EDITION 529 – Love Is A Battlefield

The afternoon is hot. The sun beats in through my west facing bedroom window.

At my desk, I’m wrapping my head around study and homework. Sticky-taped to the right side is a hand written calendar. Days of the week. Times in half hour blocks. From 4.30pm to 6.00pm, then 7.30pm until 9.00pm.

In the background, on my National Panasonic radio, is the only FM radio station in all of South East Queensland. Back then, we knew it as FM104, out of Brisbane. Living on the Southern Gold Coast, reception was patchy, often interrupted by the cockpit calls from TAA or Ansett flights landing at Coolangatta Airport.

I take a moment to lay on my bed. This heat is relentless. Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield” is playing. The opening riff. Her powerful voice. Strong. Commanding.

Thoughts turn to life. To the plans underway. To finish high school with a good final mark. To be accepted into university in Sydney. To return to the city I never wanted to leave, but my parents chose to, seemingly for a better life. Except life is still the same, just the locale has changed. They’re still unhappy.

My interest in politics is taking off. It’s where my true passion lies. To be able to take part in making a difference in life. In the world. In Australia. I’ve dipped my toe in the water, and got involved at a branch level. I’m hanging out with people that are 30, or 70, and every age in between. My cohort at school are surfing, or playing rugby league. I’m more intellectual than that, plus my athletic prowess leaves a lot to be desired. I’m a bit of a nerd, happily so.

But first, to start, then finish a degree. To be the first person in my extended family, to be accepted into university. The first ever, of generations on both sides.

And before that, to have the conversation with both parents. This is my plan. I’m not staying here and I’m returning to Sydney. No, I don’t know where I’ll live, but there’s people I can reach out to. Yes, I understand I’ll need to get a job. Anyway, I don’t want to claim Austudy, as I don’t see how you can take from a country, before you give to it.

For someone who’d spent their whole life to that point, worrying what their reactions would be, my mind was made up. It was now about the timing of my announcement. And, dealing with the inevitable blowback.

42 years later, whenever I hear the opening riff of that song, I’m transported back to that moment. To the decisions then made, and the journey they’ve taken me on. To the people I’ve met. To the experiences I’ve enjoyed. To the intersections I’ve come to, and the turns that I’ve made at those junctures.

To the fact that dreams and ambitions evolve. They change. Except the wanting to make a difference part. That hasn’t changed, other than it is with a select number of family businesses, and the families that own them, and not the world.

When you’re a part of facilitating that, the reward is something else.

When you can see a pivot, or an improvement, or a lightbulb moment, when you’re working with owners and their families, there’s an almost indescribable feeling. For you’ve helped them, at one of those critical junctures, and perhaps led them onto a different journey than they themselves had originally envisaged. And helped them change their own world.

This Week’s Tip

“Never lament.”