Civility and maturity are inexticably linked

Civil conversation and maturity are inextricably linked.

Language and its use, indicates something about the user’s wisdom.

That being true, Wednesday’s public meeting to discuss the proposed closure of Shepparton’s Andrew Fairley Avenue was civil, wise, and a sea of good sense.

From the chairman, former councillor and public thinker, John Gray, right through to the fork-lift driver who welcomed the closure, there was an admirable degree of decency.

Civility springs obviously from maturity, but Wednesday’s meeting had another ingredient, the little something extra that ensured it was rooted in the common man’s experience, and so wisdom borne of familiarity.

The meeting, called in response to a decision made at the March meeting of the City of Greater Shepparton, was held using a trestle table and chairs set out in a space usually occupied by buses at Ford’s Shepparton Bus Services Depot in the heart of the city’s industrial area.

The meeting’s reason for objecting to the avenue’s closure was articulated by the environment in which it was held – the road’s closure would dramatically increase costs and difficulties for the bus company – a sentiment reflected by nearly all at the meeting.

It was obvious that all at Wednesday’s meeting agreed that the community needed to stand with SPC Ardmona as it confronted competition from around the world, but most were concerned, and rightly so, that public space it seeks is precious and once sold to a private enterprise, it is lost forever.

Most thought that innovative planning and thinking could see the company retain, and improve on its competitiveness and the community retain its use of the avenue.

Although never mentioned, there appeared to be a status quo-style of thinking that aligned most at the meeting with the business as usual paradigm; a model that has, in the minds of many, taken the world down a dead-end street.

Wednesday night’s warm example of civility will be needed on a hitherto unseen scale as our community wrestles with a collision of circumstances, such as energy and resource depletion, an injured atmosphere, economic disarray and a burgeoning population.

Wisdom and resilience will be in high demand and rather than limping toward a solution that is about continuing what we have done for centuries and has not only seriously disrupted earth’s ecosystem, gouged the planet’s finite and irreplaceable resources, but has brought down a pervasive and alarming inequality, we need to do it differently.

The modern world is responsible for many good things, but accounts for the cost are coming and an even cursory examination of world events suggest we have to change our ways.

It is right and proper to protect the sovereignty of Andrew Fairley Avenue, but it should be just the beginning of a civil and mature conversation to protect what is public from private enterprise. 

Sign leaves me wondering

The rather large electronic sign maintained on the burnt out shell of the Shepparton Hotel by Greater Shepparton’s Cr Milvan Muto leaves me wondering.

Messages on the high profile sign, it beams over Shepparton’s busiest intersection, are frequently less than complimentary of some people and certain institutions, but that, in itself, is not what ignites my wonder.
Many are celebratory about the behaviour of Cr Muto arguing his demeanour as being essential to the democracy and honesty of the council, of which he is a part, while providing a much needed voice, it’s argued, for the excluded, suppressed and unheard ratepayers of the city.

Shepparton's Cr Milvan
 Muto



That may or may not be the case, depending on your stance, but that is not really the point for what is truly interesting is the admirable tolerance of all in what might be termed the “Muto-affair”.

Most of us have not been privy to intimate details of what has been happening between the council and one of its brethren, but the details to which we have been privileged, point to a conversation within a breath of violence.

Contemporary understandings of violence are mostly about blood and bruises, but verbal violence can be equally damaging with the first line of defence being tolerance, but frequently the impact is on our emotions and sometimes that can be equally hurtful as torn skin or a broken bone.
I look at the sign and wonder about the tolerance that allows it to continue broadcasting to anyone, who cares to look at the often less than complimentary messages.
Freedom of speech, decency, civility, respect and a “fair go” are all values worth protecting, but I do wonder when the right to one’s opinion crosses a difficult to define line to become abuse.
The recognition and enactment of those values breeds tolerance and it falls to each of us, as best we can, to consider life from the position of the other and yet, at the same time, engage with and apply those things that make for a broadly happier, safer and stronger community.
Considering that, I wonder, does tolerance morph to become broader acceptance of an evil? Does our tolerance, something endorsed by most recognised religions, actually reinforce and therefore fortify the very thing that was both disruptive and surreptitiously destructive to the broader wellbeing?
The diplomacy inherent in democracy is to be lauded, but it takes special wisdom from an alert and adroit thinker to understand when the subtly of mediation is exhausted and further progress rests with an almost dictatorial-like decision.
Cr Muto is at first blush a pleasant fellow who appears to have the wellbeing of the city at heart, but he seems socially ill-equipped for the broad-ranging demands of a city councillor, the evidence of which is displayed most days on his sign.