Crystal clear blue water. Sunshine. Purple sunsets. Beautiful people. Pure souls.
Eyes which are telling and smiles that are infectious.
This, my friend is Christmas Island.
There are people in our lives who we will never forget. I can honestly say that I think about the wonderful hearts I met on Christmas Island every single day. I’ve been back for a while now and still, nothing makes me feel that alive. I have learnt so much this year. Like how to really stand on my own two feet. Like how to make the best out of a bad situation. Like, exactly what I want.
No number of words or pictures or late night phone calls could ever encapsulate how ironically beautifully I see the world nowadays. Because just as I saw its beauty, I also saw its chaos. I also saw its bureaucracy. I also saw its many faults. The most difficult thing being – that I also understand them (or at least can kind of see what the policy considerations are) so it’s hard to flail my arms around, jump, scream and call for justice. So, here I sit with my arms folded in my lap; I’m admitting defeat. I am admitting that the power of one is no power at all when the fight you want to wage is too big. Am I right?
Martin Luther King Junior (more than) once said that ‘the ultimate tragedy is not the clamour of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people’. I refuse to be an appallingly silent good person because that is not the way I was brought up. My father stood up for what he believed in Vietnam and he paid the price for that. I will always be sympathetic to the plight of the refugee. But beyond that, what will I do?
I have started a research project. A big one. On behalf of the organisation which I volunteer with. My fight will start with this. I know that slowly but more importantly surely I will work towards a bigger picture fight with all of the passion and enthusiasm I have been lacking.
It’s something really tiny at the moment but I know it is just the beginning. Just the roots. Of a project that is yet to flourish.
You don’t think I can do it?
Watch me.
