Wondering

You Don’t Speak for Me!

Filed Under: Reflections · September 24, 2014 · Leave a Comment ·

UPDATE: “Suburb Wakes In Fright”, the piece to which I was objecting in this blog post, was for some reason removed from the linked page mere hours after this post was published. However I am sure there is no causal connection … :) … and as I write this, the original article, including that piece can still be found here.

Like most people I am deeply appalled by the stabbing and shooting incident at the police station in Endeavour Hills today. My heart goes out to the police officers and their families, and I am not in any way, shape or form, condoning the actions of the young man who was shot. [Read more…]

The Storyteller

Filed Under: Journeys, Reflections, Resources, Stories · February 18, 2010 · 2 Comments ·

Unshaved, unkempt,
black nails, black teeth
and an old, tattered coat.
You’d dismiss him as derelict
and walk straight past.
Yet when he spoke
eagles soared,
mountains talked
and I glimpsed infinity.
“I’m a storyteller”
he said.
His stories wove spells
of dreaming and meaning.
The universe expanded,
and I felt for a moment
that I touched its limits.
Derelict,
Storyteller,
Spellbinder …
The essence of truth
lies perhaps in all three.

Hit and Myth

Filed Under: Journeys · February 8, 2010 · 2 Comments ·

Today I left something undone that I wish I had done – though perhaps others may say I’m foolish to think so.

I was driving into the Dandenongs (a local mountain range) and had turned into a road that winds its way for about 10 minutes by car up the mountainside towards the town of Sassafras.

Just around the corner, before this road begins to twist and climb in earnest, I saw three young lads trying to hitch a ride. Probably in their late teens or early twenties, all with short hair and casually dressed in t-shirts and jeans. That’s all I could tell from the quick glimpse I caught of them as, even while my foot hesitated over the brake pedal, I drove on by.

And basically that’s the end of my story.

I can hear you all now:

“But of course!”
“Sensible woman!”
“You did the right thing.”
“Three young men? You’d have been stupid to stop.”

A chorus of reason and common sense? Yes, that’s true.

But what if I’d hit the brake instead of the accelerator? A different story plays in my head … [Read more…]