The Afterword

Tag: life

  • The Myth of the Maintenance-Free Life

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    Peter
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    How do you make time for self-care? When I was younger, I did not really understand the importance of maintaining a car. At the time I was a student and had very little money. I put petrol in the car, checked the oil and water every so often, and more or less assumed the rest…

  • And Yet It Felt Like Home

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    Peter
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    What’s a place you visited that felt like home? Moshi in Tanzania felt like home. That is strange, because it is nothing like my home in Australia. Mount Kilimanjaro rises only about 30 kilometres away, so close that it seems to preside over the town. You glimpse it above buildings and along ordinary streets, its…

  • Muttley

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    Peter
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    If you could pick any fictional animal to be your lifelong companion,what would it be? If I could choose any fictional animal as a lifelong companion, I’m not sure I’d go for a dragon, a Pokémon, or some majestic creature from a fantasy world. I think I’d choose Muttley. Muttley is the scruffy cartoon dog…

  • The Shipping News

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    Peter
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    If you had to switch lives with a fictional character for a week,who would you choose? I was asked an unusual question by an international student this week. They had identified Canada and Australia as two popular study destinations. Then came the personal question: If you could live anywhere, would you choose Australia or Canada?…

  • When the Work Is Done

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    Peter
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    What’s the best advice you’d give to someone younger than you? I was strangely moved by a story our minister told recently. He had spoken with a 97-year-old man who had lived an extraordinary public life. He was a highly decorated naval officer, had served in several wars, and had eventually risen to senior leadership.…

  • When Courage Becomes Contagious

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    Peter
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    What’s the most annoying trope in books or movies? I must admit that I am conflicted. When I was younger, I enjoyed the Dirty Harry movies. Harry Callahan is the lone, morally certain cop who sees what the system cannot or will not see. Bureaucrats, courts, procedures and superiors get in the way. Harry acts.…

  • Brave or Foolish?

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    Peter
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    What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done when no one was watching? I don’t know whether it was the bravest thing I’ve done or one of the silliest. I was walking along the main street of an inner-city suburb when I heard someone yell, “Stop!” I turned and saw a man running towards us, with…

  • Five Apps, One Common Thread

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    Peter
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    What are your favourite 5 apps on your phone? These are the five apps that get the biggest workout on my phone: Kindle, AntennaPod, Australian Newspapers, BBC Sport and YT Music. Looking at the list, I realise they have something in common. They are not primarily endless feeds engineered to keep me there. They all…

  • A Miniature Philosophy of Justice

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    Peter
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    What’s the best thing you’ve ever found randomly on the street? When I was eight, a friend and I were walking to school when we found a banknote lying on the ground. In today’s money it would probably be worth about $30. Not exactly a fortune. But when you are eight, $30 is enormous. It…

  • A Platform of Kindness

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    Peter
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    What’s the kindest thing someone has ever done for you? Every Sunday my grandmother arrived with lollies. There were enough for all of us, and they were divided with great precision. At the time, that was probably what I noticed most. Grandmother had arrived. Grandmother had lollies. Life was good. I understood much less about…

  • Work Worth Giving Yourself To

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    Peter
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    If the salary was the same, what job would you be doing right now and why? If the salary were the same, what job would I be doing right now? The same one. That answer is easy for me because money has never been the main reason I have chosen a job. Of course salary…

  • The Week Someone Else Became Me

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    Peter
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    What’s the weirdest coincidence you’ve ever experienced? I have always had a fairly naïve faith that if you tell the truth, things will eventually sort themselves out. One small and stupid episode from many years ago shook that confidence. I received a court summons for fare evasion. Apparently, I had caught a train into the…

  • The Book That Beat Me

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    Peter
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    What’s a book you never finished but still think about? Many years ago I took The Brothers Karamazov on holidays because I thought this was what holidays were for. I imagined lazy afternoons with Dostoyevsky. A chair somewhere quiet. Maybe a cup of coffee. Enough uninterrupted time to wrestle with God and freedom and suffering…

  • Happy Feet

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    Peter
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    Which fictional world would be the most fun to vacation in? If I could vacation in any fictional world, I think I’d choose Happy Feet. Partly because it would be fun. Antarctica, but with dancing penguins. Vast sheets of ice, deep blue water, enormous skies, music everywhere. There would be something wonderfully ridiculous about sliding…

  • The Dancing Man

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    Peter
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    If you could go back and witness any historical event,which one would you pick? If I could go back and witness any historical event, I think I’d like to be standing in George Street in Sydney on 15 August 1945. There are bigger moments. More important places. More famous people. But I think I’d rather…

  • Narara Music Festival

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    Peter
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    How did you meet your significant other? We really met at a music festival over forty years ago. We had crossed paths before. We were both on a beach mission team at Ulladulla on the South Coast of NSW. We had a common friend, and I remember her singing one night in a coffee shop.…

  • The Last Day in Antarctica

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    Peter
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    If you could relive one day from your past, which day would it be and why? If I could relive one day from my past, it would be our last day in Antarctica. It was the culmination of a trip we had saved towards for fifteen years, a celebration of a significant birthday for my…

  • What Happened to Making Things Well?

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    Peter
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    What’s a conspiracy theory you actually find believable? I bought a Tivoli Audio radio about 25 years ago. Part of the attraction was the philosophy behind it. Henry Kloss had spent decades designing audio equipment and, late in life, returned to something wonderfully simple: one really good radio. No screen. No app. No software updates.…

  • When You Realise You’re the Adult

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    Peter
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    What’s a moment when you realized you were officially an adult? Adulthood is a series of progressions. You get your driver’s licence and discover a new freedom. You vote for the first time. You start work and begin finding your way in the world. You move out of home, get married, perhaps buy your first…

  • Trust the Hunch

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    Peter
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    If you had a time machine and could send just one messageto your past self, what would it say? If I had a time machine and could send just one message to my younger self, it would be: Trust the hunch. Not because every instinct is right, or because careful thought does not matter. But…