"I believe at the height of the coming storm—a time of great chaos and confusion—the eye [of the hurricane] will pass over humanity. Suddenly, there will be a great calm; the sky will open up, and we will see the Sun beaming down upon us. It’s rays of Mercy will illuminate our hearts, and we will all see ourselves the way God sees us. It will be a warning, as we will see our souls in their true condition. It will be more than a "wake-up call".
Trumpets of Warning, Part V.
"We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.
"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.
"And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry."
The official apology, wording released yesterday.
It was hard, almost impossible, to break through the barrier, to search for things which had long ago been supressed. He was uncertain of his motivation, and fearful of the results. The layes of meaning and identity were well established. The dancer from the dance, the pretty boy, the man with the tragic destiny; the drinker, the drugger, the candlestick maker, the story teller, the gruff journalist; a quiet soul with an askance look. The previous world, established over decades, had totally collapsed; just like that, one day, the seven shields vanished and a frightened, skinless, utterly vulnerable, strange little atrophied creature had run around in circles as if it had been scolded with a bucket of hot water, shrieking and frantic as the daylight struck its vulnerable surface. And then it, too, disappeared; and the entire construct had just vanished, just like that.
The thoughts kept going on in an endless sequence, but he was a different person after that. The cruel savages that inhabited the planet no longer seemed to see him as a target. He settled in, a person amongst person, or some days some spirit pretending to be a person, and the times rolled by and he entered a different era, when he was no longer young and the torch had been passed.
There was that time when he had flown around Australia with his family, his father, a pilot, on a busman's holiday, flying the plane with his family in tow. He didn't speak to him the entire trip; while showing his younger brother how to fly the plane. That was part of it. He had already been in repeated trouble for coming home on Friday's, changing out of his uniform and coming back on Monday mornings, his father always in the kitchen, the belt laid out on the table. Waiting. He would come home for the belting and his hatred would deepen further and further at the sheer unncessary cruel brutality of it all. His father put a private detective on him to find out where he went; and as a result a relatively well known radio broadcaster fled the city and began a new career in Perth, thousands of miles away on the west coast of the country. And the shame and the fear and the abuse, the hatred, it all built up to impossible levels. There was no other way to escape his daily life than in books and in words, to retreat inwards, to build a fantasy world. He was not loved.
Much to his father's horror he played the piano and wrote and wrote; poetry, short stories, a young man picking his way across an apocalyptic landscape. He wrote stories in poetry about the gibber deserts and the astonishing sights of central Australia; he wrote a novella about a fantasy world; hooked into some intense lyricism he didn't understand, all later lost when he left them in the shed and they were thrown out. And he was beaten and he was beaten. And trapped, the only ways to escape was internally; behind the shields. He had never wanted to feel anything because to feel anything was to be hurt. So the walls went up, bang bang bang, swish swish swish; and he learnt to view the world through multiple constructs. Nobody could get to him, nobody. Not the parents who were meant to protect him and instead abused him, not the men who poured over his youthful body, not the friends he hung out with around the fountain. No one.
THE BIGGER STORY:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2161097.htm?section=australia
Rudd to make 'healing' apology
Eleven years after the Human Rights Commission said the Federal Parliament should apologise to Indigenous Australians, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will this morning say sorry.
The Federal Parliament and its surrounds will be bulging with people this morning as people crowd in to witness the historic moment.
The text of the apology was tabled in the House yesterday, and it revealed Mr Rudd will say sorry three times during his apology.
Mr Rudd says the apology will be a crucial part of the healing of the nation.
While for 11 years the Coalition has rejected the Human Rights Commission's call for an apology, there will be bipartisan support for Mr Rudd's words today.
Opposition spokesman on Indigenous affairs Tony Abbott says the Coalition has agreed to the text - which will apologise for the indignity and degradation inflicted on a proud culture - in its entirety.
"We are not going to ruin the day by quibbling over the terminology," he said.
Mr Abbott says the apology must be just a first step, and says the Government can not ignore that Indigenous people also want compensation and need concrete assistance.
"The compensation question is something that the Government has got to address," he said.
"There is an enormous problem in Indigenous Australia that is not going to be solved by this apology."
Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin, says money will be spent lifting Indigenous life expectancy rather than compensation.
"If we're going to improve the chances of an Aboriginal child born today they need to have the same level of health services as any other Australian," she said.
Hundreds of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people will be in Canberra and in cities across the nation to witness the address today, and all living former Prime Ministers except John Howard will also be in Parliament to hear the apology.
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