Greets to you oh Rambling Masses,
It is with a bitter but defiant smirk that I write this post. A number of weeks ago, I took the plunge and wrote in to the letters column of our local community newspaper, The Bush Telegraph. The week before I wrote in, a letter had gotten under my skin, and I just couldn't resist the urge to respond, and to stir the pot a little.
The letter in question was a typical old man rant about the youth of today not treating the Australian flag with the respect that it MUST be treated with. I suggested that the flag and the nationalistic tendencies that go with it are an irrelevance, and we should move past this to a spirit of worldwide cooperation.
Well, the pot most definitely got stirred, and a veritable avalanche of bitter old man letters threatened to bury your favourite Rambling Ranter. In fact, I now fear that if I mention my name in public, a group of old men will come up to me and beat me to death with their walking sticks.
Such a touchy subject, nationalistic pride. I don't have much time for it myself, because I believe, as I wrote in my letters, that we are one people on one planet under one sun, but that high ideal doesn't amount to a hill of beans when a veteran's blood is up. They keep dragging it back to the whole "we fought in the war for people like you to have the freedom to write rubbish like that" instead of opening their minds to the fact that we need to move on.
What I am trying to get through to these people is a wonderful concept. You may have heard of it. It's called Evolution. It doesn't just happen on the Galapagos Islands and in the textbooks of Charles Darwin, and is more than just the process of change on the genetic level in response to survival pressures.
The Evolution I'm talking about is one of the human spirit, intellect and ethics. Being a somewhat keen though pedestrian student of history, I can't see that we have evolved terribly much as a species on these fronts in the past 4000 years or so. I feel that we have an obligation to ourselves and our progeny to develop beyond the petty, warmongering resource wasters that we are, to step up to the plate and take on the role of protectors and nurturers of this great planet.
Through mundane physical evolution, we have become the dominant species. We have it within us to be so much more than we currently are, if only we would step beyond such irrelevant concepts as nationalism and vested interests. I don't, however, hold out much hope if the letters that I have reproduced below are anything to go by.
Having said that, I received a phone call from Commander Whitmore after I sent him a hand-written copy of my response to him (my second letter to The Bush Tele), and we talked for over an hour and a half, finding that we have much in common, and see the world in a very similar light. I take that as the warning it should be - we cannot always read a book by its cover, and I am humbled by it.
I am still keeping a watchful eye out for a swinging walking stick, though.
The letters are reproduced below, starting with the one that set the whole ball rolling:
Dear Bush Tele
It is disgusting to observe the gross disrespect for the dignity of the Australian National Flag, which is indulged by so many supposedly patriotic people.
A flagrant example of this abuse was depicted on the front cover of the Bush Tele, 11 September 2008, showing people who should know better using the flag as a table cover. Flag protocol, expressly forbids the use of our flag as a table cover.
Flag protocol does not include wrapping it around the shoulders of some sweaty, smelly athlete who may or may not have been successful. Nor should it form a wrap for some ignorant participant in a patriotic ceremony or venue. It does not improve the image of the subject and indeed, insults the dignity with which the flag must be treated.
Roy Mellier
Dear Bush Tele,
To Roy Mellier:
This is regarding your recent letter published in TBTW, wherein you expressed your extreme disgust at gross disrespect of the Australian National Flag.
I understand your comments (but am unable to sympathise with them), and I would like to counter your feelings with a few of my own.
Firstly, I cannot help but to feel uncomfortable to the core of my being whenever rampant nationalism rears its head. I am no less Australian than the next citizen, but I don’t believe that this antiquated belief in the sanctity of a piece of cloth gets us anywhere.
For a start, I believe that we are one people on one planet under one sun, and all of this "patriotic" flag waving does nothing but exacerbate tensions that should never exist in the first place. We should be focusing on breaking down nationalistic barriers, not strengthening the walls that currently exist.
I don’t know if you are perhaps one of the many who risked their lives "fighting for the flag" in one of our many wars, and have resultant strong feelings about it, but it should make no difference whatsoever. It is and remains a piece of cloth and an ideal that, in my humble opinion, is outdated, irrelevant and antagonistic. Frankly, it is an anachronism and an irrelevance that we should not waste our time on.
How can you speak of dignity toward the flag when we are living in a society that still struggles valiantly with the very concept of universal dignity for such marginalised members of the community as the aged, the infirm, the mentally disabled, and any who are different from the norm? In my opinion, the flag is a piece of cloth, vastly inferior to the integrity and value of the human race in all of its manifestations across the globe, no matter what colour of cloth you wave in accordance with flag protocol.
Peter Walder, A proud flag un-waver
Dear Bush Tele,
Yes Walder (German for Wood), I am one of the aged, somewhat infirm, perhaps mentally disabled and certainly very different from the norm, if you represent the norm.
As well as being all the above, I am also one of those who in two wars and nearly 40 years in the Navy as you put it, "risked their lives fighting for the flag", that piece of cloth described by you as an anachronism, an irrelevance and a waste of time.
That piece of cloth was not the item for which we were fighting, but it was the uniting symbol of our purpose. What we were fighting for was the freedom for the likes of you to live a good life in this country and several others that were involved, and yet for you to still have the freedom to write the nonsense you penned in your letter to The Bush Tele Letters.
In one of the wars had our opponents had their way, you would not have had that freedom. Had you tried you would have ended up in the ovens, or dead from exhaustion and starvation furthering one of the victors’ causes, as did many of those who were also fighting for the likes of you.
Remember Walder the old saying, "It is far better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and dispel all doubt".
Edward Ronald Whitmore, Wahroonga
Dear Bush Tele,
I would like to comment on Peter Walder’s letter in TBTW in regards to his reply to Roy Mellier’s letter.
There is in fact an Act of Federal Parliament called the Australian Flag Act; look this up on the net if you are interested.
A piece of cloth you said.
Cop the tip mate; any man or woman who serves this country is a hero and when you are fighting for yours and your team’s life we do think of the Flag and how to best serve this OUR AUSTRALIA.
Have you had to kill the enemy or expect to give up your life?
Maybe you have.
There is no more dedicated Pacifist than an ex Service Woman or Man.
Your words Sir are an insult to those we have buried and the Australian Flag that is draped over their Coffin.
Roy is expressing his opinion as do you, the reason being that at least he fought for freedom to express your opinion.
The Flag shall NEVER touch the ground.
Go for it Roy.
Roger Okell, Berowra
Dear Bush Tele
Peter Walder, thank you for your long criticism of my reflections on abuse of our national symbol, the flag.
Your use of extravagant and occasionally malapropos phraseology does not disguise much of the waffle therein.
Whether or no, I served my King or Queen and country during time of war, does not influence my conviction that without dignity and respect, life would be untenable.
Maintaining one’s own dignity and striving to be worthy of the respect of others, along with recognising these attributes in other people and ideals, remains paramount to the continuance of an ordered and pleasant society.
The tenor of your letter provides me with little hope that a perusal of Sir Walter Scott’s famous work, "The Patriot" might create a less negative attitude in you. Perhaps though, its profundity may penetrate.
Roy Mellier, Cheero Point
My Dear Mr Whitmore,
I won't lower myself and start calling your personal quality of character into question as you did mine. I happen to believe that people can have differences of opinion without thinking their partners in open discussion are somehow deficient in wisdom or wit.
I am fully aware of the symbolic nature of the flag, and it was the concept of the symbol that I called into question through my postulation of the irrelevance of the flag. I still happen to think that, despite the very rare aberration represented by history's truly terrible dictators, wars are generally fuelled by nationalistic concerns. I further posit that mankind is facing mighty obstacles on this planet, with dwindling resources and growing population, that will see these arbitrary nationalistic barriers usher in a new age of sabre rattling.
Mr Whitmore, you obviously feel very strongly about these matters, which goes some way towards excusing your attacks on my personal character and your uncivil tongue. I would humbly remind you that discussion and differences of opinion are healthy in a free and functional society, and thank you for your timely reminder that sometimes great evils must be met by force and sacrifice in order to protect our precious freedoms.
In my rather naive way, however, I like to think that universal cooperation is far preferential to strengthening of nationalistic spirit. Who can deny that few of the world's flags can list an unsullied record of noble acts without at least a few drops of blood soaking through the cloth? I stand by my original high ideal that we are one people on one planet under one sun, and that nationalism should be abandoned in favour of, for want of a better word, "universalism".
I regret that your emotion has closed your mind to a genuine and valid difference of opinion. It was not my intent to cast aspersions on the sacrifices of those who fought for our freedoms. I know full well what was lost and what was gained. If this is simply a case of misunderstanding, then rest assured that I am grateful for your comments, and they have served to enhance my understanding.
If not the result of a simple misunderstanding and you honestly consider me a fool, then I can only say that is your right, and it saddens me. However, it does not change the opinions that my own reason, defective or otherwise, has led me to hold dear. On my part, I respectfully agree to disagree.
Regards to all of my fellow society members, with all of our delightful and stimulating differences of opinion,
Peter Walder
Proud to be foolish at times
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