I can not wait to hear what Mr Nelson (...being a good leader he will hear the membership before stating a position...as he said on the ABC...and that’s good I suppose if you see only a bright side) hears from the meeting when he will hear the views of the party.
He is between a rock and hard place politically..
I suspect he knows what is needed but knows what is expected.
It will test him and I wish him good luck and nerves of steel.
I hope the folk drawing the "sorry" paper will have the sense to make it un contentious, as if they dont, it means they are seeking to cause disruption rather than deal with the matter, so guys do not stick something in to stir up your opponents please...
“We are sorry for any wrongs done” is the message finally…so be careful about the recitals by way of introduction.
So many things in this thread point to a misunderstanding of the situation and I expect those who present as authority on what is right may never have ever talked to anyone whole feels an injustice has been done. So it could be hard for them to understand the importance.
I have been out the mission at Tabulam this morning but could not bring myself to talk to folk out there as to how they feel..simply because I already know that getting a "sorry" means so much to them... its not just the folk who were immediately effected that will be cheered up.
I was going to get some real opinions and some real cases for all of you here but I decided not to…
There are folk who simply can not entertain a compassionate approach and feel indigent that somehow their society may have ever been in the wrong.
If you cant see “It” there is not point in trying to convince you of anything because your mind is set..and I have no problem with that ..everyone is entitled to their opinion.
There are many around this area who would complain that they should not be expected to say sorry...but would not tell you what their ancestors did to the folk around here... How could you not be sorry for herding a family off a cliff with men on horses… did I see that? no I did not..but it seems that it is history not far to our West…
There is more that we could be sorry about but at least if the Government does say sorry it may show that at least some folk care enough about the wrongs others wont admit and simply say they are sorry there was a wrong...
I did nothing wrong to them but I am sorry… mind you there are a lot of things in the world I feel sorry about...
I see that there are other cases in the world but heck we can be a little different and go a long way to fixing this...we are in control
I used to have arguments with my Son and so many times.. I would say I was sorry so we could move on… I had not done anything wrong. but he thought I had and it was the way he felt that was more important to me than carrying on simply making a big man of myself and proving that I was right and he was wrong...
Why folk feel "why should I take the blame stuff" I can not get... its not about that... it is about paying a respect to someone that your care about, how they feel about what has passed between you or yes even your ancestors...
This has been a very interesting thread and it is so good that folk at least care enough about this issue to form an opinion.
I see both camps of thought because of the wide circles I mix in (when I mix) you can imagine around here you get the extremes … 5th generation land holders and those who had the land in the first place.
I question the expectations placed on a people that for 20,000 years lived a particular life style and then have everything changed for them… they are just expected to toe the line or that’s it.. really I would think that after 20,000 years it would take many generations to catch up with our modern world… I don’t know how long it took our ancestors to move from hunter gathers to farmers and townsfolk but I think it was much longer than the time the original inhabitants of this country have been exposed to the end result.
I don’t know what upsets me the most the lack of understanding or the lack of compassion from a society supposedly based on a religion who’s leader told us above all ..”to love thy fellow man”… why not practice what we preach…
AND when you say the Lord’s prayer and get to the “forgive us our trespasses " bit …think long and hard about what that really means.
alex
