Maturing

Life's a funny old thing, isn't it.

You don't realise exactly how immature and self absorbed you are, until you're older. Until you've had kids, and done a few things.

I'm just getting into a few different books lately. Firstly I read "I wouldn't start from here" by Andrew Mueller. A wonderful, funny, entertaining read, and really sparked my interest in modern political events. He takes you on a tour of the worlds hottest war zones since 2000 - Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, Taiwan - places of unceasing violance, where for some reason, people simply can't stop killing each other.

Next I read Nelson Mandela's memoirs - "A Long Walk to Freedom". Hard going reading; lots of dates and names and places that seem to blend into one another after a while - but I stuck with it, and must say, I really was fascinated by his and the African peoples' struggles for equality. I guess I'm one of those people that Nelson calls "Colour Blind". I have no racist thinking, and take people as they are individually, not as a race. This made his story that much more amazing to me. I cannot fathom how people, let alone a government could behave so inhumanely.

I also watched a special on SBS on the weekend - "Cuba in Africa" which was about their presence in Angola/Namibia around the same time frame as Nelson's book. I had no idea about the colonization of Africa, or the independance movements in it's various countries. Now...Wikipedia is my friend. ;-)

I was just becoming an adult when Apartheid started to crumble. I was fairly self absorbed at the time, as my second child was born...

Which brings me to the point - now my children have grown up, my perspective has changed.

When I was a child my "world" was my home town - family, friends, going to the beach. That was it. Riding my bike to the other end of town was a Huge effort, and driving to see Nan and Pop at their place 30 minutes away took FOREVER.

Then you go to School, and you learn about your State, your Country and you make friends. You learn that not every family is like yours, and things are different in other places. You travel a bit more; visit a city, see some tourist sights.

When I moved out of home, it was a big jump in growth - little country town to Sydney - multicultural society, crime, polution, over crowding...wow.

And then the kids come along and your whole world shrinks again...home, friends, family, routine, school, sport, work. Cooking dinner, washing clothes, signing permission forms, fixing the car, mopping floors. Domesticity.

And now they're growing up - I can feel them stretching their wings and getting ready to fly (note, I say fly, and not leave here...) I feel like I'm beginning to stretch my wings in anticipation too...Beyond Australia...there's more. I want to see it.