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My son is three and three quarter years old. A few months ago he started collecting sticks. This is different to finding and playing with sticks, he’s been finding and playing with sticks for years, sticks are great. Now he searches for sticks in all green spaces he moves into with the direct intent of gathering and possessing them. The boot of our car is beginning to fill up. It isn’t a problem, but it is a very emotional aspect of our life. He often collects more sticks than he is able to carry. Three year olds have small hands. I’ve recently decided that I won’t carry his stick acquisitions for him. As a result there have been times when he’s been brought to tears by the effort of carrying an armload of sticks, bark, pinecones and splinters up a footpath to the car. It never seems to be enough. Sometimes I say to him that a particularly lanky stick won’t fit in the back of the car. They always do though and he says to me, “Look, it fits! You were wrong Dad.” Significantly, once the precious items enter the back of the car they exit his consciousness and are never mentioned again. I don’t think he is alone. I feel the urge to collect as well, to go out and possess items and experiences and store them in my boot. There are probably a few there I haven’t thought about for a while too. Today I showed my son the collection in the back of the car. He said “wow, that’s a lot of sticks” and walked away. 
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 For many people work is different now than it was 18 months ago. Businesses have changed their processes and systems to increase safety and decrease proximity. People are talking to each other through perspex screens over counters, and through glass computer screens for meetings. The bedroom and home office desks of the world have never before received so much attention.
I imagine that many hastily constructed work practices have been built to survive the sudden change in working environment. For example schools in NSW found out during the Winter holiday that they would be working remotely from the first two weeks of Term 3. Plans were made and processes were set up. Now as week 7 begins, those two week plans feel in someways quite inappropriate for continuous use. The $10 creaky office chair I push up to a polished hall table my grandparents used to keep family photos on, doesn’t really seem like a great working set up anymore. My wife has a set of noise-cancelling headphones the university has for occasional use - they are to be returned at the end of each day. That was 18 months ago. Short term systems in long term use. I wonder how many other ideas, systems and habits we have as people that were developed as a short term solution, that were are walking around with years later? If we build an immediate solution to a problem, then continue to apply that solution repeatedly there is a chance that at some point it is no longer the best set up. My friend blew out his cleat at Frisbee training one night. We taped it up with strapping tape so he could complete the session. Weeks later when we were putting the third layer of tape on, the solution was no longer the best option. It seems like to survive obstacles people develop wonderful creative ways of thinking about those challenges. To chase success people build habits that move them forwards. There is a chance though that we’ve surrounded ourselves with solutions that are actually not the best way to go. What are the ideas and behaviours that you’ve got in your life that you could probably return at the end of today?  There will be noisy construction activities associated with our work including saw-cutting and rock breaking. Sydney Water public letter, August 2021.
I know it’s different for everyone, but saw-cutting and rock breaking feels about right to me at the moment. Right now the small part of the world that I live in is under demolition and reconstruction. The back lane of our house leads down to an 18 month long Sydney Water reconstruction project. There is dust and noise and fences. Also, as of last week, the back wall of our house doesn’t exist. There is dust and noise and rubble. I wear a mask outside to protect others from exchanging expired air with me, and I teach school students from a desk at home. The regular business of many people in the world is not currently possible, or only made possible after hasty deconstruction and patch-work reconstruction to suit in the current health crisis. The cutting and breaking experience of tumultuous times, times of change, can be uncomfortable. We often develop a narrative that whilst change is difficult, it is worth it for the outcome. If all the breaking and cutting, mending and building helps us to arrive at a new location with exciting new opportunities then the discomfort was an important part of the process and a worthwhile exchange. This seems like a great narrative or perspective to take during challenges. I wonder if it is true? Perhaps some challenges are vast and lead to violent change such that the resolution isn’t worth it. The new location arrived at is not imbued with possibilities and excitement. The discomfort was just bad and then it’s over. Does that sound right, and are we in one of those situations now? Sydney Water is going to finish naturalising the creek and then it will be beautiful. The builders are going to make a better back wall at my house and I’ll be able to see a tree from inside. Science and society will manage a solution to the current pandemic and then… I think there are probably ways to finish that last sentence that provides hope and optimism, it would be different for everyone. What do you think? Is there value in examining challenge for the concurrent opportunity that seem to sometimes exist? People love thinking about what they should do, where they should go next. What will you do after high school? Do you think I should learn to play an instrument? Will you try out for that team? Should I find a new job? Where do you see yourself in five years? These are not easy questions to answer and they represent larger considerations about ourselves and our lives. One of the major challenges in life seems to be working out where to apply our precious talent and energy to create a positive existence and meaningful contribution. When faced with the confounding questions of life, humans turn to the mystics, deep thinkers and truth-talkers of their community. When wondering where to go with your life, perhaps there is a clue in the wisdom of the mystics, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Patty Mills. “Being able to understand where we’ve come from, where we see the future, you know living in the present and then who we represent.” Patty Mills 2021 “We tell the story of our elders in a never-ending chain” “We know where we are, we know who we are” Lin-Manuel Miranda We know The Way - Moana 2016 As a part of deciding on the best course of action for you as a person, you may need to consider where you have been. Maybe more than just where you have been, but where your community or society has been. It is in the informed context of the stories of the past that choices for the future and understanding of the present hold the most meaning. Moana, the chief’s daughter from the Island of Motunui in the land of Disney, struggled to reconcile the deep impulse she felt to cross the seas to save her people with the strict conservative rules of her village. Her pathway to self understanding and eventual triumph was fed directly by access to the story of her ancestors and their relationship with the world. Patty Mills captained the Australian basketball team, the Boomers, to their first Olympic medal after the team finished fourth at the 1988, 1996, 2000 and 2016 Olympic games. He articulated the powerful connection to the history of the Boomers as an element of the success of the team. Through understanding of their place as custodians and representatives of more than just themselves, the Boomers seemed to have created a culture strong enough to fuel the high quality preparation and performance required to win a medal at the 2021 games. Perhaps as we collectively and individually contemplate what is next for us, if we can see ourselves at a point in the story, we may be able to move forward with a sense of guidance and place. What to do is not what we have always done, however the choice may be an extension or reflection of lessons learned. What to do is not what is currently happening around and inside us, however the present must be considered in order make sensitive and informed choices. What to do is not only based on where we’d like to be, however the potential future available could be a wonderful guide for our ambitions. There are plenty of answers to the questions of what you should do and where you should go next. When you are thinking about it, perhaps also consider where you are and where you have come from.  |
AuthorHigh school teacher 
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