From the start of the fatal bush fire in country Victoria on 7th February the devastation bush fire storm has killed 131 of my fellow citizens most of whom were trying desperately to save their own home just 50 km. east of the State Capital - Melbourne where I live with my family.
Let us pause for a moment in silence to pay our respects to those brave souls who lost their life in defense of their sweet home and livelihood. Many of us may think that the victims could have escaped with their lives if they were not so attached to their material possessions. This is both an after the facts assessment and a purely logical view without taking human feelings and emotion into consideration. Many of the victims were husbands and fathers who first evacuated their loved ones to safety and then returned to their own house to defend their home and protect the interests of their family. To these brave and dedicated souls I offer my profound admiration and my deepest heartfelt condolences to their families.
I have been in Australia since 1997 ( though travelling a lot overseas on business ). I realize that the Australian way may sometimes baffle the foreigners. You may call the Aussie thinking simple or even naive but, in fact, there is very often a profound sense of heroism and unmaterialistic ( my own coined term ) touch about it. Similar in some ways to Canadians many Australians have fought in foreign conflicts and given up their lives for other nations when Aussies believe in the cause for which they are fighting. Aussies ( and Kiwis - New Zealanders ) fought courageously and showed a profound sense of mateship ( or simply fellowship and solidarity ) in Gallipoli in 1915 ( where the ANZAC tradition started ) and in famous WWII battles like the RATS of Tobruk in North Africa along side the Allied forces. Aussies though seen as simple and even unambitious by some are, in fact, good materials for doubling as the vanguards for the enlightened capitalism I so strongly advocate to save the global village form all future financial tsunami. It is a more balanced and much less materialistic value system that most Aussies hold dear to their hearts.
A simple example would illustrate my point. It was from my own personal experience. About 3 years ago I and my family were holidaying in a resort town called Lakes Entrance in North Eastern Victoria. We were in desperate need of a pencil to play the game of bingo held in the lounge of the restaurant where we stopped by for coffee in the early evening. I went to the bookshop next to the restaurant to buy some. All the pencils for sale there were packaged in boxes of a dozen but when the shop owner realized that my purpose was for a game of bingo she just opened up one sealed box of pencil and gave me one for free. I have never had that happen to me in any holiday resort any where in the world. I offered to pay for the whole box but the owner simply said that she will be giving away the rest to her neighbour's children for their classes. She insisted that I should get the pencil for free because I am a tourist supporting the local industry. The value of the pencil is negligible but the friendly attitude is impressive. Ultimately, the motive was to be nice to tourists which may be commercially oriented but she is not the one directly benefited by our visit at that particular moment in time.
Coming back to the bush fire tragedy, heroism is commendable but blind zeal should not be encouraged. Already, the State Premier has announced that a Royal Commission will be set up to investigate and make recommendations on the present tragic incident. The main consideration is to make it compulsory for residents to follow orders for evacuation from the police and the fire authority in times of a bush fire. At present they cannot force the residents to leave unless a state of emergency is declared in which case martial law would be in force. That is the reason why the State Government is not willing to resort to declaring a state of emergency. Anyway, it is a right step forward to appoint a Royal Commission.
Finally, the mateship and solidarity of other fellow citizens are also highly commendable. Already the call for a fundraiser has been answered by a total donation of some 6 million ( Australian currency ) from the private sector. One will realize that this is a tremendous response having regards to the financial tsunami and the generally cash strapped position of the general population. Second hand clothing and domestic appliance stores are common here. Although the basic welfare is quite satisfactory for all citizens extra cash is hard to come by because of the high tax system.
Last but not least, I must salute the emergency services here especially the CFA ( Country Fire Authority ) the majority members of which are volunteers. One will feel ashamed in Australia if he or she is not engaged in some form of voluntary service to society. That was the reason why the Sydney Olympics back in 2000 was the most profitable Game in terms of surplus revenue.
I sincerely hope that the heart warming assistance from fellow Aussies will help make the pains of the survivors who have lost some of their loved ones less unbearable.
JKHC.
( N.B. Donation from the private sector now stands at an amazing A$ 110 million as of Feb. 20 but sadly the death toll has also risen to 208 )
Monday, February 9, 2009
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