Did you make it to The Hills Christmas Carols at George Willmore Park this week? It is on every year and what a lovely family occasion it is.
Cr Brian Battersby was there dressed as Father Christmas handing out lollies to children. The SES was there to keep us all safe. The Golden Valley Keperra Lions were there cooking chips and cheerios. The Hills PCYC was there selling hot sausages. The Ferny Districts Fishing Club was there making hamburgers.
There were rides and slides and later there were great fireworks.
During the evening families with kids were scattered all over the lawn in their hundreds. The atmosphere was absolutely delightful pleasant peaceful. Truly joyful.
I’d been following what was happening at the ALP National Conference on the gay marriage debate during the day and coming to The Hills Christmas Carols felt like stepping into another world. A sane world. Not the surreal world that our political world has become.
Where is the focus on these delightful ordinary mums and dads and little kids playing everywhere that make up our marriages and families in our community? They are the vast bulk but they get precious little attention in the news or politics or the media or TV shows.
Raising a happy family in suburbia just doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It is so normal. Sure it is often a challenge to make ends meet and there are always problems raising kids that could do with more time and attention. But they never get it from the politicians who are focused on the small minority groups and topics like gay marriage.
The reason the ALP is making such a big thing about it is because the Australian Greens make a big thing out of it. They are led by a gay man. This is personal politics but it comes right back to our community.
It is easy to think that things like this won’t have much affect on us but history shows that simply isn’t true. Feminism was brought in without debate by a tiny fringe group with a strong lesbian core. It was only after the legislation was in place that it started to percolate through the community. For better or worse it has changed all our lives profoundly from nearly all women being home to raise their children to the majority working long hours and having their children in childcare and juggling roles. These are huge social changes.
The battle by the gay community to change the definition of marriage has been determinedly fought with political acumen over more than a decade now. This is no small thing and it will certainly play out in big social changes if it finally goes through Federal Parliament.
If you are one of the happy ordinary married couples playing with their children on the lawn at The Hills Christmas Carols think about what marriage means to you what raising your kids means to you.
Your children will be our future in this community. When we talk about a resilient future we are absolutely talking about our children and how they are raised. Our children are our future.
Think about it.