A contribution from Brian Connor:
I must admit that I was a bit overwhelmed by the content and the unfiltered list of issues which we face as a human race. I spent 12 months helping with the organisation of probably Australia’s first Sustainable Expo over 10 days in March 2007 and now have just returned from 3 months in the Middle East helping a daughter with a very young children. Both these experiences have left me with the impression that we have very little hope for the future. This observation is underlined by the increasing gap between urban and regional Australia - especially in NSW. So I am now left with the observation of a US prison facilitator (Bo Lozoff) that the way to live peacefully is to (i) live simply (ii) to try to help others and (iii) practice a spiritual discipline. That’s about as far as I can go now.
As far as the Quakers are concerned, I have only just handed your papers over to our Meeting Clerk. She lives about 150 km away and attending Meeting is quite a hike for her and her ageing husband. I have only been back for a fortnight - hence the delay.
Over the years I have written about these Quakerly issues many times and believe that they are now so complicated that I have very little to contribute. I have suggested in the past that AYM should confine itself to deciding what ONE issue Quakers are going to follow up nationally. Then the bright ideas from the various Regional Meetings can be demonstrated at “Show and Tell”. We should aim to keep a national Quaker publication going and the support for Meeting for Learning which I believe is where Quakers get serious. I want to make Friends in Australia less complicated rather than more complex. We cannot solve all the world’s problems ourselves but we, as Quakers, can do our bit in the areas which interest us most. That has been my philosopy anyway and I have not needed anyone’s approval just to act in the way that I thought I should as a Quaker!
In love, peace and gratitude,
Brian Connor