Category: That’s Life

Each day, our media uncover fresh stories of corruption among the leaders in our society.  Royal Commissions are established; Judicial and Government Investigations are requested and Boards of enquiry hand down their judgements.

While not condoning corruption in any form, I find it’s easy for us to point the finger at the accused when their wrongdoings become very public. But do we ever stop to think what an enquiry might dig up on each one of our own lives?

While we probably wouldn’t be high on the corruption scale, maybe we could be a little more conscious of our own failures before we become too critical of other’s greed and corruption.

Perhaps, this might be a good opportunity to look back on our lives and take steps to repair any ‘damage’ we may have done to others.  We could repay or return items held on, what has now turned out to be, a ‘long term loan basis’ and perhaps even take time out to try and repair rifts in our relationships with family or friends.

If we’re sincere, and prepared to make a go of it, this process can enable us to experience a wonderful inner peace and allow us to face the day with a joy in our hearts that may have been missing for some time.

We’ll let the judges do the judging of those in the public eye, while our look at our own inner selves will perhaps allow us to be a little more tolerant and less judgemental towards others.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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It’s so easy today to be flat broke and yet have no difficulty buying anything we want on credit.

‘No deposit and easy terms’, ‘buy now, pay later’, say the enticing advertisements. It’s only when you calculate the actual cost of the item after the repayments have been made, you realise the actual rate of interest you have been charged.

You can even purchase your major items ’interest free’ for a set period of time, which can be years in the future.  Not only are you paying an inflated price for the object, but you will be hit with an enormous interest bill and fees should you fail to finalise the payment within the prescribed time.

It seems, these days, you would be considered odd if you were to save up to buy something, when you could use your plastic card or take out an instant loan at an inflated interest rate.

Maybe it has been made too easy for us today to really understand what a little hardship is all about. The ease of getting whatever we want, when we want it, is doing little to develop the value of our own self-control.

The difference between what we see as our real ‘needs’ as against what are our ‘wants’ has become deliberately hazy.

We should be aware we can gain strength of character by not getting – We can be enriched by not having and – We can gain maturity through our ability to say the occasional NO to self.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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The colours black and white are at the opposite ends of the spectrum.  They have between them a rainbow of beauty that awaits discovery by those with the courage to explore beyond the barriers of what is dark or light.

Our first occupants lived in this country long before the white man came. They survived because they respected the spirit world, nature and the land around them. In our quest for power and money we often show little respect for these things.

The Aborigines see themselves as a part of nature. We tend to see ourselves as being above nature.  They were dependant on each other and on the nature that surrounded them. We generally look for ways to use and control nature.

None of us have control over creation; instead, it could be said, that we have stewardship over it. A steward is entrusted with management and because we are stewards, it implies we have a relationship, rather than an ownership.

Primitive people knew who they were within the creation because they automatically related to the spirit world of stories and dreaming. Maybe, if we were to consider how life was like here before the white man came, it might enable us to have a deeper understanding of this wonderful country in which we live.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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We can occasionally ‘fly off the handle’, saying and doing things on the spur of the moment which later we regret.

Sometimes a situation arises where we have no choice but to make an instant decision. On other occasions, when we have time to decide, we might only consider the consequences of our decision on ourselves, while others affected don’t seem to figure in our deliberations.

Many times when we make a decision we can be unaware of its ramifications.  Such as the donation we make that really does keep someone alive in an underprivileged country. Or alternatively, the sarcastic comment, often made in jest, that can be really hurtful to the person it concerns.

When we attempt to think through the full affect of an action we are considering we become more aware of the consequences of our decision. Given some time and thought, we may even question whether the action is really necessary anyway.

If time allows, let’s think a bit more before we act. It might save us a few of life’s embarrassing moments.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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There’s a word that slowly seeps into our lives, like liquid oozing through a wet sponge. It’s a process of gradual acceptance through sheer inaction. – It’s called COMPLACENCY.

Often the, ‘I’m all right Jack’ and, ‘why should I get involved’ syndrome, seems to be our excuse for not coming out and saying how we feel about something happening around us.

We are considered a prude if we object to some of the moral standards being practiced openly today. Yet it is commonly accepted, our morals are degenerating.

Hollywood gives us movies that depict and glorify our inhumanity towards each other. Movies, that portray sex, purely as satisfying personal desires and offer horror, violence, pornography and evil as acceptable life styles.

The movie-makers claim they’re providing comment on today’s world. In reality, they are creating the ideas that we’re coming to accept as normal. The fortunes they are pocketing must surely be tarnished with the sins of the innocents whose minds they pollute.

If we value and respect the principles in which we believe, we should want them for our kids and those coming after us.

It’s time to stand up and be counted. Why should the devil whittle away our sense of right in a sea of complacency?

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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She was quite happy driving around in her bright pink car that had pink upholstery, pink carpet and even pink hub caps.  She said it gave her a ‘buzz’.

While most people would tend to shy away from a vehicle of this colour, their car choice would probably be seen as dull and uninteresting to our ‘pink pussy cat”.

As individuals, our choice of colours can say a lot for who we are, how we feel, or what we’re trying to say about ourselves.  The outward going person will often choose to wear bright coloured clothing, while the quiet, inward types, will generally prefer sombre, less contrasting colours in clothing.

We often use colours when making statements, describing our attitudes and feelings.  To achieve this some might even use colourful language. If we are sad, we are said to be blue; cold, purple; angry, red; and if we’re well, we are seen as being ‘in the pink’.

The day can be grey and yet we can be green with envy or black with rage.  We read about the yellow peril, the red terrors, white tornados and even pink panthers. If we’re gardeners, some might say we have green fingers.

The colours of our world completely encircle us, from the rainbow in the heavens above us, to the richness of the earth colours beneath our feet. We should always be thankful for our sight, for some in our community don’t get to enjoy the colour that surrounds our day. Their days are dark nights.

Unfortunately, there are also others in our community whose life, because of different circumstances, is far from colourful.  When we meet these people, how nice it would be to brighten up their day by sharing with them some of the colours that make up our world.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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The row of plastic clown faces constantly surveyed the scene before them as they moved in unison from side to side, their mouths ever open, waiting for a human injection of multi-coloured ping pong balls.

Perhaps the clowns were commenting to themselves at the parade of humans in sideshow alley.  They could see how we can produce sufficient food to feed our whole world family, yet most of the world is hungry, while a minority overfeed themselves.

They could see the mountains of food stockpiled and rotting, because selling it at a cheap price might upset the world trade balance of payments.

Because some people often tend to spend many of their waking hours in the pursuit of money, they don’t give themselves time to enjoy the fruits of their labours.  It seems absurd that 20% of our population controls 80% of the world’s wealth, yet we can’t balance our National budgets.

In trying to keep us alive, our medical researchers are forced to beg for money, while our governments spend our taxes on building up supplies of weapons and equipment capable of killing millions of us.

The sideshow clowns maintain their comment on the way we live.  They keep saying, no!  no!  no more!

While the clowns can be stopped with a switch, it seems our inhumanity towards each other continues to be maintained by our individual desires for greed.

Is it any wonder the clowns always look sad.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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You can always sense when there’s a storm brewing.  The dark clouds are often the first indicator and sometimes you can even smell the approaching rain. When the clouds are tinged in green it is generally an indication that hail is on the way.

It is strange how clouds can often affect our feelings.  The bride on her wedding day hopes for a clear sky.  Farmers anxiously watch the cloud formations around harvest time and imaginative people see objects and even faces clearly in the clouds.

Those who wander around oblivious to others and their needs, are said to have their heads in the clouds.  The young speedster was thought to have disappeared in a cloud of dust, while Dad’s home brew couldn’t be drunk while it was cloudy.

Just as clouds are necessary to bring rain for our survival, so too, it seems necessary that we have cloudy periods in our life.

As the clouds roll away after a storm to allow the sun to warm the drenched earth, so too, our lives will eventually revert to normal after weathering a stormy period.

It seems it’s the clouds in our lives and not the sun, that allow us to grow in wisdom.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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The idea of cheating is detested by most of us.  Yet some people seem to make their living by cheating others, claiming that cheating is okay, as long as you don’t get caught.

To try and improve our personal status, we can cheat in sport and other games, even examinations and in situations of trust. And all in the hope we won’t be caught. Sadly, we can be so engrossed in the need to win all the time, that cheating can often become second nature to us. Cheating on our Taxation returns seems to have become a National game and is often referred to as ‘working the system’.

However, should we have cheated in a particular situation and been found out, not only could it be a serious embarrassment to us, but it can leave an indelible mark on our name and our character for years to come.

All of us might be tempted at times to cheat by deceiving others, lying and stealing, which might give us an opportunity to be seen as someone better than we really are. The old saying that cheats never prosper usually proves true.  For, in the long run, if we cheat, we’ll only be fooling ourselves.

Being tempted to cheat is a normal part of living, but by giving into the cheating temptation tends to show the type of character we are developing for ourselves.

Let’s be truthful in our dealings with each other and ensure we look first at ourselves and our own habits, before we get too vocal about those around us who have been caught out cheating.

I’m Peter Mack and that’s life.

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