Well, thank you Hmmmm and think41self for noticing us. You know if you think we're noisy here, you should be with us all when we get together for bbqs and so on. We're positively LOUD! If you've learned all you know about us from Crocodile Dundee, heaven help us! Paul Hogan is a master at portraying the characature of an aussie male. Before gaining fame on the big screen he used to be a rigger on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. He entered a talent quest on TV, was liked by Mike Willessee (a big TV personality at the time), got his break on doing regular spots on the guy's TV show, then got his own series and it took off. However aussies are brash, irreverent, kindhearted, fun-loving, generous souls. And I've got a big head!
Why are there so many on this board? Well, many of us came over from the H20 board. Aussies had much to do with its generation/evolution. Simon's board was such a happy, peaceful place and we thought we'd come and change that! Simon's rules ("no rules") suited us at the time, eh unclebruce? We're so glad to be in this happy, happening place. If we hadn't come, well we wouldn't have met such informed guys as Maximus, Jemimah, MacHislopp, etc And aren't you glad unclebruce came. Ain't he somethin' else? Hope he gets back to a computer soon. He's hibernating for the winter at present, but don't worry, spring's nearly here. We come in all shapes and sizes from the beautiful blonde Prisca, and the handsome ex-patriot Hippikon, to the old farmer ozziepost who looks down from the highlands on the sea-loving unclebruce! Older Tom and Younger Tom are like Laurel and Hardy. (Oops, they'll kill me!) We do have the learned Amos and the cult-expert JanG who has quite a crowd in sunny Queensland.
Although we love fun, we, like the rest of you guys, have felt the anger and disillusionment at learning the truth about the borg. This, coupled with seeing at firsthand the works of the elders (Pharisee class), has made us want to 'let it out' and 'tell it out'. There are so many examples here in Australia of the elders, supported by the Branch, wielding the big stick. Their harsh attitude was typified at last year's Sydney District Convention when one speaker, Vin Toole, (take note Maximus!) used the illustration of a little 3 year old boy being 'disfellowshipped' (shunned) by his parents because of some misdemeanor, as being something commendable. As a side point Vin Toole is in Legal Dept (a former CO) and supervises all Family Law Court actions in Australia for JWs. With such an attitude as that at the top, is it any wonder that there's trouble in the Aussie Witness congs! That's the attitude that flows through to the elders in the local congregations.
How are we going? We're all at different stages of walking along the road to freedom and for some of us it's a road to Christian freedom, but whatever our personal beliefs at this point in the journey, we're happy to share!
Cheers,
Ozzie
"There are two ways of moving men, interest and fear" Napoleon
