Let's abandon male-madness to align ourselves with the power of ideas, ingenuity, literacy, art and science,

Official visitors to most any country are greeted by a show of force.
Countries, almost without exception, immediately flex their military muscle, or at least a symbol of it, as that guest walks from their plane.

Influential German
 American political
theorist, Hannah Arendt.

This flashy show of military muscle frequently does not end there either for as the visitor undertakes their tour of all, or part, of the country the idea that we are psychologically wedded to the violence is repeated.
Soldiers bearing arms, jets flying over and occasionally military vehicles rolling-by seem to punctuate the official’s visit.
This constant reference to the military, and by implication our willingness to kill others, is a centuries old affectation of countries even though they may well be the happiest, smartest and least belligerent of all societies on the planet.
It seems we are unable to get beyond this testosterone driven male driven-madness that equates strength with goodness.
Probably we can all point to moments past in which strength lead to goodness (I can’t), and any claims of such instances would be rarities and despite that, demonstrations of potency should not be a reason for one to favour another.
Rather than turn to brute, rude and raw muscle to convince others of our legitimacy, it would be masterly if we stepped beyond those base human values and turned our attention, and so the spotlight allowing our visitor to see for themselves, to demonstrating our understanding of, and affiliation with, the power of ideas, ingenuity, literacy, art and our allegiance to the veracity of science, all of which stands beyond the superstition that has cruelled much of the world.
Our guard of honour should be an assembly of our finest minds – philosophers, artists, scientists, mathematicians, authors, doctors, chefs, famers and others who use intelligence and/or wisdom rather than force to advance a point of view.
It was author Hannah Arendt who said: “The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the more probable change is to a more violent world”.
Conscious of that, our visitors should leave with a clear understanding that ours is country that sees it future unfolding in a positive manner through the sweeping use of intelligence as opposed to force.
So, in short, let us abandon Australia’s identity being underpinned by violence and become a country that celebrates, and rewards, those who work to enrich the idea of non-violence among people.
Non-violence is inherently linked to peace, which interestingly is a concept that is also beyond the understanding of many for peace is not simply the absence of war.
Peace, strangely, is about aggression, but an aggression that is overtly about the pursuit of ideas and ways of living in which kindness is the preferred, and first option.