Beneath the Wisteria began today with a minute’s silence, recognising a tradition at the eleventh hour, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month and acknowledging the armistice ending World War One, the great war.
A consensus among the 20 at today’s gathering that the minute of reflection was important added to the solemnity of that moment; a moment that passed without comment as the group quickly got to discussing coming events and then enjoying a vigorous conversation with University of Melbourne climate scientist, Professor David Karoly.
The minute’s silence, however, deserved comment for although it is not about glorifying war, it is a social event that elevates war to a position of strange and perverse untouchability and war, and most other social conflicts, are about preserving the status quo, that is business as usual, the fundamental reason why we gather Beneath the Wisteria.
Climate change is a wicked problem and war, almost anywhere here both energy and resource-rich, hugely socially and economically costly, and even those that some of the world’s best thinkers go to extremes to justify, are among humanity’s worst negative experiences.
The so-called “Great War” taught us nought as within decades we back at each other’s throats.
So rather than gathering at places around the world reflecting now on the mistakes we made 99 years ago, we should be spending time considering how we can make things better today to ensure that our tomorrows are better still.
- Robert McLean.
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