What not to do on Australia Day.

What not to do on Australia Day.

Is it just me or does everyone think we should always try to walk in someone else’s shoes?

As we celebrate Australia Day, I reckon we’ll all have fun and so we should. Australia is the lucky country and that is always worth celebrating.
As a country we have also started a conversation about the date of Australia Day. Based on other moral dilemmas we have faced as a nation, I figure the debate will rage for years before we reach a resolution but that’s fine, it’s what grown-ups do.

Personally, I don’t know if we should change the date. I certainly don’t feel welded to January 26, on the other hand, I think we could simply shift the focus of Australia Day to make it solemn and reflective in the morning, a party in the afternoon.
Just like ANZAC Day, our brutal history deserves recognition and respect.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the date but I just want to say one thing.

Before you thump the table and announce you will celebrate Australia Day on January 26 and everyone else can get stuffed. Before you jump on Facebook and declare our appalling treatment of aborigines is ‘old news’ or suggest our first people ‘pull themselves up by their bootstraps, just like I had to,’ take a moment.
There is an amazing youtube video that explains privilege. A college professor in America lines up students for a race to win $100.

Before the race starts he ask the students to take two steps forward if both their parents are still together. Next he asks people to move forward if their dad has been a strong figure in their life. Take two steps forward if you went to a private school, if you’ve never thought your mobile phone would get cut off and on and on until of course, when the race officially starts, the privileged kids are closest to the $100.

It’s very simple. You have every right to be proud of your achievements but don’t compare them with others until you walk a mile in their shoes.
Children in Australia are still born to homes with no running water and no accessible health services. They go to school but it’s in English, which is not their first language. Their parents have never had a job.

I am incredibly proud of my kids, they are happy and successful young adults but so they should be. They have lived a life of great privilege, surrounded by support, love and government services. Every need has been met almost before it was voiced. I don’t apologise for that but I don’t congratulate myself either, we come from a long line of white privilege.
Our family is celebrating with gusto this weekend but I look forward to a national day when every Australian family can say the same thing.

Caroline xx