Today

Melbourne city this afternoon. I'm walking in the crowd like many other people, when suddenly two burly men descended on a considerably smaller man walking in front of me. I immediately thought I was witnessing an attack as each of them foreceably grabbed the man's arms. As they marched him into David Jones on the east side of Bourke Street, I realised they must have been apprehending him for some misdemeanor. What a contrast to the row of beautifully potted bushes that lined the full length of David Jones on the west side of Bourke Street ~ a huge roll of carpet being laid over the concrete outside the main doors, white molded chairs stacked neatly, people dressed in best black, security guards with mobile phones to their ears, the flood-lights, the buzz that could be heard about the official opening of David Jones new store tonight. Further up, at the corner, young people using loud speakers were trying to rally support for a meeting they were organising at the State Library of Victoria tomorrow in support of 'boat people'. Very few Melbournians were listening, it was cold and it had begun to rain. The voices of the protestors were too loud, too emotional, all their words were running together in a strange cacophony, and the logic of their argument appeared at least to me to be totally misdirected. They were equating lack of support for 'boat people' as a demonstration of racism, when we must surely agree that there are more complex issues at stake in this discussion. I'm so tired of the negativity and the absolute garbage that I keep hearing on the streets and in the media about the so-called big issues of this election. Won't we all be happy when the bloody thing is over?!