Gday mate! Uhbloody hell sorry I've always been uncomfortable with
those words as a representation of my country. Sure I use them, but
many Australians will react in one of two ways if that is said to them.
They may laugh it off or go quiet and think youre an idiot. Id probably
react with the former rather than the latter. This column is basically
going to be about anything and everything that may be of interest.
Anything goes.
That said, I'm from a small town in Victoria.
That's the state Melbourne belongs to, for those who arent sure. I want
to discuss my first topic -- something that I am pretty familiar with-
loneliness. We all suffer from it sometime in our lives, but I want to
talk about some of the situations where it occurs. Why am I familiar
with this you ask?
Well I'll tell you even if you didnt ask,
Im an only child. Now Im sure some people out there are thinking, Who
cares. Im one too! but have they been left in a car for hours with
nothing to do but imagine the world outside and talk to themselves?
Have they spent hours with plastic toys creating worlds of their own?
Or have they had their two best friends in the world leave their high
school within months of each other? If they have or dealt with worse,
then I thank them for I really dont know that many people who have
experienced the same situations.
Loneliness, as an only child
or anyone on their own, can sometimes make you feel as if youre the
only person in the world. At times, having that world interrupted by
outsiders can be frustrating. Its a funny situation because, on the one
hand, its great that they are around to keep you company, but, on the
other hand, they are stopping you from connecting with your own
adventures. Ill give you an example. As a kid, my two cousins visited,
something they very rarely did. I had all the toys lying around in the
room and of course they came in and upset the strange harmony or
strategic positioning of the various figures. Did I just let them have
their fun, while I was planning World War 3? No way! A fight broke out.
Needless to say, I won. Probably because I was the most angry and
obsessed. Now imagine if we were three different countriesId probably
be North Korea.
I think education can have a lot to do with
loneliness, I've seen many people in this world not talk to one another
simply because they believe are not on each others level. Hes/Shes so
smart, I wont understand whats going on, or, This guy/girl doesnt even
know where Melbourne is. I dont really think that it is such an
impossible task for this kind of communication to be achieved; we just
need to reach out.
For example the baker can tell the lawyer
about how the cake mixture was not right: theres a conversation just by
discussing work. Since were talking about education, lets look at a
high school scenario. Youre the wonder brain of your class. You cant
seem to talk to anyone else about the work because they either dont
care or arent at the same level. The solution to this is not to stop
talking and sit in the corner. Its to find that common ground. There is
sure to be another person in that room who hates to eat their
vegetables or likes to watch The Simpsons. The opening up to each other
seems to be the hard part instead of name calling first and becoming
friendly later.
I'm going to come a little full circle here,
by mentioning writers loneliness. Its kind of similar to the only child
scenario, not in the way that the only people you tend to argue with is
your parents (story of my life), but that writers have their
voice/imagination which is the equivalent of the childs made-up-world.
You are in that world when writing is great; you love that no one is
interfering with what you are writing... but what if someone wants to
help out? That could be great too. This is where its tricky, should we
share our little worlds or get lost in them by ourselves? In this case
Id prefer the latter. Guess Im still a bit of an only child.
Copyright Matt Holt, 2004
those words as a representation of my country. Sure I use them, but
many Australians will react in one of two ways if that is said to them.
They may laugh it off or go quiet and think youre an idiot. Id probably
react with the former rather than the latter. This column is basically
going to be about anything and everything that may be of interest.
Anything goes.
That said, I'm from a small town in Victoria.
That's the state Melbourne belongs to, for those who arent sure. I want
to discuss my first topic -- something that I am pretty familiar with-
loneliness. We all suffer from it sometime in our lives, but I want to
talk about some of the situations where it occurs. Why am I familiar
with this you ask?
Well I'll tell you even if you didnt ask,
Im an only child. Now Im sure some people out there are thinking, Who
cares. Im one too! but have they been left in a car for hours with
nothing to do but imagine the world outside and talk to themselves?
Have they spent hours with plastic toys creating worlds of their own?
Or have they had their two best friends in the world leave their high
school within months of each other? If they have or dealt with worse,
then I thank them for I really dont know that many people who have
experienced the same situations.
Loneliness, as an only child
or anyone on their own, can sometimes make you feel as if youre the
only person in the world. At times, having that world interrupted by
outsiders can be frustrating. Its a funny situation because, on the one
hand, its great that they are around to keep you company, but, on the
other hand, they are stopping you from connecting with your own
adventures. Ill give you an example. As a kid, my two cousins visited,
something they very rarely did. I had all the toys lying around in the
room and of course they came in and upset the strange harmony or
strategic positioning of the various figures. Did I just let them have
their fun, while I was planning World War 3? No way! A fight broke out.
Needless to say, I won. Probably because I was the most angry and
obsessed. Now imagine if we were three different countriesId probably
be North Korea.
I think education can have a lot to do with
loneliness, I've seen many people in this world not talk to one another
simply because they believe are not on each others level. Hes/Shes so
smart, I wont understand whats going on, or, This guy/girl doesnt even
know where Melbourne is. I dont really think that it is such an
impossible task for this kind of communication to be achieved; we just
need to reach out.
For example the baker can tell the lawyer
about how the cake mixture was not right: theres a conversation just by
discussing work. Since were talking about education, lets look at a
high school scenario. Youre the wonder brain of your class. You cant
seem to talk to anyone else about the work because they either dont
care or arent at the same level. The solution to this is not to stop
talking and sit in the corner. Its to find that common ground. There is
sure to be another person in that room who hates to eat their
vegetables or likes to watch The Simpsons. The opening up to each other
seems to be the hard part instead of name calling first and becoming
friendly later.
I'm going to come a little full circle here,
by mentioning writers loneliness. Its kind of similar to the only child
scenario, not in the way that the only people you tend to argue with is
your parents (story of my life), but that writers have their
voice/imagination which is the equivalent of the childs made-up-world.
You are in that world when writing is great; you love that no one is
interfering with what you are writing... but what if someone wants to
help out? That could be great too. This is where its tricky, should we
share our little worlds or get lost in them by ourselves? In this case
Id prefer the latter. Guess Im still a bit of an only child.
Copyright Matt Holt, 2004
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