others, could lead to Covid 19 infections. This may be stupidity or even arrogance but it doesn’t anger me as such.

What has the potential to trigger my anger is the excuse being offered on their behalf that they are young men and may not have understood the rules that were to apply to them – all 16 of them.

FFS – what if we said to all 18 to 23-year-old males, “its ok, you are young and don’t understand”?

What if we said, “you may be adults and carry the legal responsibility that goes along with that but hey, we won’t hold you accountable for the accident you caused because you had too much alcohol before driving”?.

Just because these Men can run a bit better than most and kick and catch a ball does not remove their personal responsibility to society.

To suggest an 18 to 23 year old is incapable of accepting responsibility for themselves and others is ludicrous. To understand young Men accepting and understanding responsibility, have a chat to a Vietnam Veteran. After all, in many cases they were drafted against their wishes and sent to fight a war.  They were only 19 (on average).

And today, a 19 year old is deemed incapable to understanding 14 day quarantine.

I will instead choose to be disappointed and to remember there are many highly capable and responsible people under the age of 23.

But that’s not all, the British Government announced mandatory quarantine for anyone flying in to the United Kingdom from all countries except Northern Ireland. It has only taken the death of 30000 residents to have them do what many other countries have had in place for a month or more.

But, to offset this, they are replacing the “Stay at Home” instruction with the suggestion that people should “Stay Alert”.

WTF are they staying alert to? “Excuse me Officer, you might want to investigate the child over there with a running nose”

What does it mean? It seems they don’t really know but it is a nice slogan.

But is it worth anger?  Instead, I will remind myself that many countries are adopting vastly different approaches when protecting their residents. The approach in Australia and New Zealand are reasonably similar and entirely different to Sweden. The USA and UK are adopting different strategies also. I will remind myself that it is only in retrospect we will know what actually worked best.

Moving on:

My coffee bean delivery finally arrived. A big thank you to everyone who made contact and offered to drop off an emergency supply of beans to tide me over – to both of you, thank you.

Nick Earls is an Author I enjoy, despite rarely reading fiction

Through following him on Twitter, I picked up he was appearing on a Podcast and listened accordingly.

It was a funny and interesting discussion about the challenges facing authors seeking an audience.

I have since listened to an episode of the same Podcast where the conversation is with both Jane Harper and Karina Kilmore.

The Podcast is The First Time hosted by authors’ Katherine Collette and Kate Mildenhall and I highly recommend it.

I enjoyed last week’s book. It certainly talked about the trials and tribulations of a not very talented or fast endurance runner however, what I found most interesting was the relationship between the Author’s career evolution as a writer to his running. I have an interest in running and writing and suspect the book would be hard to enjoy if neither is an interest.

I have a number of things on my agenda this coming week so will not commit to reading something new.

May we all remain diligent, safe, healthy and caring, and even more as a we start to open up schools and businesses. Finally, may you enjoy your coffee while wisely using the space between stimulus and response.

Colin Morley

PS - On a personal note, my thoughts are with life long friend and habitual rascal Ted S as he undergoes serious surgery tomorrow. See you soon in Melbourne as we plan another Eildon reunion.