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The Race WARS.January 26th.Poster Australia – Celebratory and controversial, January 26 has been ‘Australia Day’ for years. The date marks the anniversary of the landing of the first fleet, January, 26, 1788, and was first celebrated as a public holiday in 1818. Hashtags: #AustraliaDay #SurvivalDay #InvasionDay #changethedate https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/breakfast/aus-day-rites/10749078 http://yabun.org.auAustralia Day should be about deep reflection and truth telling, says Linda Burney, Labor’s Shadow Minister at the time and so it begins.Along with NAIDOC week, Invasion day, the LOST generation and many more days marked with indifference towards the ‘Status Quo’ (The existing state of affairs, especially regarding social or political issues.) have raised their ugly heads since the start of the millennium, the year 2000 the beginning of the movement to celebrate division within our community, the younger generation of a past best kept buried, has become a RACE WAR, being used by this generation to create indifference for their own ends.A time that they themselves could never of experienced other than the stories from a disgruntled past time that have again, distorted stories for their own ends, to bring up ‘saddle soars’ that were half truth at the best.Sure I grew up after the WW2, I was born on the 3rd September 1945, a different time in Australia’s growth, being the product of a mixed blood family, half Australian and an American- Italian father, an American serviceman. Life was more than just unusual growing up in a community where surnames were Smith and Jones, plus at 7 years of age I went to live with my grandparents, their were times when being different was a real ‘Cross to Bare’, I suffered bullying, name calling and my first broken nose at 12, rather than running back and ‘Having a good cry about it’, in my grandfather’s wisdom, he taught me how to box in a ring, he was no ‘lightweight’ himself, a sparing partner of the great Jack Dempsey when in Sydney, unfortunately he grew up in an era of the ‘Queensberry Rules’ when MEN stood ‘toe to toe’ and settled their differences like REAL MEN, he was horrified when informed by a parent at my school, Maroubra Bay High School that his grandson had beaten his 14 year old in an unfair street fight causing injuries that was ‘un-gentlemanly’ and cowardly, ‘putting in the boot’ in our encounter, image0.jpegNOTHING WITHOUT LABORunfortunately it was what he didn’t tell my grandfather that made a ‘fairytale’ of the whole affair, you see I was only 12 at the time and they were 5 boys all 14, that ripped my blazer up the back and started ‘putting in the boot’ to me, instead of the opposite.Coming into a new school with a ‘WOG’ surname and a blazer that was slightly different in colour to the rest of the boy’s jackets was just what they needed to pick on me, also they were not aware of the struggle, my family went through, my grandmother took my grandfather’s duffle coat from the WAR, cut it down and tried to dye it ‘bottle green’, it was just the fact we could not afford the 57 pounds ($114) to buy a new one, it may have been a little different colour wise to the rest, but I worn it with pride, you see while other kids my age had two parents and even two incomes to pay the bills, my grandfather went back to work from retirement to help feed his growing offspring.When he found out the truth of the affair, he rang the Principle and he took a day off work escorting me to school the following day, he proudly addressed the school’s assembly along with the other boy’s parents and the whole school, at 9am offering all 5 a rematch, ‘one on one‘ in the school’s boxing ring, all declined, instead apologising and offered their hands in friendship, that day was my first day as a real man, that I could ‘bury the hatchet’ forgiving others and shake their hands in friendship. It brings me to a similar time, no TV’s only radios, huddled around the ‘set’ listening to a young fighter ‘Lionel Rose’ and many others that had carved their names in glory, by achieving greatness in the RING, against all comers, it didn’t matter the colour of his skin, to me he had overcome like myself all the challengers before him and was the reason to this day, I refer to him as my HERO, to be looked upon not by COLOUR or ETHNICITY but what he personally had achieved for his family and himself, more over in 1968 he was asked ‘what do you think you have achieved for your RACE’ he replied promptly ‘I don’t go into that black or white thing, it means nothing to me, I’m Australian and did this for my country’.So too, others could learn from stories of the past, both his and mine nothing is ever ACHIEVED without STRUGGLE. As another person of great acknowledgment, 2000 years ago, said on his CROSS ‘FORGIVE THEM FATHER, for they do not know what they are doing’, for ‘Hate only harbours Indifference’ hear ends the lesson.