The Gap in our hearts

Today Baby Martha passed away. Despite our efforts to get her the heart surgery she needed we were too little too late. I am filled with anger that this can happen to a child in Tanzania whist in Australia she would be fit and healthy with relatively minor surgery. It is just so unfair. It is this unfairness that drives me to do what I do but the pain and anger sometimes consumes me. I try to distance myself to put a space between the pain and the reality of this injust world. It helps for most people here in Australia, to pretend that it has nothing to do with them. That it is not their responsibility. For me I can only hold this gap open for a short while and then it all comes tumbling down. How can I sit here with all these comforts around me when the basics are not being met in other places, in others' lives? What kind of a messed up world do we live in, really?! When you think of it you can imagine Gods and aliens just looking down on us and shaking their heads. But I wont give up!!! This precious life that was lost today will be a reminder of not only my own human fragility but that we must fight and fight harder for those who's lives are far more fragile than my own. R.I.P baby Martha, I will miss you.

Mind the Gap - Exegesis

There is something that exists not just within objects and beings but also between them. It is a place of wonder but also a place of horror. It is a place where everything is shared. It is a place where the hinges of change are found. Many Existentialist Philosophers such as Jean-Paul Sartre understood this, as do Buddhists. They claim that we are all interconnected and that it is a human illusion to see things as separate and individually functioning. Even the philosophy of determinism that makes a distinction from fate and free will by describing us as one with everything understands this space between.

As many humans are unaware of this great interconnectedness we have seen ignorance, mistrust and fear occupy this space with horrifying consequence. We have witnessed this through past genocides and war and in the present through persistent economic, gender and racial oppression. I therefore think of this place in its current state as a gap, a dark place in our midst that goes unnoticed (or is ignored). Such a place may be represented as the gap of a train platform. A place where people move from the platform onto the train for their journey without considering the space they are moving in. Even though we are constantly warned to ‘Mind the Gap’ our thoughtlessness sometimes results in ourselves or others being injured, and at worst killed.

It is impossible to define The Gap, this is not its nature. But it is possible to present and illuminate it. Through my work ‘Mind the Gap’ I wish to present a story of The Gap. Using words, images and music I wish to show how cycles of oppression continue within and between people. Whether that be between powers like the US and The Taliban or in its more subtle forms between our own hopes and fears. There are remedies for such oppression however that I wish also to present. Through appreciating being in the moment like a child we can show this space to each other like children do. As adults however we must take a step beyond the way children experience and foster greater awareness and compassion. The Buddhists refer to this as cultivating compassion and mindfulness through practice. By having greater mindfulness it is possible to be more in the moment, the only time that truly exists - the now. People like Ghandi and Einstein appreciated the need of this being in the now when wisdom was called upon. Further, by having greater compassion it is possible to convey more aware compassion to all living things. It is combining the heart and the head in a way of living. Such a practice will infuse a positive energy into The Gap. This is the only possible viable revolution I envisage.

However, as with all revolutions they can be wound back, they can lose their way. We saw this in the brilliance of Einstein being used for the horror in Hiroshima, we see this in Martin Luther King Jr’s dream of emancipation used to further oppress African American Women. We see a great loss in this and we must fight like Mohammed Ali not to lose it. Nevertheless in the end it is our choice to participate in this magnificent life. As with sunrise and sunset we may see the beauty and possibility in it for hope and renewal. The Sun in the distance may resemble an atomic bomb for some, to me it is a source of life and inspiration. If I too am a Sun I may illuminate The Gap.

By presenting The Gap it is my simple hope and dream that people consider carefully this important place. That through their own journey in life they may affect it with awareness and compassion and not with ignorance and hate.

Wrong Place - Wrong Time

On Thursday last week my Mother and Sister inlaw were put into prison. No just cause, just that they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is a saying in Africa that when two elephants fight, it is the grass beneath them that gets damaged. This is such a case, a case where those who hunger for greed and money cause pain and distress to those that do not have the power. My family are caught between the gap of two fighting beasts and they are paying the price.

These are my people, so far away and I am helpless and unable to help. It is so hard to feel things are going on to those who you love and respect and there is very little you can do about it. Helplessness in The Gap also brings fear and bad things can happen. I will therefore try to do what I can to help and be as strong and as positive as I can. The oppressors cannot and will not win!

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