Giving Meaning to What We Say
In this newsletter, we feature a series of stories on the value of literacy - learning how to read and write (no matter at what stage in life) - as a way of opening up opportunities for participating more fully in everyday society.
PERHAPS even more basic to the skills that equip us to join in with the activities and tasks of living in a civilised society, is our ability to communicate… the words and symbols we use to share our experiences with others and, hopefully, in turn, to learn from each other’s experiences.
Whether they are spoken or written, words are the building blocks that bring a depth of meaning to our shared communication. The words we choose, and use, are important, and they are powerful, in accurately pinpointing what we truly mean to convey.
Sadly, the potent meaning of words can be worn down by over-use, or reckless use, whether in day to day conversation, or on a larger scale, through the sometimes glib headlines of the mass media, or on an even larger scale, in an attempt to manipulate public opinion for political purposes.
One such word is, “re-conciliation”. We often hear the term used in relation to Aboriginal Affairs in Australia, and, from time to time, in a variety of other social contexts.
South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela applied the word in practice as he attempted to lay the foundations for healing a country previously divided along racial lines. On coming to power, Nelson Mandela set up a “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” which he hoped would provide the means by which the truth of a brutal past could be openly aired and owned as a critical first step before a united future could be embraced. The Commission operated on the basis that social reconciliation was the ultimate goal, transcending any private quest (however, seemingly, legitimate) for the purposes of recrimination, revenge, or even, for compensation.
It may surprise many of you to learn that “reconciliation” is also a word which underlies one of the core aims of C-BERS Services. In describing it as a C-BERS’ aim, I wonder how many of us really understand what we mean when we use this word.
The word “reconciliation” comes from the verb “to reconcile” which the Chambers Dictionary defines as “to restore or bring back to friendship or union”.
The aim then, is to unify in friendship those who may have previously been divided or opposed.
This is the challenge for all humanity - to recognise and restore the ties that fundamentally unite us... whether it be in our everyday personal relationships, as an operating principle for our organizations and institutions, or, on the global stage.
In this September edition of C-BERS Express, the need to reconcile our differences, and our grievances, is made all the more poignant by the reminder of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre one year ago this month.
Perhaps the need is just as great on the small scale…in our day-to-day personal lives, in our relationships with the people and institutions who comprise our community, and in the Western Australian and Australian society of which we are ALL a part.
A Message from C-BERS Chairperson Maria Marries
|
The Australian Child Migration Foundation has donated $13,000 to the Australian Child Migrant Project in support of family tracing in the United Kingdom.
Mary Brandal (nee Humphreys) 
John Mullen (Sep 1941 – 21 May 2002) (Castledare 1947 and Clontarf 1952)