Amongst all the doom and gloom, Christmas brings to all of us a little bit of something nice!
Whilst sitting in the car the other day I heard an email from a community title complex in Western Sydney read out on the radio. The email came from a Christian who enjoys the celebration of Christmas. They had even written in their correspondence that Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Atheists all reside in their community title complex. Although not sharing the same beliefs, all of the groups came together for Christmas to celebrate this wonderful time of the year. Essentially the non-Christians enjoyed sharing the celebration of Christmas with all of the Christians. This email went on to say that their community also enjoyed the various religious celebrations of all the other groups.
We live in a multicultural society. Many whinge about it and indicate that it ain’t what it use to be! Thank God for that!
The other day I had a wonderful Australian experience. I was picked up by my Persian taxi driver and driven to meet my Italian Catholic and my South African Jewish clients. Later on that evening I had dinner with a Greek Orthodox person, a Roman Catholic Italian, the same South African Jew and an Islamic Lebanese person. What do we toast: Christmas! What did they say to me when we parted: “Merry Christmas”.
The Politicians may not have grasped it and the Public Servants definitely have not; however the people of Australia have. With multiculturalism comes difference, and with that comes an exploration of humanity that is sometimes daunting but always enjoyable.
I once lived on the other side of Australia, which is not as cosmopolitan as Sydney. I am an Australian who can be traced back on one side of my family to the convicts, and that is being an extremely proud Australian. I have been lucky enough to represent my country in many different sports and, as you can see, the name of our company is uniquely Australian.
The return to Sydney provided me with such joy and such a journey. The journey of different cultures; its foods and its beliefs provides an excitement to me which I always remember. Yes, Christmas is my time of the year because it fits my belief. I am so lucky to enjoy it with those of other beliefs and other nationalities. What a joy Christmas is in Australia.
From all the team at Leverage Australia and the Australian College of Professionals we thank everyone for reading these weekly newsletters. We pray that you have a Merry Christmas and an extremely prosperous New Year and that 2012 and brings you all the things that you dream of.
