9 March

Fish don’t know water exists until they’re caught. That’s how I see living in a rich and privileged country too, we often don’t see that privilege, we assume that’s just how the world is. For example, the idea of ‘changing the world’. It seems so noble. But look at it as an idea, the assumption that we can change the entire world. Only privilege makes a person think that, like the dire prospectus I once read for an elite private school in Sydney, talking about ‘preparing leaders for the next generation’. Similarly, when our privileged lives start to unravel a bit, like the West is experiencing right now, it’s tempting to think something has gone wrong, our politicians are corrupt, can’t we all just go back to partying and gigging and drinking and stop ‘taking things so seriously’? Pure privilege speaking, there. What can change the world is conversation. Re-connecting to others, doing the difficult job of compromise and trying to understand other viewpoints. You can put that off by slagging politics, or just ignoring anything except your own personal comfort and enjoyment, but the world will catch up with you. It’s doing that right now. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/hildy-gottlieb/change-the-conversation-c_b_4445238.html