PUT YOUR SEAT BELT ON!

What can happen in a month or so these days? We celebrated our national day with more harmony than for a long time. A new President in the US took office, there's a miracle on the Hudson River where everyone survived and a tragedy in Buffalo where no-one did. There's been the Aussie open tennis – thrilling to say the least (for the men's anyway), a war between Israel and Palestine and elections in Israel and Venezuela. Mugabe finally makes a show of sharing power with Morgan Tsvangirai, London has been snowed in, Wellington hosted the 7's and a new season of American Idol has begun and BIG things are having prangs – space stations out there and submarines down here! And that's just all off the top of my head as I write! All of this without even mentioning the devastating Australian bushfires and floods.

In times of crisis we have the opportunity to separate and go for ‘every man/woman/family/organisation/country for themselves' but we also can choose a truth that 'we are all in this together' as a whole planet, foster healthy connections with others and be of service wherever we can. Crisis can split us asunder as fear provokes survival based behaviour, or we can move towards each other to support each other through the tough times.

This is evident in Australia right now in the aftermath of such terrifying bush fires (and the danger still lurks as summer continues). Yes, there has been unimaginable tragedy…and…all over the world human beings are intentionally creating very similar results for so many people by actions motivated by dynamics of power and control, resource scarcity, religious dogma and rigid adherence to outmoded beliefs. Does that seem completely senseless to anyone else out there? There is an economic crisis and yet how much is spent on bombs and guns and soldiers soldiering and the consequent rebuilding of communities in the aftermath? We live on an amazingly abundant planet with the potential and wherewithal to ensure that we flourish for as long as the planets life cycle can sustain us (potentially thousands and thousands if not millions of years). We are behaving like children who see their parents as bottomless money machines – it is not realistic or sustainable. Are we not being challenged to ‘grow up'?

It seems certainly time for different behaviour and to foster that we need new thinking that focuses us on the whole rather than just the parts. When we eat we don't just feed the stomach – we feed the whole body. We need more wisdom based decision makers. I am reminded of an old Greek proverb “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in”.

I dream of a day when the ‘armed services' have transformed into simply ‘The Services', as Army, Navy and Airforce become the organisations with the resources to go anywhere on the planet and assist in times of inevitable natural catastrophe as weather systems become more extreme. It seems absurd that NGOs that do Humanitarian work seem to always be struggling for money and resources. New Zealand is a peace loving rather than aggressive country. We can't afford to be aggressive. Given our size, our small, smart little country has had to learn how to negotiate to get our way – to compromise, communicate, cooperate and collaborate. We simply don't have the military might to impose our will – and long may that be so!

What would it be like if all over the world, those who could were given the opportunity to serve in one of the ‘services' with the purpose of educating and giving people the skills to handle themselves and be of service to others in a crisis? Imagine how many different careers one could pursue and the work that could be done. Australians are now considering education about bushfires as a compulsory topic in schools now – isn't it obvious how valuable it is to know your environment and how to safely live in it and with it?

I believe it's time for some central government leadership on this one. We are all capable of learning how we can move beyond donating some money, food and clothing – and yes we still need to be generous in those ways but could you look after yourself and your family for a couple of weeks if you had to? We don't need to resist planning for disaster, we just need to be confident we will be resilient if the time came that we needed to really dig deep. Don't leave it to Civil Defence and other services to rescue and sort us out, let's make it ‘normal' to know what to do.

And that's it from my view.

My very best to yours,

Amanda xx “With beauty and goodness all around may you walk” (Old Navajo saying)