Come 2020 my son will be 13. I hope that will mean we are more mobile.
I want to be travelling the world with him, taking him to different countries to teach him languages and cultures outside our own. Even if that isn't possible I will tell you what I can almost certainly say I will be doing.
Australia is a big place. Our remote regions have some of the most disadvantaged communities - there is poverty, a lack of education, a lack of opportunity, racism and staggeringly short life expectancy. A lack of infrastructure, poor access to medical facilities, a lack of government attention and funding. People suffer just because they live so far away, and yet, encouraging growth outside of metropolitan regions is the only way to develop our country without compromising ideals that are intrinsic to our culture - the notion of a home, with a backyard, and parks and bushland.
So in 2020 I will be travelling. Maybe it won't be to Africa or South America. Maybe it will be to the Red Centre or Cairns. I will earn money as I do now, in hospitality, but my job will exposing my son to different circ**stances. When the call comes, young as he may be, I would hope to bring him with me, not as a tag-a-long but as a contributing team member.
This is an achievable goal. I mightn't be able to learn to practice medicine and join Doctors Without Borders, or become a calm and persuasive diplomat, or take a position on a sustainability discussion panel, but I can raise a boy who is empathetic and critical. He may not answer the call to arms with me, but if I succeed, he will contribute no matter what he chooses to do.
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