the albatross

photo by Ron Knight, Flickr creative commons

 

'Wingspans of these birds can approach twelve feet, a reach so wide they cannot flap to take off. Instead they nest on the highest, most exposed ridges so that it is enough to merely stretch their wings into the wind and be vaulted skywards. After take-off they can watch the ocean heave beneath them for two years straight without touching earth or rock. Human beings seem so marginal to their lives that I had the sense that they could barely see me, as if their gaze passed right through me. I sat within inches of one nest, and though the bird sat stiffly, and was clearly uncomfortable on land it breathed an air of impassive serenity. Its feathers trembled like dusted snow, a dazzling, laundered whiteness.'

'They mate for life, and with increasing numbers lost to long-line fishing hooks more of them are standing lonely vigils on the ridges of Bird Island, waiting for mates that never return. Populations are falling as a result. Ornithologists tell us that albatrosses are not clever birds. Developmentally they are quite primitive, and the stereotyped patterns of their behaviour are sluggish and slow to adapt. But as I sat and watched them I thought not of illegal fishing or their reported simplicity but of Herman Melville's awe on an encounter with them: "At intervals it arched forth its vast archangel wings, as if to embrace some holy ark. Wondrous flutterings and throbbings shook it ... Through its inexpressible, strange eyes, methought I peeped to secrets which took hold of God. As Abraham before the angels, I bowed myself."

Gavin Francis, 2012, Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence & Emperor Penguins
 

The endurance of emperor penguins

Photo by Christopher Michel, Flickr creative commons

 

'Masters of endurance, they weather the coldest and windiest habitat on earth - they are the only penguin that shows no territorial aggression, having realised that in order to survive personal space is a luxury they cannot afford. They live through storms of hurricane-force winds and temperatures as low as minus 70 degrees C, leading Apsley Cherry-Garrard to observe that in his opinion no creature on earth has a worse time.'

'I wondered if there at the end of the earth I might learn something from the emperors, of the purity of living in the physical senses, of a life without tangles of motives or the radio-chatter of the mind. They seemed to offer a welcome all too rare in the natural world, perhaps even a kind of forgiveness.'

Gavin Francis, 2012, Empire Antarctica: Ice, Silence & Emperor Penguins

The Essence of Happiness

Photo by woodleywonderworks, Flickr creative commons

 ' ... generally speaking, one begins by identifying those factors which lead to happiness and those factors which lead to suffering. Having done this, one then sets about gradually eliminating those factors which lead to suffering and cultivating those which lead to happiness. That is the way.'

'If we utilise our favourable circumstances, such as our good health or wealth, in positive ways, in helping others, they can be contributory factors in achieving a happier life.'

'The demarcation between a positive and a negative desire or action is not whether it gives you an immediate feeling of satisfaction but whether it ultimately results in positive or negative consequences.'

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler, M.D., 2001, The Essence of Happiness: A guidebook for living.
 

'Because our solidarity is stronger than our sadness.'

Photo, David Shankbone, Flickr creative commons

 

 We have only one enemy: inequality.

  Dr John Falzon
  Chief Executive Officer
  St Vincent de Paul Society National Council 

 

Rather than making us feel demoralised, this report should make us feel determined. 

Our task is to transform these personal stories of injustice into a powerful, collective struggle for a new society; a society in which people are not blamed because economic structures lock them out or in some case lock them up; one in which people are not told that they would not be poor if only they chose to be a little more productive.

This is our beautiful struggle, we who are many; we who make up the massive movement for progressive social change. We have only one enemy. It is called inequality. And no matter how long it takes, we will win against this enemy. Humanity will win against humiliation. 

Because our solidarity is stronger than our sadness. And even though our struggle is enormous, so too is our hope.

Foreword from
'Sick with worry ...'
Stories from the front-line of inequality, 2015
St Vincent de Paul Society
National Council of Australia

https://www.vinnies.org.au/icms_docs/225819_Sick_with_worry_2015_national_report