My grandmother was born before we could casually flick on
the electric light; she died long after man walked on the moon.
When “Ma”, as she was colloquially known to all in the
family, turned 90 my mother encouraged me to be at her birthday “as it could be
her last” – 15 years later I attended what was her “last” birthday.
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"Ma" was born before we could
caually flick on a light switch. |
Ma, as you would suspect, was married to “Pa” and about a
decade of my life had passed before I discovered, or realised, that “Ma” was
actually Ellen and “Pa” was in fact John.
There was nothing intentionally deceptive or wicked about
what was a whole-of-family evolving institution, but it has had its legacies
and is a small, but integral piece of a sweeping and far more sinister human
dilemma.
Becoming a grandfather about four years ago, the question
arose as to what I would like to be known? – “Granddad”, “Grandpa”, “Gramps” or
maybe “Pa” - the idea of being called “Pa” unearthed memories of childhood
confusion and being convinced that life is sufficiently loaded with deceptions
without adding the misunderstandings of one’s linage, I suggested “Robert”.
Beleaguered by emotional responses from family and friends,
I am now “Pa” and it feels comfortable, but on hearing it, I immediately feel
about 20 years older.
That, however, is incidental, rather what worries me is the
fact that the unintentional and imagined friendly emotional intrigue of
families shapes us, from a young age, to be unable, or less able, to confront
or deal with the intrigues of adulthood.
Beyond having their rapidly expanding minds confused by the
identity of the forebears, the natural inquisitiveness of children is exciting,
but I suggest confused, when confronted with an array of myths from some
mystical gift-bearing soul to super natural beings controlling their fate and
that their wellbeing is to be found in the stars to the fact that the good life
is simply there for the taking.
Approaching adulthood armed with those myths most people, damagingly,
are soundly disconnected from reality and frequently align themselves with one
or several of those celebrated falsities.
Childhood is for most a wonderful experience, particularly
for those fortunate enough to live in such a peaceful and bountiful place as
Australia, and although it is not readily apparent, those are the years in
which the foundations are laid down for the superstructure that is become a
purposeful adulthood.
However, a life built upon, and maligned, by myths,
misinformation and misguided “facts”, can often be tragic, leaving that same
person unable to confront life’s brutal realities and consequently unable to
accept or deal with them.
Being “Pa” to two grandsons, it is discomforting to be a
part of an oblique identity fraud, for as seemingly unimportant as it is, it is
one which could have, and will have, I believe, a significant impact on the
lives of those two small boys.
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From no electricity to walking
on the moon - "Ma" saw
it all. |
In and of itself, that deception, if I can boldly call it
that, is of little significance, but multiplied by the millions of occurrences
around the world each day, it becomes an insurmountable difficulty for
humanity.
We are born as a blank slate, except for the knowledge and experience
of our forebears that is embedded in our DNA and, beyond that, not in isolation
from our environment and the cultural norms that surround us to impact on every
aspect of our being making us whom and what we are.
We are what we are because of nature, but the person we
become is a measurable outcome of by whom and how we are nurtured.
The past 200 years has been particularly kind to humanity,
we have learnt much and through the exercise of powerful brains, homo-sapiens
have become the pre-eminent species on earth, changing it in a host of ways to
make it more applicable and useful to their survival.
Our endeavours have not come, however, without a cost,
particularly to many of the earth’s other species; species without which we
would not survive.
That same cost, of which many are ignorant or simply
unaccepted by others and particularly those who benefit from the maintenance of
the status quo, is unfolding in a conflation of difficulties that individually
or, even more pressingly, in a combined sense have the capacity to decimate
mankind.
Minds polluted by living a life of so called fun and
friendly myths underlined by adherence to baseless fantasies are ill-prepared
to confront and deal with realities that have never before been imposed upon
the human experiment.
Fundamental to the difficulties is the exponential growth of
human population rising from just one billion in 1800 to more than seven
billion late last year and in my 65 years our numbers have about tripled.
Predictions are for those numbers to reach nine billion by 2050.
Other than for the concerns voiced by a few individuals and
some groups, the world’s burgeoning population goes pretty much unnoticed,
except by those who celebrate it for it brings for them short-term profits.
Our swelling numbers, and the inordinate growth they bring,
are eroding the earth’s finite resources; filling up our natural sinks, the
oceans and atmosphere, with carbon dioxide; making it near impossible to sate the
thirsts of many and ease their hunger; and simply find space for everyone to
live.
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| Dick Smith's 2011 book. |
It is pointless to illustrate to many people the
difficulties they face for in harking back to fun-like emotional deceptions of
youth and the nurture surrounding them as they arrived at adulthood they are
unable to understand the reason for gloom about the future.
Even the production of facts, results in a contrariness that
sees them react with a certain stubbornness that frequently has them reassert
beliefs that careful science supported examination shows, clearly, they are
wrong.
Writing in “Population Crisis – the dangers of unsustainable
growth for Australia” Australian multimillionaire
philanthropist and adventurer, who originally made his fortune retailing
electronics and then founded Australian Geographic magazine, Dick Smith,
discussed solutions to avoid what he described as “potential disasters”.
“Firstly,” he wrote, “we have to
change the way we measure progress; then we must stop the wasteful use of
non-renewable resources; and finally, as population growth begins to stabilise,
we must completely re-program the global economy to avoid growth altogether”.
So, considering Dick’s advice, rather than concern ourselves
about exploring the moon, or anywhere in outer-space, we should be exploring earth
and along with that, human nature.
