Way to Go, Australia!

I get some of my copy and content writing work from Upwork (formerly Elance). I’ve noticed recently that a lot of the buyers/clients there are from Australia and that they aren’t all looking for great work at sweatshop prices. Way to go, Australia!

For this reason, more than half of my recent projects have been for Aussies.

Another thing I’ve noticed is how much I enjoy working with Aussies. There is much about them that is welcoming, respectful, and endearing to me. I haven’t had a single bad experience with an Aussie yet. Not one. Not even the hint of one.

Aussies seem more cheerful and optimistic than most folks. (Of course, they don’t have The Orange One posing/posturing as the head honcho of their nation, so that alone likely gives them clearer heads, happier hearts and a leg up on the U.S.! But they were this way before The Orange One invaded our lives and they still blew us out of the water when it comes to their attitudes.)

I get a sense that they’re in the up-and-coming stages of world domination–and I mean that in the nicest sense of the term. They aren’t militaristic blowhards. They’ll achieve it just by being genuinely, uniquely themselves.

True, Aussies have yet to approve marriage equality (update: this comment is obsolete already!!! Way to go, OZ!); we outshine them on that count, but that’s just about it. But it won’t be long, I think, until they do the right thing, too.  (It took us until very recently to codify the notion that “love is love”.)

Mel Gibson’s behaviors and drunken tirades have given Aussies a black eye. But no blacker than our Charlatan in Chief has given us.

There are asses in every nation–and sadly, some of them are celebrated asses. (Even New Zealand has its Russell Crowes.)

Fortunately, Gibson and Crowe aren’t in positions of power in the same way our asses are in the White House, Congress and Senate: McConnell, Ryan, Trump, Pence, Sessions…oh, the list goes on and on and on ad nauseum here in the blighted US of A.

But let’s get off that kick and back to why Australia and Australians rock!

Krikey, mate, there are just too many reasons to count!

Australia’s natural wonders and wildlife are second-to-none.

Pixabay images top to bottom:

Great Barrier Reef coral, pelicans, quokka, rainbow lorikeets, uluru (rock), whiptail wallaby 

 

But it’s the people that make Australia stand out to me.

There’s DeForest Kelley’s former fan club president, Anne  Richardson, who spent several weeks with me–first in Hollywood, then on an Alaskan cruise in 2004. She’s a survivor seven ways from Sunday. She has more courage, chutzpah and character than I am able to describe in a brief thumbnail.

There’s Karen Ren Synott, who is a fabulous photographer in addition to being a good friend.

There’s Stuart Blair in Adelaide with Starship Mawson.

There’s Greg Barton, an up-and-coming actor who I’ve been in contact with for four or five years. He’s the friend who got me Karl Urban’s personalized autograph and is doing his best to come see me in the spring when Karl Urban is slated to be here for Emerald City Comic Con so I can meet them both and so Karl can ask me anything he wants to know about De that he didn’t already read in my book…

There’s Cory Belobrajdik, the tenderhearted 27 year old electrical contractor spotlighted in my last blog.

The list goes on and on!

Every Aussie I’ve met or known via the Internet is a unique, positive-minded, one-of-a-kind wonder.

The day Steve Irwin died, the world became less colorful. His madcap enthusiasm for life brightened the entire world.

I sense a lot of that same joyous spirit in the Aussies I interact with. They’re lit up from the inside. They have a plan and no one has beaten it out of them. They’re going for the brass ring and the winner’s circle.

Their enthusiasm is infectious.

I hope it infects the world.

We sure could use it here!