Australia divided, page-46

C'mon Hingdog, you can come up with a better cliche than that.

And anyway, what's that got to do with anything anyway.

The reason I'm about fifth generation Anglo-derived Australian is because mum and dad were also Australian and lived in Australia when I was born. I didn't have anything to do with it.

That's why much of this jingoism and patriotism that Cross Jim talks about is misplaced. I'm not proud to be an Australian, but the fact that I am makes me one of the luckiest people on Earth.

Why aren't I proud to be an Australian? Because I didn't have anything to do with it. Seriously, how can you be proud of something that you had nothing to do with? I'm proud of a few things I did like getting an edication (thank you Gough) and proud of my daughter, the living embodiment that evolution is alive and well.

Did I do it for Australia? No. I did it for me.

The collective effort of 24 million people and their forebears has yielded an extraordinary nation, no question. But I refuse to get suckered and straight jacketed into this bland god queen and country conservative view of history and society. AUstralia is way more complex, diverse and real. AUstralia and me have grown up together in the past 6 decades.