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It all started with an article written by Ross Gittins about the response by Australians to the bushfires. I don't want to get stuck into the argument about motivations - that's a whole other can of worms. The point that resonates with me is that we have a collective attention span that would shame a goldfish. We get all wound up about immediate, short-term disasters and actually get off our arses and do something. But around social justice, environmental change, global inequality - for most of us its too hard.

The challenge is: why isn't this motivation, this compassion, this giving a **** normal for us? Why don't we act like there are a million bushfires going on out there every day? Laura Brown has a great line in the comments section of this blog post: Compassion isn't like an indie band that you have to stop liking once their music gets used in an advert. Which I may well have put on a T-shirt.

But it doesn't stop there. If compassion isn't an indie band then neither should it be put behind glass with a little hammer next to it and a sign saying "Use Only In Case Of Emergency" underneath.

Soften the **** up, Australia.

fragile

Source: Redback Theatre Group

I was down in Melbourne last week. It had been hot on Saturday. The air scalded my lungs when I sucked it in. The streets of the CBD were empty. Pedestrians ran between patches of shade, air-con oases. That evening the air temperature dropped by about 25 degrees in half an hour. Someone mentioned the fires.

As you know by now, the fires were fast. Whole towns destroyed. Hundreds of people dead. You can do your bit.

There are already arguments about blame, causes, punishments. Those will work themselves out. I just look at the images and what I see is fragility. Our psychological well-being is founded on our inability to understand how fragile our world is.

Everything might be gone tomorrow.