Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Privilege is having more than one cup to drink out of.

It’s being able to pay exorbitant prices for toilet paper or hand sanitizer or face masks during a crisis.

It’s not having to worry about how we’re going to eat or keep a roof over our heads next week. It’s being able to watch Netflix late at night rather than collapsing at the end of each day from exhaustion. It’s having weekends off. It’s having hot water, and plumbed toilets, and lights to read by when it gets dark. It’s mending clothes for fun rather than out of necessity.

At least once a day, something reminds me of my incredible good fortune in having parents with the means and hutzpah to emigrate and raise me in Australia. And I’m always acutely aware that it was just a crap shoot. Quite literally the luck of the draw. Anyone living a comfortable life in a developed country who argues otherwise – that everything is purely a measure of their own hard work – is either superhuman or lying to themselves.

Social privilege almost certainly makes our everyday lives much easier, but it also carries with it a great deal of responsibility. A yoke of responsibility, if you will. How we choose to respond to that is what defines us as family, friends, neighbours, humans.

Please be kind. Look after one another; do what you can to help. And at this particular time of stress and uncertainty, if your life circumstances put you in a better position than those around you, then please do more. ♥

Photo credit: Barossa Herald

LEST WE FORGET

On ANZAC Day, we remember those who have fought to defend Australia in the past and honour those who continue to protect our shores.

On this very different ANZAC Day, let’s also celebrate the amazing ANZAC spirit of our doctors, nurses, teachers, storekeepers and other essential workers who are fighting to keep us all safe. Like my medico friends Marty, Nat and Angus, who continue to front up every day to their hospital shifts. Or Robert who keeps the local IGA open, and the garbage collectors who pick up every Friday, and Kevin and Robbie who keep milling flour so we can continue to bake. We’re incredibly grateful to all of them.

Let’s recognise though that for most of us, staying at home and keeping a respectful social distance from one another is also a reflection of the ANZAC spirit – we all have a very clear understanding of the need to do our part for the greater good.

I’ve always been incredibly grateful to live in Australia, but never more so than right now. It’s been a time of huge sacrifice and stress for so many people, but our great country feels united and determined. Together, we will get there. ♥

A couple of years ago, we visited the Biennale of Sydney at Cockatoo Island. Sadly, the event has been cancelled this year.

The showstopper piece of the day, and in fact the entire 2018 exhibition, was Ai Weiwei’s Law of the Journey (2017).

Measuring 60 x 6 x 3m, it’s a magnificent and thought-provoking piece, and was originally suspended from the ceiling of the National Gallery of Prague. When it came to Australia, a custom plinth was created to sit it on, inscribed with quotes from philosophers and thinkers across the ages.

I loved this one in particular…

“Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.”

St Augustine of Hippo

. . . . .

We can’t fix the problems of the world, but what we can do is try to take care of those our lives intersect with. At a time in human history when we’re all having to self-isolate, this directive feels more important than ever.

Take good care, dearhearts, of yourselves and each other. ♥