{"id":5822,"date":"2023-12-16T14:33:04","date_gmt":"2023-12-16T03:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/?p=5822"},"modified":"2023-12-16T14:54:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-16T03:54:15","slug":"strange-isnt-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/strange-isnt-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Strange isn’t it?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Strange isn\u2019t it, how the discontent arrives uninvited when all is well, and you have finally settled down?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as the brain expands and the throat constricts, the hips go out in arthritic sympathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had planned at this stage of a well read and mistake riddled, long life I would be beyond this pain, but I am not and that hurts more because the knowledge of my ignorance strums louder in a body of bones I cannot control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Lack of control is the challenge\u2019 a little voice reminds me in the recesses of a wiser mind conveniently closed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the regret rattles like pebbles caught in a lawn mower\u2019s catcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tick, tock, tack it goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over and over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Round and round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chipping away at the resolve I loosely held, my courage thrown into a battered bin with the grass clippings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Refuse is a camouflage for regret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it is comforting to wallow in the rubbish until a used Band-Aid gets stuck on your face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is hard to be taken seriously when you look like a disgruntled, dirty clown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who needs another earnest face when the world is a joke?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Time to pivot, so I turn on the TV and get accosted by the evangelists trumpeting victory at COP28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strange isn\u2019t it that the ever growing, graduating class of COP28 does not realize how self-righteous and entitled they look in their chambre shirts and badly polished RM Williams boots?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just throw in a few polo ponies and crates of French champagne and they appear just like the colonialists they so vehemently rally against.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shiny, eco-friendly convention halls and a stirring plenary do not hide the fact that history repeats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well intentioned missionaries come in many destructive guises and every religion morphs into misguided faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academia or scripture is just passion masking ego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always has.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Off goes the TV and on goes regret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, I\u2019m still tightly bound by images invented in a boyhood I thought my manhood had shattered into pieces but even the oldest jigsaw puzzle can still be put back together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end we are all just children in an adult body trying to justify our worth and the harder we try the less relevant we become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words mean nothing once they hit the air, so I pat the dog and take him outside for a walk and turn my face to the Sydney sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always find a quiet land paved with convict stones and my loudly branded sneakers squeak to the echo of another colonial lad and I accept the fact that I am not that important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strange isn\u2019t it, the discomfort has gone, and the Dubai heroes become cartoon kids playing with Barbie dolls and Tonka trucks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Strange isn\u2019t it, how the discontent arrives uninvited when all is well, and you have finally settled down? And as the brain expands and the throat constricts, the hips go…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5823,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,37],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nStrange isn't it? - One Consultancy - Philanthropy Specialists<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Strange isn\u2019t it, how the discontent arrives uninvited when all is well.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/strange-isnt-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Strange isn't it? - One Consultancy - Philanthropy Specialists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Strange isn\u2019t it, how the discontent arrives uninvited when all is well.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/strange-isnt-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"One Consultancy - Philanthropy Specialists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-16T03:33:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-16T03:54:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Sonic.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"853\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dave Stewart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dave Stewart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/strange-isnt-it\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/strange-isnt-it\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dave Stewart\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/#\/schema\/person\/a64261bba598811b9a64dd1a769084e7\"},\"headline\":\"Strange isn’t it?\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-16T03:33:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-16T03:54:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/strange-isnt-it\/\"},\"wordCount\":468,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/strange-isnt-it\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Sonic.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"COP28\",\"perception\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/strange-isnt-it\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/strange-isnt-it\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/oneconsultancy.au\/strange-isnt-it\/\",\"name\":\"Strange isn't it? 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