The Afterword

Tag: dailyprompt

  • A Life Worth Listening To

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    Peter
    in

    I’ve always been fascinated by people—what makes them tick, what they carry, and how their stories unfold. My first job after university was in IT, automating a production line. Because computers were expensive and labour was cheap, system development had to wait until after 4 p.m. So I started late and stayed late, spending my…

  • The Writing Compendium

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    Peter
    in

    I’m not someone who accumulates much. In fact, I’ve come to want less, not more. Rather than shape my life around possessions, I’d rather shape my life to need less. And yet, the belongings I do hold onto tend to carry meaning. They’re not just useful—they’re threads in a larger story. One that comes to…

  • What We Keep

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    Peter
    in

    I used to have collections. Years ago, I was deep in the world of second-hand record shops, trailing my fingers across shelves stacked with dusty vinyl and history. My treasure hunt had a clear target: old comedy albums. There was something about them—tiny theatrical worlds trapped in grooves. I found Bob Newhart, Shelley Berman, George…

  • The Day Mackenzie Scott Emailed Me

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    Peter
    in

    (Or, How I Almost Became a Billionaire in .ru) It was a regular Tuesday. I was sorting through my inbox like a digital archaeologist—sifting through newsletters I don’t remember subscribing to, birthday discounts from cafes I haven’t visited since 2017, and the occasional existential crisis triggered by seeing “Re: Just checking in” from someone I…

  • You Know the Beauty of Cold; I’m Still Learning

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    Peter
    in

    COLD:I grew up in the silence of winter.The still kind of cold,the kind that creaks the trees at nightand lays a hush over the world so thickyou can almost hear the snow settle.It taught me how to listen.How to endure.How to know the differencebetween solitude and loneliness. HEAT:I was raised where the sun seeps into…

  • Politics Is Personal

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    Peter
    in

    A Poem for Ali France In 2011, Ali France and her younger son were at a shopping centre when an elderly driver lost control of his car and ran into them. She pushed her son in his stroller out of the way but was seriously injured and had her leg amputated as a result. In…

  • Let’s Talk About Tension

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    Peter
    in

    When I hear the phrase “work-life balance,” I get uneasy. It conjures images of perfect equilibrium—neatly arranged schedules, harmonious transitions, nothing out of place. But that has never felt real to me. My experience is far closer to a game of Whac-A-Mole: get one thing under control and another pops up. Harmony, if it comes…

  • A Different Road

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    Peter
    in

    When I think about sacrifice, it rarely feels like I’ve given something up. I chose this path—this calling—and it has been full of meaning, challenge, and joy. But sacrifice has a way of surfacing not just in what we surrender personally, but in what those close to us carry because of our choices. If there’s…

  • The Ring I Never Take Off

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    Peter
    in

    The oldest thing I’m wearing today is my wedding ring. It’s been nearly 39 years since I first slipped it on—a simple gold band with a bevelled edge, unchanged by time, though life has changed around it many times over. New homes, different cities, changing routines. We’ve faced health scares, taken long-awaited holidays, chased goals…

  • The Questions They’re Always Asking

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    Peter
    in

    Leadership is never just about position.It is not granted by title or assumed through expertise.Leadership is a relationship —an unspoken agreement between people and the one they choose to follow.And at the heart of that agreement are questions. They are rarely asked aloud,but they echo in every hallway, every handover, every moment of trust:Do you…

  • On Being a Leader and a Follower

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    Peter
    in

    Ask me whether I’m a leader or a follower, and I’ll tell you I am both. Not because I’m hedging my bets, but because one role doesn’t make sense without the other. Leadership without followership is a performance without a stage. And followership without the capacity to lead is submission, not service. I serve as…

  • The Orchard’s Got Taste

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    Peter
    in

    Speeches by Nominees for the 2025 Orchard’s Got Taste Awards 🎤 Papaya’s Speech — “The Gentle Healer” Steps up slowly, with a calm smile, arms wide. “Friends, I may not be the loudest fruit in the market,but I bring something no hype can offer—healing.Digestion? I’ve got enzymes.Immunity? I’m rich in Vitamin C and A.I soothe,…

  • Not Later, But Now

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    Peter
    in

    For a while now, I’ve carried a quiet intention:to spend more time in nature — not just walking through it, but working with it.To be part of something restorative, to give back to the land in small, steady ways. I’ve told myself that this kind of thing belongs to the “next season” of life.When things…

  • You Saw Me

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    Peter
    in

    I was fifteen when I decided it was time—time to take my learning seriously. Not in the way school usually defined it, but in my own way. I had already learned that I didn’t thrive in traditional classrooms. I’m a visual learner. Spoken words dissolve into fog; lectures become a blur. I don’t absorb information…

  • Freedom, Desire, and the Mirage of Power

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    Peter
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    There’s a kind of freedom that’s easy to sell.It looks like confidence.It sounds like influence.It promises strength, wealth, admiration, and endless choice.But it’s a mirage. False liberators know how to speak to pain.They speak to young men:You’ve been ignored. You’re not wanted. You’re powerless.Take what you deserve. Be feared, not overlooked. Be served.It sounds like…

  • There Is Freedom and Then There Is Freedom

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    Peter
    in

    In a world that worships the self, Augustine’s Confessions reads like a heresy. Where our age insists, “Be true to yourself,” Augustine responds, “But what if I don’t know who that is?” We often link freedom with the power to choose—what we eat, where we live, how we present ourselves to the world. Desire becomes…

  • A Way of Being in the World

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    Peter
    in

    There is a kind of public influence that disturbs the soul. It cloaks itself in authority, but what it reveals—again and again—is a profound betrayal of moral responsibility. It is not simply a matter of disagreeing with policies or positions. What is at stake is something deeper: a way of being in the world. This…

  • You Trust the Next Chapter

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    Peter
    in

    After 45 years across multiple careers — as a parish minister, university lecturer, and now principal of a university residential college — I find myself in the change-over zone of a relay race. I’ve spent my working life helping people grow and develop, and that won’t stop anytime soon. But the way I contribute will…

  • Brilliance Too Bright to Bear

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    Peter
    in

    The last live performance I attended was Nijinsky by The Australian Ballet. It was also, perhaps surprisingly, the first ballet I’ve ever seen. I’ve always appreciated the performing arts—music, theatre, poetry—but ballet had remained at a distance. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I certainly didn’t expect it to stay with me the way it…

  • The Outward-Facing Heart of Community

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    Peter
    in

    At Robert Menzies College, we’ve always believed that being a residential community means more than simply offering services to students. Yes, we provide accommodation, academic support, and a place to belong—but if we stop there, we’ve missed something vital. Our calling is to be outward-looking. We are not a closed circle. We are part of…