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July 2020 — Hard Conversations
How are you going?
I was feeling a bit exhausted with the June roller coaster around #blacklivesmatter, worsening COVID-19 situation and other global events.
In Australia, there’s also been recent media revelations of sexual harassment claims against former High Court judge Dyson Heydon, and Chief Justice Susan Kiefel issuing a public apology: “We’re ashamed that this could have happened at the High Court of Australia.”
And in my home state of Victoria, we are going into lockdown for six weeks starting from midnight tonight due to increasing community transmissions. And I read — with disbelief — that there are some who thinks that COVID-19 is a myth.
What is going on?
How is it that so many people, ranging from every day people to High Court judges, choose to avert their eyes to what is happening around them?
As I sat with this inquiry, what came up for me is the realisation that perhaps we are uncomfortable with facing the truth and talking about “taboo” topics — such as racism, sexual harrassment and death.
And I wonder if we need to get better at having those hard conversations — or what Pema Chodron describes as learning to lean into the sharp points in life.
