Success: major success in fact. 100% for my first assignment [on the 'fascinating' history of IT Project Management], which is 25% of our total subject mark. I am over the moon -- particularly as this was very much a last-minute effort and I was aiming for a pass with a hope of doing better in the two later assignments.
It has always been troublesome that those assignments I think I will do poorly in I somehow manage to do well in [though never before as good as this], and those I think I did wonderfully in inevitably result in disappointment.
And, of course, now the only way for me to go is down.
I had high hopes for our new [since late November] government in many areas -- the treatment of asylum seekers being one. From this article at crikey.com.au, it does, sadly, appear as if not a great deal has changed.
There is a heart-breaking read of the effect of rejection of asylum on a number of people here, though you have to register to read it all; it is a letter from Kon Karapanagiotidis, who is CEO of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. I re-produce the letter below:
I want to take a moment to share with you my last Friday to give you a human face to what this government is doing to asylum seekers with the indifference and lack of compassion it has shown so far. I still hold onto hope but at the moment I can't erase last Friday....
I and two other ASRC lawyers, Maria and Sam spent the entire day telling 19 families that the Minister had said no to their case and that for most they now had to face going home.
I can still hear the weeping of one young woman from Ethiopia after hearing the news of her rejection. Having fled being trafficked and raped, the news left her sobbing so loudly that she started wailing and screaming. It pierced the walls and stopped us all. It took an hour just for the tears to stop. What comfort could I give her?
I think of the young man from Bangladesh who upon hearing the news, was stony silent but he did not need to say anything, because his face said it all, it had broken into a thousand pieces of grief and wept quietly, his numbness a resignation to hope all lost...
All day long this continued...We tried to explain to our 63 year old Grandmother of six (all grand children in Australia) why the government wanted to send her back to East Timor away from her 3 Australian citizen children and leave her to fend for herself destitute and homeless...but we were lost for words...
We sat with the father from Sri Lanka who is married to an Australian and has a child with her and tried to explain why this government wants to break up his family and send him home. We could find no reason.
We told another young man from China who has arrest warrant out for him and faces torture if returned to China for his human rights beliefs, that this government is sending him back to this fate...
The father of one of our families who has been here 11 years rang a counsellor on the weekend (after we broke the news to him on Friday) threatening to throw himself off a bridge because the thought of return was too much to bear.
Next week, we face yet another 8 people whom we must tell that they must return. I am already thinking about one father who has already tried killing himself, that I must give the news to this week and have to somehow convince him to stay strong for his 2 kids who need their dad. I worry for the young man from India who faces torture if he returns simply because he is gay.
We will continue to fight the good fight for those in danger, and for those who may seek to kill themselves rather than face return and for those whose families are on the line.
But as I sit tonight at 8.39pm writing to you, I ask myself why do our people have to suffer so needlessly, so unjustly, so immorally, simply because they want freedom?
VI. As you see, He offers you a Shepherd; for this is what your Good Shepherd, who lays down his life for his sheep, is hoping and praying for, and he asks from you his subjects; and he gives you himself double instead of single, and makes the staff of his old age a staff for your spirit. And he adds to the inanimate temple a living one; to that exceedingly beautiful and heavenly shrine, this poor and small one, yet to him of great value, and built too with much sweat and many labours. Would that I could say it is worthy of his labours. And he places at your disposal all that belongs to him (O great generosity!— or it would be truer to say, O fatherly love!) his hoar hairs, his youth, the temple, the high priest, the testator, the heir, the discourses which you were longing for; and of these not such as are vain and poured out into the air, and which reach no further than the outward ear; but those which the Spirit writes and engraves on tables of stone, or of flesh, not merely superficially graven, nor easily to be rubbed off, but marked very deep, not with ink, but with grace.
VII. These are the gifts given you by this august Abraham, this honourable and reverend Head, this Patriarch, this Restingplace of all good, this Standard of virtue, this Perfection of the Priesthood, who today is bringing to the Lord his willing Sacrifice, his only Son, him of the promise. Do you on your side offer to God and to us obedience to your Pastors, dwelling in a place of herbage, and being fed by water of refreshment; knowing your Shepherd well, and being known by him [John 10:14]; and following when he calls you as a Shepherd frankly through the door; but not following a stranger climbing up into the fold like a robber and a traitor; nor listening to a strange voice when such would take you away by stealth and scatter you from the truth on mountains [Ezekiel 34:6], and in deserts, and pitfalls, and places which the Lord does not visit; and would lead you away from the sound Faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the One Power and Godhead, Whose Voice my sheep always heard (and may they always hear it), but with deceitful and corrupt words would tear them from their true Shepherd. From which may we all be kept, Shepherd and flock, as from a poisoned and deadly pasture; guiding and being guided far away from it, that we may all be one in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and unto the heavenly rest. To Whom be the glory and the might for ever and ever. Amen.
IV. Yesterday I was crucified with Him; today I am glorified with Him; yesterday I died with Him; today I am quickened with Him; yesterday I was buried with Him; today I rise with Him. But let us offer to Him Who suffered and rose again for us— you will think perhaps that I am going to say gold, or silver, or woven work or transparent and costly stones, the mere passing material of earth, that remains here below, and is for the most part always possessed by bad men, slaves of the world and of the Prince of the world. Let us offer ourselves, the possession most precious to God, and most fitting; let us give back to the Image what is made after the Image. Let us recognize our Dignity; let us honour our Archetype; let us know the power of the Mystery, and for what Christ died.
V. Let us become like Christ, since Christ became like us. Let us become God's for His sake, since He for ours became Man. He assumed the worse that He might give us the better; He became poor that we through His poverty might be rich [2 Corinthians 8:9]; He took upon Him the form of a servant that we might receive back our liberty; He came down that we might be exalted; He was tempted that we might conquer; He was dishonoured that He might glorify us; He died that He might save us; He ascended that He might draw to Himself us, who were lying low in the Fall of sin. Let us give all, offer all, to Him Who gave Himself a Ransom and a Reconciliation for us. But one can give nothing like oneself, understanding the Mystery, and becoming for His sake all that He became for ours.
I. It is the Day of the Resurrection, and my Beginning has good auspices. Let us then keep the Festival with splendour [Isaiah 66:5] and let us embrace one another. Let us say Brethren, even to those who hate us; much more to those who have done or suffered anything out of love for us. Let us forgive all offences for the Resurrection's sake: let us give one another pardon, I for the noble tyranny which I have suffered (for I can now call it noble); and you who exercised it, if you had cause to blame my tardiness; for perhaps this tardiness may be more precious in God's sight than the haste of others. For it is a good thing even to hold back from God for a little while, as did the great Moses of old [Exodus 4:10] and Jeremiah [Jeremiah 1:6] later on; and then to run readily to Him when He calls, as did Aaron [Exodus 4:27] and Isaiah [Isaiah 1:6] so only both be done in a dutiful spirit;— the former because of his own want of strength; the latter because of the Might of Him That calls.
II. A Mystery anointed me; I withdrew a little while at a Mystery, as much as was needful to examine myself; now I come in with a Mystery, bringing with me the Day as a good defender of my cowardice and weakness; that He Who today rose again from the dead may renew me also by His Spirit; and, clothing me with the new Man, may give me to His New Creation, to those who are begotten after God, as a good modeller and teacher for Christ, willingly both dying with Him and rising again with Him.
III. Yesterday the Lamb was slain and the door-posts were anointed, and Egypt bewailed her Firstborn, and the Destroyer passed us over, and the Seal was dreadful and reverend, and we were walled in with the Precious Blood. Today we have clean escaped from Egypt and from Pharaoh; and there is none to hinder us from keeping a Feast to the Lord our God— the Feast of our Departure; or from celebrating that Feast, not in the old leaven of malice and wickedness, but in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth [1 Corinthians 5:8] carrying with us nothing of ungodly and Egyptian leaven.
Troparion:
While the tomb was sealed, You shone forth, O Christ our Life;
and while the doors remained closed, You came among Your disciples, O Resurrection of all.
Through them restore an upright spirit in us, according to Your great mercy.
Kontakion:
O Christ God, Thomas explored your vivifying side with an eager hand;
and since You had entered the room while the doors were closed,
he cried out with the other Apostles, "You are my Lord and my God."
The joy of Pascha is still with us: the continual chanting of "Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death, and on those in the tombs bestowing life!" makes sure of this. The joy, the light and the life that comes from the Resurrection is with us in our hymns. It truly is a wonderful time of the Church year.
A great sermon from Father also on Christ entering to where our fears are: just as He entered the room, without asking or prompting, where the frightened apostles were gathered, He too enters into our areas of great fear and anxiety, seeking to bestow His peace on us all. And not peace as in absence of conflict, for we are in the world and there will, sadly, always be conflict, but the inner peace, the peace that only He can give. He offers it to us, and we can know, despite our anxieties [and I for one have many], we can know His peace and know of the new life we have in Him.
Thanks for all the wishes and prayers [and Kerensa for the unexpected laugh!]; my niece also had some advice. "Maybe you eat guavas [which she had brought from her backyard] and no snot come in nose." A medic in the making.
I got out the house for a little while and went to see Fear of a Brown Planet, on as part of Sydney's Cracker Comedy Festival. Extremely funny, and they seem like two great guys -- but also very confronting at times. But it needs to be: despite what people may think or the image we like to put out, Australia is still a very racist country. I have been very embarrassed at not only fellow Australians, but also myself sometimes for it so easy for stereotypes to enter one's mind: especially when the media plays them up. Some of the stories told by Nazeem Hussain and Aamer Rahman about racism they've experienced here were truly jaw-dropping, and had me so ashamed. Good on them for speaking up, and for, through humour, challenging us all and giving us a look at the ridiculous stereotypes and image the media pushes on us of Muslims and Islam. I can but pray we find a way forward in unity to overcome this.
Stuck at home with a runny nose, sore throat, a small fever and a head that feels like it might explode at any time due to pressure. Bleh indeed.
At least I've got a lot of reading done. I borrowed Alexander McCall Smith's The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency from the local library and, having started it two days ago, finished today. What a great read. He certainly does know how to tell a story and to bring Botswana to life: I can practically see the scenes described in front of me. I will be borrowing others in the series soon -- as long as the library has them.
Interestingly enough, I heard a report on the BBC World Service last night about the increasing use of female private investigators in India; the woman interviewed had not heard of Alexander McCall Smith's books.
Last night I finished reading Part I: The Birth of the Church AD 33–200 from Formation and Struggles: The Church AD 33–450, part of the on-going The Church in History series from St Vladimir's Seminary Press. I received it, and Greek East and Latin West: The Church AD 681–1071, as part of my quarterly Book Club. Formation and Struggles was very well-written, and I am looking forward to reading Greek East and Latin West; I find history fascinating, and Church history moreso: I find it interesting to read how we came to where we are now from the humble beginnings of a small group of followers of Jesus in AD33. I will have to look at filling in the gaps and buying the other books which are available: I believe some are still in the process of being written.
Oh well: back to bed. I hope and pray all is well with you all, and that any nasty bugs are keeping their distance.
Exploring Orthodoxy 
8
Permalink
