Courage and grace under fire

How impressive is Gillian Triggs – President of Australia’s Human Rights Commission? She inspired another reallyinterestingperson (Fiona McLeod SC) to take up a legal career. Triggs is promising to be an antidote to the Orwellian Immigration Minister. She is a voice of reason, measure, logical and calm morality and humanity. But more than that, she’s one hell of an experienced lawyer – “a woman of formidable intellect whose unlikely career and personal tribulations have honed an instinct for human suffering and the rights of the neglected.” Invest some time to read this piece by Tim Elliot “Meet Gillian Triggs, the woman taking on Immigration Minister Scott Morrison” re-published in The Age on-line today.

Examples of the Emerson principle of success

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “…to know even one life has breathed easier, because you have lived. This is to have succeeded”. Getting into law or medicine at uni has long been a badge of success - but for some of those chosen few, it never was, and it never will be. Meet four law graduates who divert considerable energy in their own time to the greater good - helping young people have a voice & an education, animal welfare and activism & LGBTI communities. That old Transcendentalist would approve.

From activist to muse to international guardian

At the end of June, a former “fairly bolshy” student activist will take up a position mostly formerly held by military men at the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva. She will be the first Australian, and the first woman, to hold the position in the organisation’s 150-year history.She was the inspiration of one of Australia’s biggest hit songs of the early 90’s by a band that’s just completed a 25th anniversary tour.

When good people struggle, but stand up

A few weeks ago Dr Rodney Syme confessed on radio he supplied a drug to a dying man - specifically the one that would allow the dying man to hasten his own death. The man, Steve Guest, died at his home two weeks later (in 2005). This is one of those issues that tears people apart - but listening to Dr Syme, I heard an honest and careful man who struggled under the burden of two sets of rules - those of his conscience and the black letter variety. He could not longer keep his struggle to himself - and was prepared to deal with the consequences.

Compiling lists while watching QandA

It won’t be long before I post the first blog on a really interesting person. There’s a lot of interesting people ready to go – and a lot on the list of who fits the (very loose) criteria of being really interesting. This blog won’t be about me – I never planned to post a note like this but am feeling the emptiness of the page and itching to post ‘something’ – even if it’s trivial (like this). So for now, I will edit what I have, compile some lists of really interesting people, watch QandA for no particular reason other than I like it, and aim to post something really interesting in the next week or so.

PS. Suggestions of really interesting people to include will be most welcome – but please, not the good and the great (as worthy as they are). I want to write something a little less ‘done’.