Happy Australia Day - maybe?
I always struggle with this particular holiday.
I am madly happy that my family got to immigrate here; and aware that the life I have here (including those 15 years of uni at the government's expense) is a vast improvement on the life I would have had in Scotland; and I love this country, so yay, Australia!; but on the other hand there's the whole, well, we whitefellas invaded and did our very best to destroy indigenous culture; and while there is still the horrendous gap in life expectancy and health and educational outcomes between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians should we really be celebrating, and so on ...
But, anyway: Australians, I hope that you have a wonderful Monday off! Don't get sun-burnt; don't get bitten by snakes; don't get eaten by sharks; may your dwelling place be neither destroyed by bushfire nor flooded; and may we all enjoy the good parts of Australian life while vowing to work to overcome the parts that suck. (Like that gap in life expectancy.)
I am madly happy that my family got to immigrate here; and aware that the life I have here (including those 15 years of uni at the government's expense) is a vast improvement on the life I would have had in Scotland; and I love this country, so yay, Australia!; but on the other hand there's the whole, well, we whitefellas invaded and did our very best to destroy indigenous culture; and while there is still the horrendous gap in life expectancy and health and educational outcomes between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians should we really be celebrating, and so on ...
But, anyway: Australians, I hope that you have a wonderful Monday off! Don't get sun-burnt; don't get bitten by snakes; don't get eaten by sharks; may your dwelling place be neither destroyed by bushfire nor flooded; and may we all enjoy the good parts of Australian life while vowing to work to overcome the parts that suck. (Like that gap in life expectancy.)