This is a statement of five of the most important religious beliefs I hold.
(I publish it on the birthday of Robert Louis Stevenson, whose faith journey took him in the opposite direction to mine and who said “You can give without loving, but you can never love without giving.”)
The truth will set you free.
There is no god but God.
Faith cannot be forced.
Bunjil watches over us.
In the beginning was The Word and The Word was with God and The Word was God.
Geoff Fox, 13th September, 2022, Melbourne, Australia
Watch the hands of Aussie men in dancing dedication to commemorate the courage of those who kept us free.
This is not a very highly formalised planting and dedication of a Memorial Tree.
Its a relaxed meeting of friends in a small town in one woman’s front yard.
The way they go about this reflects the values of past heroes who served for their loved ones, for their country and for us. They often suffered terribly and were all ready to die for a good life together for everyone.
I reckon Aussie knows that when you put the strengths of Australian culture and values with the best of South-East And North-East Asian cultures and values, it is possible to come up with something even better than both.
"IF WE GO TO MOTHER NATURE FOR CONSOLATION, SHE WON'T ALLOW USTO GO AWAY UNCARED." Javanese Women's Rights Pioneer, Raden Ajeng Kartini, 21st January, 1901
On this day, the 16th anniversary of the death of my mother, Margaret Fox, I have contemplated the meaning for me of motherhood in the Founders’ Garden at the historic building, Ercildoune, in Footscray, Australia.
Meditating on the meaning of motherhood at Ercildoune.
In most fields of endeavor, modern life in The West is poisoned by bullying and fear.
When people act together in a spirit of kind, understanding brotherhood and caring, unselfish sisterhood, people can do great things. That’s what the guys in Collingwood’s AFL team have achieved so far this season and that’s what the men and women of Australia and other western nations did in World War Two when they bound together and defeated fascism.
Sometimes sporting people can still rise to those heights. Many others find it harder and harder now to be the best people they can be. Stupidity and often institutionalized selfishness and bullying frequently get in the way.
The photos in this post were taken at a Victorian Football League Elimination final at Victoria Park yesterday, the sporting ground where my dad took me to the footy many, many times when I was a kid.
Lest We Forget.
Geoff Fox, 29th August, 2022, Melbourne, Australia
Today on the 124th anniversary of the birth of Australia’s greatest ever cricketer, Sir Donald George Bradman, I call upon Australians and their leaders to strive for Bradmanesque excellence and turn a magnificent heritage site into a world class national park.
Geoff Fox, 27th August, 2022, Melbourne, Australia
As I write this all three Australian Rules football teams representing the Collingwood Football Club, the Magpies, have a real chance to win a premiership this year. The two men’s teams are in the finals and the Women’s team has started a new season with a good victory last night and a number of talented players expected to return from injury.
The AFL mens team has played perhaps the most exciting brand of footy in the history of the sport this season to finish among the top four teams which is where the premier normally comes from.
In 2010, when Collingwood last won an AFL premiership, I invented the word “Flagpies” and proudly said over and over at one literary pub in Carlton that this word was the greatest poem ever written in Australian.
Today, Ash, the MC at a Magpie Nest function in Melbourne, enthusiastically joined me in shouting out this word.
Ash is a follower of all things good in Aussie footy, not a life-long one-eyed Collingwood supporter like me, but she recognizes that the Collingwood AFL team’s achievement in winning eleven games by less than two goals (easily eclipsing the previous best number of close finish victories of 8 by Melbourne in 1989) has made this year’s Collingwood team one of the most exciting teams to watch in the history of the game.
I am an old man on the skids trying to make a go of it with a midrange camera that doesnt always produce great results in some light conditions.
But I am very grateful to Ash and the Magpie Nest for giving me the chance today to celebrate in two of my chosen art forms my life-long loves of Collingwood, footy and freedom.
Thank you, my friends.
Geoff Fox, 26th August, 2022, Melbourne , Australia
53 years ago today, as most but not all people believe, Neil Armstrong was the first man to walk on the moon.
Bishop David Farrer describes that as a time of “innocence and awe (now) replaced with cynicism and a certain world weariness as we see the ascendancy of greed.”
He wants the mad, modern world to see and value what it has lost.
As Melbourne Discernibles film maker and Apollo landing sceptic, Anna, says, “Now people marvel at Kim Kardashian shaking her rear end.”
tujuhbelasan.net 