Australian’s, we live in paradise

In my line of work I am fortunate enough to converse with as many as 20 people a day for about 20 minutes at a time. One thing has become clearer and clearer this year and that is, so many of us are unhappy.

It’s no secret that the impact of Covid-19 has weighed tremendously heavy on all of us, so it’s no surprise to see people’s mood effected, however I’d like to put our situation into perspective.

There is turmoil occurring all over the globe at the present. The United Kingdom are experiencing their second extreme lockdown for the year. The US is at a tipping point after the absolute debacle that was their most important election in modern history (whilst still recording close to 200,000 positive covid cases daily).

And that’s just the first world problems.

In reality there are far more concerning occurrences happening in the second and third world, that our mainstream media tends to miss. Countries like India are being crippled by the covid-19 pandemic. Ethiopia is at civil war, with hundreds (possibly thousands) being killed daily due to the Tigray conflict. It’s being reported that phone lines and internet has been completely cut off to some 5 million Ethiopian citizens caught in the middle of it as the Government fights back. To put this into perspective all we’re worried about in Australia is what an inconvenience the roll out of the National Broadband Network is..

Nearly 2 years ago I was fortunate enough to travel to Egypt with my partner. It was a dream trip for us but little did we know how much it would open our eyes to how lucky we are in the first world. The sight seeing was absolutely incredible, but in two ways.

On one hand, the regal beauty of the pyramids and the valley of the kings were something to behold. On the other hand the squalor and horrific conditions of the cities and homes where the Egyptian people live was equally as breathtaking. The government does not collect rubbish... Instead it piles up in mounds in the city streets until it poses such a public health risk that it must be removed, or instead (more commonly) it ends up in the waterways. To put this in perspective all we worry about in Australia is how slow the rubbish trucks drive on our nicely paved roads. Which inconveniently make us approximately 20 seconds later for work after we overtake them.

Now I’m not saying this year hasn’t been tough for us. It has. Melbourne’s lock down for 3 months was one of the hardest the world has seen. People lost jobs, income and family security. But as always we have come out the other side, 0 active cases and plenty of Government support dollars to go with it. I am just asking we put it in perspective. Australians are tough and resilient but at the same time we are some of the best looked after people in the world.

We are Safe, Healthy and Free. We have an abundance of good produce, we can go out for dinner and have drinks with friends, our beaches are some of the best in the world, we had only 13 Covid-19 cases today in the whole Country and our Government continues to and always will continue to support us when we’re struggling.

I’m not saying we have nothing to worry about, everyone has struggles, bad days and even bad years, but I ask. Put it into perspective because when you sit back and look at the big picture we really do live in paradise. Enjoy it, be Grateful, be Happy.

Rhys Potter