Hi folks and welcome to my Friday Reflection for 19th July 2024.
Travelling back to Australia from England has given me some time to reflect and recover. It is quite an experience for a First Nations person to be in our origin place of colonisation. It reminded me of the importance of history. This reflection is part 1 of 2, and focuses on heartache in history.
We’ve reflected before on the important of story holding memory of sacred sites for ceremony, learning, pilgrimage, and belonging. I was struck by the experience of walking the streets of Oxford and feeling some of those elements there.
In some respects the history of the streets of Oxford nostalgic images of sandstone buildsings and cobblestone lanes. In other ways it feels like heartache. The buildings, what they represent, and those who walked their hallways, combine and continue to announce their beliefs in their superiority over others. What I came to appreciate more was this domineering posture was not only against natives of the colonies, like my peoples, but was also expressed in class discrimination and disgust towards their own. Embedded in this history is heartache for many peoples who haven looked down upon and trampled over so that some will feel superior.
Heartache is also experienced in the ways we are carrying ongoing impacts (and traumas) of colonisation. We know it shows up in individuals and communities and over generations.
I witnessed people experiencing, expressing, and expelling heartache from histories during the Global Convening of Atlantic Fellows. People acknowledged and addressed the complex histories of our cultures, nations, colonisation histories, and contemporary institutions. It was not glossed over or denied. The heartache was held with honour and purpose to allow us to continue growing as an international community.
I encourage you to adopt a way to honour the heartache in your histories. It is evidence that we still care deeply for the people and moments in our story. They still matter to us.
Be encouraged and encourage others.
Mark YP
