Earlier this year, Mark began a series of daily reflections called “21 Ways in 21 Days” leading up to January 26. This article is #1/21 and is designed to offer tips for simple and flexible conversations about our National Day.
Over 21 days, Mark explores different themes, including our origin stories, our actions, how to avoid stuck positions and what is possible if we reframes things.
You can download our FREE PDF here.
Here’s a taster of what you can expect:
What is the purpose of a National Day?
Let’s start with the question. Why do we have National Days?
National Days are days set aside to remember something special.
Usually, it’s an anniversary of something significant that the nation wants its citizens to actively keep remembering because it relates to belonging.
When we investigate National Days for other countries, we notice similar feelings and approaches to the day as we have in Australia.
Some of us see it as a wonderful moment of national patriotism.
Some express hyper-nationalism.
Some of us see it as a chance to express discontent and rejection of what this day stands for.
Some of us see it as a celebration of survival and resistance.
Also, for some of us none of these approaches and feelings matter, and it’s just a holiday.
National Days ignite reflection questions like, who are we, how did we get here, and why does that story matter?
Our challenge, and my encouragement, is to generate genuine conversations about our National Day that allow us to listen and learn from each other.
“What is the purpose of our National Day?”
Be encouraged and encourage others.
Mark Yettica-Paulson
Next in this series: Origin stories matter – How did Australia get its National Day? Is the story big enough?
Make sure to grab our FREE copy of Jan 26 – 21 tips for flexible conversations about our National Day.
