A Chance to Change A Family's Future
The final battle against intolerance is to be fought—not in the chambers
of any legislature—but in the hearts of men.
Dwight Eisenhower
Tension is high between nations and governments right now. Russia and North Korea seem to be constantly asking questions of the international community and pushing boundaries. The Sydney Siege, after so many years of war in the Middle East, has rekindled the flames between Australians and the Islamic States.
The Bali Nine has been yet another massive international fray, and for Australia, it was the next in a long series of political conflicts with Indonesia, with real lives at stake. Australia continues to push hard with the spread of its Racism. It Stops With Me campaign while simultaneously promoting its Stop The Boats propaganda.
It seems the most appropriate time to ask the question: Can we look past ethnicity and nationality? Can we see through external features to the heart of an individual, and judge them not on what we have known or been taught of their people, but as a fellow member of humanity?
Can we too, as Martin Luther King Jr did, look to a day when people will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character? But, rather than dreaming, can we rise up, lay hold of the day before us, and make today that day?
I lay before you a challenge and an opportunity. I present it to you in the form of a man named Yogi Adnyana. Yogi is Balinese, an Indonesian citizen. He is also a wonderful man. I challenge you to look past his nationality, and seize the opportunity to help a fellow man achieve his dreams of making a better life for his family.
Can you take up the charge?
