Today is Mothers Day in Australia. People are busy gathering in families and catching up, all in honour of the mothers of our nation. Yesterday at mass Father John gave a lovely blessing to all the mothers present, many of whom were grandmothers too.

I went to my mum's memorial garden at Matraville on Thursday last to wish her a Happy Mothers Day. It's long way from Hazelbrook to the northern shoreline of Botany Bay - two trains and a bus - but its certainly worth it. In the same garden are my grandparents on my mother's side, my mother's aunt and a friend of the family. All came here as ten pound poms and all now lay at rest close to where Cook first landed in 1770. But that's a controversial issue these days.

I read a couple of poems to her, said a prayer, placed a potted pansy and then began the long journey home.

Keep you mum close, while you can.

 The release of new documents from the Pentagon at the behest of the Trump Administration (which is surely no distraction from the Iranian fiasco) will doubtless excite those certain that we have been visited by aliens.

In as much as grainy, blurred or otherwise unconvincing images of UFO's (more accurately called UAPs - Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) exist, and they do, there are many more reasons why these are not of alien origin at all.

As best we know, and until it is proven otherwise, the speed of light is the maximum speed limit for our universe. Most interstellar objects are so far away that travel between one star system and another is totally impractical. Even within our own galaxy, which is but one of billions, the distance across is about 150,000 light years. We are about 27,000 light years from the galactic centre alone. Even if an alien civilisation (which has to develop from a primitive society to a technological society far in advance of our own) were to develop the means to travel at a speed approaching the speed of light ( which comes with its own set of very difficult to solve problems), the sheer distances and the time to travel them (thousands, tens of thousands or millions of years) would present an intractable problem. It is just too difficult, and for what return?

That is just one of many reasons why an alien civilisation would reject travelling much beyond their own solar system. I suppose robotic probes travelling over vast time-scales is a possibility, but what are the chances of happening upon the Earth, and why play a strange game of hide and seek? I think if you bought a single ticket in the biggest lottery on the planet, your odds would be vastly better.

 It's probably fair to say that all historical periods have their mix of good and bad. There have assuredly, always been famines, plagues, wars, earthquakes and so forth. There can be no doubt that human perfidy has been a feature of daily life since humanity began. 

When the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians that 'the days are evil' (5:16) he certainly would have been aware of the human propensity for wrongdoing, but he doubtless also meant that the times he was in had an especial flavour of wickedness. Roman rule was violent and oppressive, corruption was widespread, the gap between the rich and the poor was enormous and much else besides. It was a very cruel period too - witness the crucifixion of the innocent Jesus. Human life had next to no value at all.

I am wondering whether the present time is also a candidate for the moniker 'especially evil.' The geo-political situation is worse than at any time since WW2. The gap between haves and have nots is rising. Climate change threatens to wreak chaos on civilisations across the globe, with large numbers of folks in denial or simply not caring. Political leaders (who cannot govern themselves) have arisen who are manifestly unsuited to governing anything at all, not unlike many of the Roman Caesars or medieval monarchs. All of this is backgrounded by a contestation about what is true, what is factual or even real. Added to this is my assertion that public manners and discourse are at such a low that it's hard to see how much further they can fall.

I could be wrong and I hope that I am.

Much of the lively chatter about sending humans to Mars before the end of this decade (and some tech bros were seriously talking about this) seems to have died down. People with lots of money who should know better openly opined about colonisation, the establishment of permanent communities, the inevitability of the Martian conquest - all in the very near future. Someone was even talking about terraforming Mars. Who might that have been?

Perhaps they were mugged by reality - some scientists, such as biologists and physicists - had a long chat about the obstacles and so forth. Perhaps a few only have shortish attention spans, but whatever happened, the focus has shifted again to the Moon. Rightly, it seems to me.

Lets be clear about some of the problems that a manned flight to Mars would encounter. The journey is eight months long and exposure to cosmic rays presents a serious health threat. There is no magnetosphere in space. Micro-gravity affects the body in ways which could be fatal in a long-haul mission. Landing on Mars is tricky. Building a return space rocket and harvesting the fuel from the Martian world would be an enormous (though feasible) undertaking. The launch to return home must occur in a brief window that occurs only every 26 months. The return launch is fraught with peril - you only have to look at the number of postponements on Earth - and if you have to cancel you might miss the window and be stuck on Mars. That means, most likely, that you are not coming back at all.

That's just a few. I doubt whether a manned Martian trip will happen before the end of the century, and only if technology has resolved some of the issues, and a costly infrastructure has already been built (robotically) on the Red Planet. It is nice to dream but not at the expense of the brave souls who journey forth.

Memorial Garden

What seed was sown here?

That rows of teeth

Grow slantwise from the ground.

What ligament or root,

What tangle underneath?

If there is breath

It's a lisping bay-breeze,

Or a rap-rapping

Of lately orphaned leaves,

Whose fall and twist

Conjures a clement

mantle all around.

As dust settles and roses hang,

A lone cloud sits like tufted ink,

There's so much toing and froing here,

Shadows in a diorama,

I think,

And there's my mother,

Two years gone now,

Underground.

 

“The battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916 was a bloody initiation for Australian soldiers to warfare on the Western Front. Soldiers of the newly arrived 5th Australian Division, together with the British 61st Division, were ordered to attack strongly fortified German front line positions near the Aubers Ridge in French Flanders. The attack was intended as a feint to hold German reserves from moving south to the Somme where a large Allied offensive had begun on 1 July. The feint was a disastrous failure. Australian and British soldiers assaulted over open ground in broad daylight and under direct observation and heavy fire from the German lines. Over 5,500 Australians became casualties. Almost 2,000 of them were killed in action or died of wounds and some 400 were captured. This is believed to be the greatest loss by a single division in 24 hours during the entire First World War. Some consider Fromelles the most tragic event in Australia’s history.”

This is an extract from an article on the battle of Fromelles that I found at the Australian War Memorial Museum (internet site) in Canberra. Because today is Anzac Day, and because Anzac Day is most famously associated with Gallipoli, I thought it worthwhile to highlight one of the many other battles that the AIF fought in in WW1.

In fact the AIF fought widely across the Western Front and in the Middle East, but it is the Gallipoli landings and the subsequent defeat that lives most vividly in the imagination. It is not hard to understand why. A dramatic landing under heavy fire in the wrong place, a terrible slog to get a purchase on the cliffs and slopes. A long period of attrition in trenches, with the Turks having the home advantage all the while. Finally, the cleverly thought deceits that allowed for a safe mass evacuation. Some of the elements of the campaign look forward to another war – D-Day and Dunkirk.

Today we remember those servicemen and women who fought and died for Australia. One can hate war and still be grateful for their sacrifice.

‘At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.’

Lest We Forget

Yesterday I had surgery on a BCC on the bridge of my nose, a procedure that necessitated general anaesthetic. It's been worrying me for weeks now, but I was surprised at how calm I was on the morning and calmer still before being wheeled into the theatre.

It need not have worried or surprised me really, because I had prayed quite earnestly about it and knew with certainty that whatever the outcome, God was beside me. A greater peace than that is hard to imagine.

My wife drove home since I was not allowed to and sleep was restless, probably due to the anaesthetic. I also had to try to lie in a position that would leave my nose unencumbered, which is not my usual way of lying. Still, very much a first world problem. How grateful I am for good medical care and the means to pay for it I cannot account for, it being greater than the sum of my words.

Sunday last Ann and I did the Grand Canyon bushwalk at Blackheath. It surprised me that I have never done this walk before because when I first moved up here, I regularly did weekend walks. Perhaps it was the drive to Blackheath that put me off - I can't remember.

Grand Canyon is a name that might be hard to live up to, but grand it is, not in terms of size, but the sheer beauty of the steep gorge, with creeks and waterfalls abounding. Part-way down we encountered some canyoners geared up to explore the recesses and caves. The water is very cold and I'm sure they were repayed with a fine experience.

For the last few days my calf muscles have been aching, for while I was certainly fit enough for the 7 km track, I was not used to climbing up and down so many stairs. But a great walk it was and much to be recommended.