Being Australian

For those who can remember, I vaguelly skirted around the issue of being Australian back on day 23:

http://mattelder.blogspot.com/2005/01/day-23-australia-day.html

I guess I´m working on a more definable answer, at least how I percieve things. One thing that drives me totally insane in Europe is an almost seeming lack of descency shown for other humans beings. It really is a matter of every man, woman and child for himself, and a case of ´the quick and the dead´.

You line up for things and people will naturally jump in front of you (knowing that you are there), order something and people will come over the top of you to place their order, people walking in the street with no regard for others around them, no one waiting that extra split second to hold the door open ... and the list of things just goes on.

Maybe it is growing up in country towns or something, but for me two things come into play - a sense of ´mateship´ and ´a fair go´. What is so important that you can´t just be kind to another fellow human being, or what makes you so god damn special that rules don´t apply to you?

For all the culture that Europe has, there seems to be a certain basic element of ´civilisation´ that is missing. Maybe I´m the last of a dying bread in this regard. But maybe Australian´s lack of self importance, that was awoken in the Renaissance, means that we treat one another and our ´mates´ with respect, honesty and a tad of integrity thrown in. Maybe that is what being Australian is ...