A lot of my nearest and dearest know my reservations about Perth.
I appreciate its beauty , the wide open spaces, the peace and quiet , the freedom and the opportunities.
Having been blessed with visits to places in the world I never imagined I would see I now view Perth in a completely different way. I appreciate that it is a haven, a last Eden away from turmoils and troubles destroying other nations and somewhere that appears preferable to so many war torn countries where basic freedoms are only a dream
I remember many years ago speaking to my doctor who is Asian. I was my usual paranoid self , troubled by the outbreak of SARS - a pandemic sweeping the world and of concern to travellers at a time when my children were offered the opportunity to travel with soccer. Frustrated with maternal pleadings about precautions and options he sighed and told me that - if worse came to worse Australia would close its shores and shut everyone else out until the threat has passed. We were a giant island that could serve as a quarantine station.
The reality of our isolation hit me and I thought how ironic it was that a country so open to refugees and immigrants should even consider closing its borders and that this suggestion should be made by someone who himself had sought refuge here.
As time has gone on and I have gotten older my patience with Perth has been more and more tested.
An infrastructure that is always a work in progress regardless of the fact that we are blessed with residential space and an ever burgeoning population. You only need a map of our great state to know that all that space didn't just drop from the sky. I remember living in Kununurra in our far north when secession was a popular idea as the tyranny of distance and bureaucracy kept the Kimberly reaching its full tourist and commercial potential.
We construct freeways in constant need of upgrades, pull down buildings and build new uglier ones, close schools only to discover that we need to open and build new ones, pay homage to bell towers and infected water tourist attractions as if they are beacons in an otherwise dull landscape
It's almost like we are a scared little boy who has his whole world ahead of him but takes staggering little steps , preferring to sit his room playing video games instead of going to the park meeting new friends and finding new adventures
The West Australian today published two articles - one announcing the unlikely chance of Gay marriage being made legal - the other mandating that teachers ensure that Gay students are protected in school.
The irony is too delicious - sometimes the politics in this state reminds of Toytown and Noddy the Premier.
We are a state with the ideal opportunity to enjoy freedoms - not just of speech and religion but of choice. We are not confronted by conflict, we embrace other cultures - how we can' t invite them into a liberated, freethinking , inclusive community beats me!!
Why do we revel in this notion of being a backwater?
Why do we not use our isolation to screen ourselves from the rest of the world and do what others are too scare to even attempt!?
You only need to live on the West coast and travel to the rest of the world to appreciate the isolation.
Geographical isolation is quaint and desirable for some - philsophical isolation is crippling as it stops us from being the real place of refuge from political and religious constraint suffered by those of the world that see Perth as 'ideal'.
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