Jean Burman

Cartoon pen & watercolour 9″ x 12″

Artwork & content Copyright Jean Burman (c) 2008

Change is the one constant in our ever changing world. We can fight it… but we will never be able to resist it’s overwhelming force.

We may slow it… by committing ourselves to a set of similar daily tasks in the hope of staving off the inevitable. But despite our best efforts… the time for change will inevitably come.

And when it does… we have a choice. We can go with the flow. Or we can resist… and cling to what we know. Resistance of course is useless… as once the fates have decided that change is on it’s way… nothing will stop the inevitable wind-out of events pre-destined to occur.

“The fates lead he who will… he who won’t… they drag” - Seneca

Have you noticed how you can feel change coming? I remember my 94 year old aunt once remarking rather dramatically…

“the winds of change cast their shadows before them”

I wondered at the time what that meant. Over the years… each time change has occurred in my life… those words have come back to me. The full impact of their meaning is now clearly etched!

You may have also noticed by now… a rather funny thing about change.

Good change is almost always slow… the kind of change we can prepare for. It usually involves plans and goals that we have set and can work toward… we call this progress.

Bad change… on the other hand… is the kind of change that “never entered our worried mind”… the kind that blindsides us at 4pm on some idle Tuesday! LOL  It strikes when we are least expecting it… leaving us vulnerable and often tragically unprepared.

Fear is always at the heart of our resistance to change. That’s only natural. But change is a necessary part of life. A quick look around tells us that nothing stays the same… life is not static… and it’s not meant to be.

We need look no further than nature for a few clues. The weather changes daily… and the seasons change quarterly. Trees grow and then die. Leaves once new are then shed. Water falls from the sky and fills the creeks and watercourses… and soon they are dry again as the water finds it’s way to the sea to begin the cycle again. The beautiful butterfly that rests on that perfect flower… will only live for one day.

So I guess… the lesson for us is to get in there and live it. Accept the inevitable changes that come our way… even if we don’t particularly like the sound of them or the way they look! All is not what is seems… it seems ~grin~… so we must have faith!

“Sometimes we stare so long at the door that is closing… that we see too late the one that is open” - Alexander Graham Bell

Hindsight is a great teacher. Looking back it is only the things I didn’t do that I regret. So from here on in… I make my peace with change. I submit to the new changing pattern of my life and the events that are unmistakably unfolding… and look forward with great optimism to the future!

“One does not discover new lands without first consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time” - Andre Gide

My son Andrew and I were having coffee at our local Coffee Club the other day. Seated comfortably at the table… me with my cappuccino… he with his chai latte… we were discussing his latest web design projects and [as always] the conversation turned to the blog. Ever the talented young web design guru [okay I am his mother ~grin~]… Andrew is always coming up with fan-dangled ideas for me to make improvements and additions to the website to make it more interactive and interesting. When and if I ever get around to making any of these changes is another thing… but I never miss an opportunity to get together with him to cook up ideas and ponder some dreams. Besides… I enjoy his company!

“Piece of Cake”

cartoon - pen & watercolour 9″ x 12″

artwork & content Copyright Jean Burman 2008

As we talked… my attention was drawn to a nearby table where two women were deep in conversation. One sat contentedly with her legs crossed… her foot curled around from behind… and the other had her two feet planted firmly on the floor.

Foot placement has always fascinated me… it seems to say so much about a person… and speaks volumes about the emotional/political terrain being covered in the conversation! LOL

With emphatic hand gestures and wide eyed amusement underscoring her words… the woman spoke earnestly to her friend. Between them lay two cafe lattes and a rather large slice of baked New York cheescake piled high with fresh cream… and two spoons!

It struck me what a comfortable scene it was. Warm… inviting… friendly. Convivial. And heart warming too!

An incurable people-watcher… my kids have often chatted me for ’staring’. Though it never occurs to me that I’m staring (I wouldn’t be so rude! ~grin~) “interested” probably describes it better! Nevertheless… this time I couldn’t help it… and I gave Andrew the nod.

He craned around to sneak a look… as I mused how wonderful I thought it was that these two people could find such comfort… good will… and warm hearted camaraderie over a simple cup of coffee!

“I mean… can a beverage DO that?” I asked not expecting an answer.

As we had been discussing blog topics and how tough it was to come up with a subject of interest to everyone… he turned to me and said… “well there you go Mum… there’s your next topic!” And so it was…

Coffee. The lifeblood of a nation. The lifeblood of the whole world? It does afterall… speak every language on the planet… in every city… in every country… across the globe. It is as much at home in the trattoria’s of Rome… as it is in the backstreets of Rio… or the casbahs of Morocco… or the cafes of Uzbekistan.

It knows no country.

It has no borders.

It favours no race, creed or colour.

It breeds no contempt…

and it needs no introduction.

It’s delicious wafting aroma can easily pull a crowd from 50 paces! Even those who don’t actually drink the stuff… love the allure of it’s aroma… evoking as it does a sense of the exotic. Far flung places like Africa… Brazil… and the Indian sub continent… the warm countries of the world where the culture is as steeped in mystery… as the air is “fragrant” with the scent of exotic spice.

It occurs to me that coffee has a strange kind of unifying effect on the world. It’s the one thing that we all pretty much have in common. The fact that more than half the world’s population could be indulging in a cup of coffee at any given time… on any given day… seems to me to have strange significance. Then a crazy notion hit me… “could the world’s problems be hashed out over a simple cup of coffee?”

Truth be known… the ritual of coffee drinking has little if anything to do with the actual drinking of COFFEE. It’s just something we do. Having a coffee gives us the excuse we need to sit down and ponder with friends and foe alike… the world and it’s doings. It’s all about communication. Coffee shops, cafes and casbahs across the globe bubble over each and every day with the voices of people sorting stuff out… sharing their problems… catching up on the gossip… hashing out deals… and (hopefully) finding solutions.

What a miracle then if it could be that simple. Imagine for just one moment… the Sunni and the Shia sitting in the dirt of a Baghdad street corner having coffee with the American. Or the Russian and the Chechen hashing things out over a coffee at the back fence. Or the Palestinian and the Israeli settling the dust of a thousand years over the one thing we probably all have in common…a coffee… the international beverage of our times! *wink*

I know it may sound trite… and I am by no means seriously suggesting that something so simple could provide a solution to the problems of “difference” between the peoples of the world!

But don’t you think… if the issues of human conflict were viewed LESS from our differences… and MORE from those human aspects we have in common… the world would be a much kinder, safer and more peaceful place.

“Sit with me awhile… hear my story… and tell me yours… in time I will understand your point of view… see the world as you do… and soon we will be friends”

So “chin chin” everyone… as we do our bit to bring about peace… one cup at a time!

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Addendum: I wrote this before the National Sorry Day… and would just like to add that having listened to (and heard) the Apology and the Reply… (and the subsequent lop-sided fallout in the press)… it appears to me that we Australians still have a very long way to go yet… to reconcile the past and move forward into the future.

What’s missing is tolerance and understanding… on both sides.  Perhaps some sitting in the dirt over a coffee is called for! *wink*  And the words I penned just the-day-before-yesterday never resounded so loudly!

So… for what it’s worth… here they are again…

“Sit with me awhile… hear my story… and tell me yours… in time I will understand your point of view… see the world as you do… and soon we will be friends”

“The more things change; the more they stay the same”

Cartoon pen and watercolour 9″ x 12″

All artwork & content Copy right Jean Burman 2008

I haven’t bought a women’s magazine since 1997. Not since the day after the Princess of Wales’ tragic death in Paris at the hands of the paparazzi. What difference my one small protest was going to make… I knew to be insignificant. But I also knew…right there and then… that there just had to be something fundamentally wrong with pursuing a person “to death” in an attempt to gain access [and a voyeuristic peep] into the most private aspects of someone’s life. Even if that life was for all intents and purposes a public one.

My refusal to buy magazines… of course… would mean diddlysquat. Magazines would continue to be published. People would continue to buy them. And people would continue to be relentlessly pursued. And not just by the paparazzi. The quest for “the dirt” has now reached epic proportions in a multi-media industry hell-bent on being the first one with it.

And then the news that Heath Ledger was dead. And in recent days… Brittney Spears… committed for psychiatric evaluation. Two very different people… with little in common save for the relentless media intrusion that had become the hallmark of their very existence. And in Heath’s case at least… the demise of it.

[Sure there might have been mitigating factors... there always are in the ebb and flow of life... but the constant media attention could not have helped].

Heath at least was still riding high on the wave of good public opinion… whereas Britney had well and truly arrived at the bottom of that slippery slope… the sad victim of our thinly veiled mirth and the media’s unbridled derision.

But what preempts the turning tide of public opinion about people? One day they are nobody… then they are somebody [and we can't get enough of them]… and the next day they have fallen from favour. No longer famous [but rather... infamous] in the eyes of a fickle public… the media… like a pack of wild animals descends upon the prey… and pursues them until all the dirt is dug… and the worst is known and exposed for all to see… [and judge].

But what I want to know is… what makes us so perfect? And what makes us so interested? Why do we buy it? Worse still… why do we enjoy it?

Away from the spotlight… in the everyday world… one might expect things to be different. But they aren’t. You don’t have to be particularly famous to experience the sting in the tail of “perceived” success. Everyone loves an underdog it seems… but no-one likes it when their poppies grow too tall! Sad but true.

“Tall Poppies”

Cartoon pen & watercolour 9″ x 12″

Copyright Jean Burman 2008

In the workplace… in schools and universities… in politics and business… at home or abroad… wherever… in whatever sphere one seeks to achieve and excel beyond the average… there will always be those who make it their purpose to bring others down.

Surviving the final year of her studies in High School was a learning curve as steep as one gets for my youngest daughter. It should not have been so. She should have been able to rely at the very least upon her school to support and encourage her in her relentless strive for excellence. It was they, afterall, who would enjoy the spinoff from any success she might have. She was a bright and enthusiastic student. With her enquiring mind and eagerness to participate she was reportedly a delight to teach. It was disappointing therefore… upon notification that she had been awarded the coveted Vice Chancellor’s scholarship to a prestigious university in the south… [a huge honour and one which would pay for her entire university education]… the School Principal’s only begrudging remark was “well… that should be good for your ego” [True story] Needless to say [at the time] she was devastated… needless to say that was his intention! A wise and enlightened educator would have known better!

It’s human nature I guess. Tearing down the tall poppy [apparently] keeps things equal… makes people feel “less inadequate”. Afterall… who needs to be reminded of what could be achieved with a little bit of risk… and an awful lot of effort? It’s uncomfortable. And easier by far to attempt to level the playing field… by fair means or foul… rather than take the needed steps to rise up out of the mediocrity of an “unventured” life.

Personally… I think we should nurture our tall poppies… and love them for the exceptional blooms that they are! We should wish them well! Instead of seeing in them our own inadequacy and failure [and fearing it]… we should delight in their achievements… and use them as a springboard of inspiration toward our own endeavours… however humble they might be.

With more than enough success to go round… what on earth are we waiting for?