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ESSAY: ARE WE STILL THE ‘LUCKY COUNTRY’?

Sydneysider MARTIN JOHNSON reflects on the tragic events of this week…

In 1964, Australian author Donald Horne wrote a book called  The Lucky Country. The book referred to Australia’s natural resources, it’s mild weather, history and distance from problems elsewhere in the world.

Whilst the title was initially meant to be derogatory, the phrase has now become a nickname for Australia – we know ourselves as ‘the lucky country’.

As a nation we are used to being confused with Austria and answering questions from overseas visitors asking if there are kangaroos near the Sydney Opera House or crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge. 

We enjoy our isolation even though it takes us 24 hours to travel to Europe and 15 hours to the west coast of the US. All the Americans I met on a recent trip to Europe couldn’t quite comprehend spending 24 hours in a plane.

But that’s the price of being from the ‘lucky country’ and no one really complains.

“Some would want to say that our luck has run out and that we can no longer hide from the world as the land ‘down-under’. Only time will tell, but like all communities affected by tragedy, I am confident Australia will continue to be the lucky country. That’s my prayer for my city.”

However the events of the last few days in Sydney, when a mentally disturbed man took hostages in an inner city cafe, claiming to be a member of ISIS, has meant that many of us are wondering if our luck has run out. 

With two hostages and the gunmen dead and some hostages still in hospital, the Sydney siege didn’t turn out as many had hoped.

As a Sydneysider, I know Martin Place and have walked past the Lindt Café, site of the siege, many times. I have helped run charity and fundraising events in the Martin Place amphitheatre. It is the heart of the city – our biggest banks are there. It is just down the hill from Parliament House and many of our legal offices.

Our state Premier Mike Baird and our police commissioner, Andrew Scipione, are both committed Christians. At one stage, Mike studied for the Anglican ministry.

Andrew Scipione has spoken about his own Baptist faith at many events I have attended. Their faces have become very familiar as they addressed live press conferences over a 24 hour period with the one early Tuesday morning bring the tragic news of the death of two of the hostages. 

Their strength has given the people of Sydney strength. There have been spontaneous outpourings of support, like the #illridewithyou Twitter tag.

The hashtag appears to have come from a Facebook post from Rachael Jacobs who was riding on a train, and noticed a Muslim woman quietly take off her head covering. In her post she said: “I ran after her at the train station. I said ‘put it back on. I’ll walk with u’.”

Muslim clerics and followers of Islam have publicly come out and laid flowers and prayed at the flower memorial that has sprung up in Martin Place. Jewish, Sikh and Christian leaders are among others who have done the same. 

Wednesday’s editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald talks of how Australians have dealt with other tragedies and created spontaneous memorials: “This time the unwritten message on the memorial is that we as a community will not be cowed by a lone madman with mental problems on a vengeful mission against society. Nor will we be divided by those who would seek to capitalise on this by demonising anyone who shared the gunman’s background or what he claimed to be his faith.”

Rev Keith Garner, superintendent of Sydney’s Wesley Mission, which is in downtown Sydney not far from Martin Place, has likened how we all feel to the feelings of that mother and father who gave birth a long time ago in a land that knew no peace.

“How do we make sense of this (the Sydney siege) in the Advent season and in such close proximity to Christmas?  What I can say is that the gift of God in Christ did not happen in a comfortable, safe and protected environment; he came into this world and was exposed to all its potential dangers.  The vulnerability of the Christ Child speaks clearly to us today.  May God grant to us his presence and his peace.”

Unconfirmed reports say that one of the hostages who was killed, did so as she protected a pregnant woman from gunfire. Another says that the manager of the store who was also killed, fought with the gunman in the last minutes of the siege so hostages could escape. Time will tell if these stories of heroism turn out to be correct.

As a city, we will get over this event. There will be a time of grieving as there should be. Sadly two families will have permanent reminders of what some feared was international terrorism coming to Australia. We are thankful that that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Some would want to say that our luck has run out and that we can no longer hide from the world as the land ‘down-under’. Only time will tell, but like all communities affected by tragedy, I am confident Australia will continue to be the lucky country. 

That’s my prayer for my city.

Martin Johnson has previously worked for both the Wesley Mission and the Bible Society and now runs his own communications consultancy in Sydney – Martin Johnson Communications.

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