Photo by Chris Hoet
My partner Ben thinks I’m too serious, and when he reads this blog, it just re-affirms his beliefs all over again.
We’ve discussed this before – the amount of time I spend thinking and analysing issues that interest me and the amount of time he spends thinking and talking about… Australian Rules Football (AFL). He’s quite a simple creature really – he’ll either be reviewing AFL news, AFL results, AFL Supercoach scores or actually watching AFL games live or recorded.
Now I’m not complaining – after all, I love him just as he is and I love that the AFL brings out his passionate side. I think passion is a wonderful quality and I believe people should immerse themselves in things they feel committed to. So I’m not against him being 110% committed to his Richmond Tigers team week in and week out of the footy season. I, myself, enjoy watching the AFL mostly for entertainment value and also because I have also become a fan of the Richmond Tigers. However, my life does not revolve around a sport and I like to think that I am passionate about things in life that on an importance level, are a touch higher.
Now it could just be because he’s right I can be quite a serious person, or maybe because I see myself as somewhat spiritual, but I like to take the conversation to the next level and discuss things that involve humanity in some way – whether it be politics, social justice or even as basic as what inspired me that day. I enjoy a good laugh and often look for the funnies in every day life but I also enjoy being part of an evolving society where I am reaching out to people to help them understand some of the more critical issues that face us and thus, hoping they reach out to others.
Human conversation may be awash with superficial conversation with no real substance, and that’s okay depending on the time and place (for example, a ‘networking’ seminar) however I try and avoid living a day-to-day life like this. I prefer to have real and honest relationships with the people around me and that means sometimes talking about uncomfortable topics like sex, religion or politics. My aim is for people to be less self-absorbed and more involved in community and helping others.
Imagine if we as a people could elevate our lives to be more in tune with what matters in this world – equality, love, peace, kindness, social justice, people, community, environment.. well imagine the kind of world we could build. We could literally build a heaven here on Earth.
Now if only I could get certain people to put down the remote control…
