By: Staff Writer…Harvey Fewings.
April 2020.
The Rider of the Pale Horse is amongst us…and the pestilential scimitar is being wielded with devastating effect.
[ The Book of Revelation { 6:1-8 } of the Christian Bible. ]
Conspiracy theories race around social media like headless chooks.
I am writing this in the light of the early morning sun, and its splendid presence provides an opportunity for optimism because of the eternal promise of light and warmth to come.
If you took note of the nonsense on social media, you would throw yourself under a bus, or off the Bribie Island Bridge.
Don’t do that because much of the material on social media, apart from the posts by Government agencies, is placed there by people who are scared and anxious; and much of what they say reflects that.
As a Nation, we are being tested; we all know that. Our economy, our institutions, our first responders and our community cohesion are all being placed in a crucible of fire and subjected to searing pressure to perform in conditions that very few of us have planned for or indeed ever considered would happen.
But it has happened and it will continue for some time to come.
So, what can we do?
We look to our leaders, National, State and Local Mayors for direction and example.
Leaders are required to have three fundamental qualities – courage, integrity and humility. Without those three essential character traits, you would not be able to lead a Choko vine across a paddock.
Courage is an elusive creature, and leaders must have two forms of courage: moral courage and physical courage.
Moral courage is required to enable you to make decisions for the greatest good knowing that the decision may hurt some in your community, even your friends and acquaintances, but must be made so that the majority of your population will benefit from the decision. That benefit almost always implies personal safety and well being for your people.
Physical courage is required to enable a leader to stand in front of a mob and explain to them, often in hostile circumstances, what decisions have been taken, why they were taken and how those decisions will benefit the general population. And make no mistake, standing in front of a hostile media pack, swamped by irrational howling as is often the case, takes physical courage. It also takes courage to stand in front of your peers and advise them of leadership decisions made which you know will affect them, their loved ones and their relationship with you.
Leadership without integrity will only take you to the dark places of Goebbels, Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot. Any man or woman who holds a leadership role must be able to stare into their own eyes in a mirror and know that the decisions you have taken are for the common good. You must have the honesty of purpose; you must have fire in your soul and steel in your spine.
Humility will enable you to listen to the concerns of people who will be affected by your decisions. You must take into account their expressed concerns, honestly judge them for what they are worth and either accept them or reject them.
So. Having dealt quickly with qualities of leadership, the next question is – do we have leaders of that quality in our Nation?
And the answer is that we do. Yes, we do!
Our national leadership is doing just that – leading.
The National Cabinet works as it should. Our Constitution allows for that to happen, and the Federation arrangement of the sovereign states is successful.
What then remains for us to do to deal with this vile event?
It is incumbent upon us, as citizens of Australia, to protect ourselves, our fellow citizens and our Nation as a whole. And we do this, in the first instance by following the instructions of our leaders.
We are asked to live in quarantine for a few weeks, how hard is that? Really?
We are asked to keep a certain distance from our fellow citizens, well how hard is that?
We are asked not to travel overseas because of the dangers of bringing the pestilential presence back with us when we return ; and yet, and yet, since we have been asked not to travel over 16,600 Australians, our fellow citizens, have left the country for places like Thailand, Bali and the UK etc. It is obvious that the deposits they paid for their travel are more important to them than their own health and the health and well being of their fellow citizens! Many of them are now marooned at overseas destinations, and they expect us to get them home. Well, how likely is that?
We are asked not to travel interstate, for obvious and commonsense reasons. But we know because they have told us themselves on live media, that this direction has been challenged by a number of our citizens as unconstitutional. Their challenge was dismissed.
What we see in all of this is that we have amongst us a raft of our citizens who simply will not accept that we face a terrible threat and that strong Government leadership and direction is necessary to confront and defeat The Rider on the Pale Horse.
And, you ask your self, why is this so?
The answer is not obvious but it is probably found in the mix of the attitude that floats around in our population – “ I am special, I can do what I want, No one can tell me what to do. “ A good example of this attitude is the wild four-wheel-drive hoonery on Bribie Island ocean beaches. Sand dunes wrecked, turtle nests destroyed, laws flouted, native animals run down – a demonstrable lack of concern for our fellow citizens and our natural assets.
Well…it is just possible that this terrible event may level out some of that thinking. We can hope!
As I write this, there are several large floating Petri dishes moored off or slowly cruising our shores. They will not go away, they demand respite, they demand to have people, probably infected with this pestilence landed on our shores. They act like self-indulgent children.
Simple, decent humanitarian concern will ensure that those that need urgent medical help will get it and those that can be returned to their home nations will eventually be returned to their homes.
But National leadership requires that we examine these matters thoroughly and our priority must be the safety of our Nation.
The ship that has caused much distress is the Ruby Princess. The facts surrounding the disembarking of her passengers and the monitoring of her crew have yet to be clearly established.
Someone knows what happened! Someone knows, and the sooner they tell the truth to the Australian public, the better.
If you expect your citizens to conform to rules, then you must be scrupulously honest with them, and the Ruby Princess story has been cloaked in bureaucratic mist for too long.
Pandemics, floods, bushfires, droughts are major community threats and events such as these always the very best and very worst of human actions.
I have highlighted some matters here that are not pleasant to read about because I have pointed out some apparent displays of poor human behaviour.
But you know, and I know, that examples of brilliant and generous actions by most of our fellow citizens completely overwhelm the poor actions.
You cannot do deals with the coronavirus. It does not do lunch where you can duchess it around the table and make an “ accommodation “. It does not care how much money you have or how powerful you think you are.
The only way we can defeat this little turkey is to abide by the instructions of the leaders we have elected – they are following the advice of some of the best medical epidemiologists in the world and some of the best economists available. No one knows all the answers, but Australia is doing pretty well in the global stakes – we don’t have it under control, but we have it in our sights, and we have its number.
In summary, don’t listen to or read the doomsday pictures painted by sections of the media – they are wrong.
The Rider of the Pale Horse sits easily in his seat right now…but we shall have him in due course.
We can do more harm to ourselves by not conforming to our leaders' directions than he ever can!
Stay well and look after each other.