Monday Missive – February 4th, 2013

Hi Fighter,

It’s Father Dave back with you again – coming to the end of an action-packed day (that culminated in a painfully long run) and savoring an action-packed week that included the long-awaited second stoush between Daniel Geale and Anthony Mundine.

Geale v. Mundine

If you were with me last week you’ll remember that I had a tickets to give away, courtesy of Mr Geale and the PCYC. I gave away 20. I could have easily given away many times that number. It was an event that caught the imagination of countless people around this country, most of whom were mad keen to see Anthony Mundine lose, mainly on account of all the ‘trash-talk’ he came out with in the lead-up to the fight.

And lose he did! I won’t bore you with my analysis of the fight. Suffice it to say that I scored it with a five-point margin in favor of Mr Geale.

Unfortunately Anthony didn’t accept the loss with much grace. I think a large part of the problem there might have been his corner, who were apparently telling him that he was ahead throughout the fight!

I’ve seen this before with elite athletes. They end up with lots of fans but very few friends. Fans are great at telling you what you want to hear. Friends tell you what you need to hear. You need friends when you’re fighting for your life, not fans.

I’m hoping that Anthony will have a George-Foreman-like epiphany sometime soon. He is still a man who has much to offer and who could contribute a great deal – to our Indigenous community in particular – but he’ll need to conquer a few demons first.

Off to Syria!

Denning and I are off to Syria at the end of this week to lend our support to the Mussalaha (reconciliation) initiative.

I can’t tell you the exact date and time of our departure. We’ve been asked to keep the details vague for security reasons. Even so, suffice it to say that I hope to be sending you my next missive from Damascus.

Mind you, the organisers of the mission have warned us that there will be restrictions on ‘technical equipment’ that we can take with us into Syria. I’m hoping that there won’t be a problem with me taking my laptop.

Even so, if you don’t hear from me next week, don’t immediately assume that I’ve had an unscheduled meeting with a drone. Most likely it means that I can’t get to my laptop or that I can’t get an Internet connection.

Having said that, the latest developments in Syria do concern me deeply.

In case you missed it, two days ago Israel bombed a convoy and a research facility inside of Syria. It was the first blatant act of aggression against Syria by a foreign nation since their civil unrest started two years ago!

Personally, I think it is no coincidence that the attack came one day after Tehran issued a statement saying that they would interpret any Israeli attack upon Syria as an attack upon Iran itself! The Israeli’s obviously knew this but they attacked anyway!

Why is Israel risking starting World War III? Are they trying to provoke an attack from Iran? Is this how they intend to drag the US into armed conflict with Tehran?

The explanation might be much simpler. A few days ago the United Nations issue a report that found Israel guilty of war crimes against the Palestinians (read more here). Perhaps this military action was only intended to shift the world’s attention away from what’s going on in Gaza and the West Bank!

You can keep up-to-date with what’s happening in Israel and Palestine (and Syria) on my blog – http://israelandpalestine.org. I publish a couple of articles there each day.

What is this thing called Love?

Yesterday’s sermon was a variation on my usual wedding sermon on 1 Corinthians 13 – St Paul’s Ode to Love.

Love is patient
Love is kind
Love is not jealous or boastful or rude.

You know the passage. It is a beautiful one, and yet if St Paul is saying that love never gets jealous, he must be talking about something entirely different from what we normally mean by the word!

Here’s my take:

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If you can’t access the video, click here.

OK Fighter. It’s past my bedtime and I have to make an early start so I’ll close off here.

I hope to be speaking to you from Syria by this time next week.

Say a prayer for Denning and myself.

your brother in the Good Fight,

Dave
www.fatherdave.org
www.fighting-fathers.com
www.israelandpalestine.org
www.how2changetheworld.com

P.S. As I’m apt to remind you, if you’d like to support our work, the best way is to become a financial member at fighting-fathers.com. It only costs you $10/month but it makes all the difference at this end!