Harmony Day, Orchids and a family heritage
Mar 29
posted by Mark Christie in
Family, Joe Christie, Life, Joe's News
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Harmony day is celebrated in Australia on the 21st of March each year.
The continuing message of Harmony Day is ‘Everyone Belongs’. It's about community participation, inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.
Joe's school celebrated Harmony Day on Friday 26 and he had to wear something orange to school. I took these photos with him in front of one of our orchid blooms.
Joe also worked on a project to present his heritage and aspects of the cultural links to that heritage. We have family links that go back at least to 1625 and cover a wide range of countries and cultures.
Recently, we had watched documentaries on the history of the crusades and their comparison to the current day challenges in the Middle East and also another documentary on the rise of Hitler.
The fact that neither of the documentaries demonstrated to me much harmony, tolerance and respect for the diversity of culture and people was a timely comparison for us as a family as we explored our heritage of at least seven cultures through the ages.
In the second photo album on the right, Joe is talking to his Grandmother who spent an hour going through life in Granville in Brisbane when she was a little girl. There are also some night shots of the same orchids that were in the first album on the left.
Garden work and brain work are good and this last weekend we all were involved in a little bit of both. Another thing mentioned to me by my mother was that I should enjoy the fact that as a family we can enjoy these moments of working together, discussing things, going on adventures together, asking questions and seeking answers. Joe is 8 now, but in 9 years he will have his car license, possibly a girlfriend and little time to discuss family history with mum and dad. He'll be too busy being out there and making history...
So in a world of roadside bombs, glassing in nightclubs, terror in railway stations, killer drugs and bad stuff that mankind creates, it is great to cast that aside for a moment and embrace the possibility of harmony - even if it is just with family and readers of this entry.
