26 January. Australia Day

The site of the Harbor in downtown Melbourne is an inspiring one, of course, but the Australians are full of conflict regarding the day the correlates with our 4th of July, Australia Day. I had thought it was the day the Captain Cook discovered the existence of this continent (like our Columbus Day), and hence the angst about their historically bad treatment of the indigenous peoples. Just like the European Americans, right? We all have plenty to be embarrassed about. But it's different. Australia Day celebrates the day the First Fleet landed in Botany Bay (Sydney) to establish their first prison colony. Even more conflicting, right? Here's a link to what happened on that day in 2018:

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/jan/26/huge-invasion-day-protest-melbourne-australia-day

The Aussies who want to change the day call it "Invasion Day". Not to put to fine a point on it.

Sometimes it seems that white people have no end to their bad behavior. John and I had been advised to avoid the CBD, and we did so. If you watch the video above, you'll see why we were glad we did. Instead, we explored, via bicycle, Royal Park. The afternoon got hot again (but only up to about 36F. . .about 100F), so we retired to our home here, and eventually got to see water. . . a good bit of it. . .fall from the sky from our view on our patio.

It was beautiful. We haven't heard that sound of a steady rainfall for hours, complete with thunder grumbling in the distance, for quite some time.

As for Australia Day, the experience is still steeping. Coincidentally (or maybe not so much), I picked up a book in a downtown bookstore called "Why I'm no longer talking White People about Race" , by Reni Eddo-Lodge. I've been trying, for a while now, to better articulate my feelings about this. This seemingly invisible privilege I've enjoyed my whole life. It's not that I haven't worked hard. . .maybe more than most. . or taken risks or even suffered. It's just that, in D's words, the way has been cleared to me. Often in ways that I couldn't even detect. It's hard to get one's head around, but as always, trying to grow. . .