the last five decades of the 19th century and much of the first decade of the 20th century - different people with different purposes who caught many trains and had to take many voyages. In fact, in 1895 Mark Twain caught sixteen trains in Australia alone and, who knows, may have even travelled on the same train as Mary MacKillop. Both encountered much adversity in life but both bounced back. Interestingly enough, both wrote of much kindness willingly extended to them in their travels, be it in Adelaide, London or Rome. Imagine how less productive their lives might have been if all that travel and worldly experience was undertaken with headphones jammed firmly in each ear!
In considering the mantra of extending a helping hand, of doing good because it is not only the right thing to do but ultimately in your broad community interest, it is time to reflect on very recent trends that have swung the world away from the useful friendly casual conversation. In the process, it has resulted in the creation of barriers of hesitation, higher thresholds before people intervene to help or just converse.
The world is a global village in many ways; life is increasingly hectic for so many - east and west, rich and poor, with family and friend network support or without. The crunch is that the opportunity for the unexpected good conversation from outside your circle, sparking a laugh or an increase in useful knowledge or a creative idea or two, has been sharply curtailed.
Why is this so in the so-called “social networking” world of Twitter, Facebook, email, iPod and all? Perhaps this is because free time and downtime when commuting or travelling or even just shopping locally has sharply reduced. The more communication, cellular phones and game gadgets, the more self-absorbed people are becoming and the less opportunities then exist for new interface with those outside the existing social circle.
Take the grand conference circuits of today with every subject covered every which way, in locations large and small, exotic or sub-exotic, but even then it is often a case of smart speaker or lecturer in, then speak, then dash out without mixing. Or delegates in a controlled introductory mix on opening night followed by an overloaded agenda with subset fringe meetings, all resulting in little true “free wheeling” time.
In short, today’s a world increasingly lacks the good conversation factor, with a paucity of motivation to break down natural barriers. This makes it harder to build good community fabric with an altruistic or “helping hand” culture to the fore. The extension of this may be a greater reluctance for people to feel involved in their community as they find it harder to make the personal contact required. This culture can create higher and higher thresholds of reluctance or hesitation that must be broached before people act, whether on a planned basis or in a suddenly arising situation.
If we converse less, if we communicate less and less in a genuine way by whatever means, then we await further breakdown in family and community, and that is not good. Do I exaggerate? Maybe, but there is good news, too, as people start to find ways to fight back and adjust to the new communication world we live in. This is what you will discover in soaking up the flavour of these writings, many which are counter-intuitive to the drift in the activities and affairs of humanity.
This is particularly uplifting in a world where, too often, bile and spite dominate good cheer and thoughtful conversation. Maybe it should be called the “Trappist trend” after the contemplative order of monks who take an oath of silence.
Lamartine wrote in 1840: “Civilisation is a battlefield, where many succumb in the cause of the advancement of all.” I would observe that civilisation is a battlefield in the 21st century and many will succumb, indeed many more will succumb if the “Power of Good” is not to the fore in every way. Unless you are a monk or committed to the worthy aim of a life of contemplation and prayer, the “Trappist trend” of non-communication can be destructive and deadly.
The late and colourful Cardinal Jaime Sin, in a famous installation speech as Archbishop of Manila, said in 1974: “Everywhere walls are rising. When we wall somebody out, we also wall ourselves in. All of us are living in our separate worlds, enclosed in selfishness by our bigotry. The change must start in ourselves.” Amen, shalom and salaam to this farsighted statement.
To help reverse this trend, each of us can make a difference in the way we choose to live our lives. So I challenge you, the next time you are boarding a flight or fast-train sector of more than two hours, to first watch for the subtle and not-so-subtle use of body language being used to ensure zero conversation, passenger to passenger. I am not suggesting you engage in long conversations when clearly the other person has work to do or is not keen to engage - just the simple pleasantries are a start. Have courage, friends, before we lose the plot completely and continue down this path of egocentricity, celebrity obsession and growing loneliness. The alternative is so much better.
Tim Fischer AC
Former Deputy Prime Minister
1. The Power of Good
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile,a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
Leo Buscaglia
On the nightly news we often hear stories of random, opportunistic crime perpetrated against strangers, but rarely do we hear stories of generosity and altruism from strangers. In an age which seems to be marked by “acts of senseless violence”, fed to us by the media on a daily basis, an act of random kindness from a stranger or someone not well known to us is heartwarming - and perhaps astonishing. There are, however, numerous examples of acts of kindness that never come to light and it is the purpose of this book to highlight some of the best of these - from both prominent and ordinary Australians.
I was first inspired to compile The Power of Good several years ago after being the recipient of several acts of kindness when my wife Ruth and I were backpacking around Australia. The idea came to us one dusk as we sat talking in a pine forest on Kangaroo Island. It had been a random act of kindness that had enabled us to make it to this beautiful part of the world.
We had left our backpackers’ hotel to jump on our flight from Adelaide airport to Kangaroo Island. After getting off a local bus we found ourselves a couple of kilometres from the airport with little more than half an hour before our flight was due to depart.
We were both toting heavy backpacks, there were no taxis around and we were walking as fast as we could. A young “tradie” in a ute pulled up next to us and said, “Are you guys alright?” We explained to him our predicament and he immediately jumped out, threw our backpacks in the back of his ute and drove us to Adelaide airport. We thanked him all we could and as he waved and drove away we were both struck by the generosity of his act.
There was nothing in it for him and yet he chose to bless us; without his help we would have certainly missed our flight and lost our non-refundable fare. That man probably cannot even remember the deed he did, and yet his kindness inspired this book: this is the power of one, ordinary act of good! Indeed, the kindness of strangers does more than merely warm the heart; it transforms lives - over half of Australians (59%) say that if it weren’t for the kindness, support, encouragement and gifts given them by strangers over the years, their life would be in a worse place.1
The vulnerability of travel and the naivety of youth allowed us to experience numerous acts of kindness during our backpacking adventure around Australia. Far away from the comforts of home and the security of everyday life, we found ourselves more open to receiving help from strangers and often found we needed their help. A man we met at a Christmas carols service in Gove, Northern Territory lent us his Land Cruiser 4WD to explore the surrounding areas and then had us over for a BBQ at the end of the day. Twice we were offered accommodation at the houses of people we had just met. We found country
