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We Take Our Past With Us
“You can run, but you can’t hide.” It is such a common quote, but actually I don’t know where it is from.
Joe Louis the great American boxer was attributed to saying “He can run, but he can’t hide”, but that is not the reference I had in my mind when I started writing this post. I am sure it is a line from a movie somewhere, but someone will have to help me out.
The point is that we have a past, and try as we might to shake off the bad bits, they are part of makes us who we are for better or worse. Learning to live from the past is of far more importance. Make peace with the past and become a better person.
When I ran through Singapore, I was reminded of my early days as a young officer in the Australian Army when we did some training exercises in Singapore. I didn’t so much run through Singapore as across it, from top to bottom starting at the Causeway and finishing on Sentosa Island. I was a hot and humid day, and I was feeling it, probably getting a little heat stroke and dehydration along the way.
A short distance after getting started on the third leg of this journey when I ran across Singapore, I passed this red sign you can see on this post.
Singapore is only a small island, and so space is at a premium. It is also a country with conscription with every male required to do national service. So with a large army, they need space to train, and safely. This sign to some extend explains that, but it also echoes a past history marked by violent struggle to emerge as a strong democracy.
We have to know our past. There are lessons to be learnt, and the getting of wisdom.
Without sounding too dramatic, there is a lot we stand to learn about child survival from what has happened in the past. Not everything has worked, and no doubt there has been a lot of wastage. Some of that has been well-intentioned, and other has been simply wasteful. But this is not a time for criticism, but analysis and designing a better future. And that is what this journey is about. The 10 City Bridge Run asks “how might we use our networks to improve the delivery of child survival?” We are not all experts, but we can learn from those who have gone before.
Here is a short reflection from during the third leg across Singapore:
And here is a short musical note of thanks from the very talented Freddie King to Robert for his support on the 10 City Bridge Run. Thanks Robert!
You Don’t Have To See The Whole Staircase
One of the many great quotes from Martin Luther-King Jr came to mind earlier this week. I was remembering a conversation I had with my good friend Kelley from New York when she was visiting Sydney. It was back in 2010 and we had just met through a mutual friend who asked me to show her around the city. Over coffee, I spoke of my hesitation with releasing a new website for 10 City Bridge Run. Characteristically, she scoffed and told me in the most kindhearted of ways to get over myself and just start.
Now I am looking at what that final leg in New York might look like. And then together we will begin a new journey with a series of Design Forum. Actually, we will have more gaps in our knowledge than certainty, so will have to follow the advice from MLK:
Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.
A Moment of Unexpected Excitement
Sharing stories is part of makes us who we are. Of course, it is the ability to tell a story to someone that makes it worthwhile. Not so much the audience, but it is in the sharing.
I encountered a moment of unexpected excitement in Shanhaiguan, a costal city in China located at the beginning of the Great Wall, and am sharing it here to say thank you to my mate Kent for his support of this epic quest.
Shanhaiguan is an interesting city in itself, having been strategic for defence for centuries to protect China from domestic threats, and was sieged and sacked in 1901 with most of what we now enjoy of the Great Wall that can found there being destroyed. What stands now was largely rebuilt in 1986 or thereabouts. Still, it is an impressive structure today of what must have been an impressive engineering feat back in the day centuries ago.
But that is not what this story is about.
When I set off on the run, I initially headed west running out of the town to the river that forms a valley which runs parallel to the Great Wall. The river is very wide in parts, maybe wider than the Han River in Seoul, and there are many bridges there which I thought would be good to cross over as part of this initiative.
I reached the river, and found I could head south to the Bohai Sea on a badly sealed road, or take a goat track that weaved it’s way along the reeds at waters edge below. So I decided to travel on the goat track.
Since beginning the running, I had been hearing fast air spinning around upstairs. There were a lot of planes in the sky from what it sounded to this old Forward Air Controller, but I couldn’t spot any despite the noise. I was at a loss to work out where they were or what they were doing.
As I took the goat track, I began to see the aircraft. Coming in to land at what I soon found to be an airport located abutting the river. Every two minutes, and with little break, these jet fighters were landing. An impressive sight.
Running closer, I encountered a farmer with his goats. He signalled to me something, but I didn’t know what he was indicating. I sensed something was not quite right up ahead. Then I realised the sounds I was hearing was also gun shot from shotgun. I wasn’t wanting to push my luck in China, already I was running in a city wearing a gong fu uniform and Mao Army hat. Not the easiest situation to explain when questioned…
I indicated I would proceed to the high ground, and then saw ahead of me two soldiers who were patrolling away from me in the same direction I was travelling. Both watching their arcs, both with shotgun drawn. After a few moments earlier considering the vulnerability of the location, and having taken some happy snaps, I decided to be on my best behaviour but also get a little closer to see what was going on.
By this stage, I was able to take some pretty good photos of the planes. I didn’t want to make it too obvious, but I ought not to have worried because of the cameras that were monitoring the area, including me no doubt.
It was then obvious to me. The soldiers were not hunting anyone. They were basically beaters, making sure there was going to be no aircraft Foreign Object Damage from birdlife taking off startled by the fighters. Their job was to make the reeds as least hospital as possible for birds. Besides, there was plenty of river for them to next elsewhere.
A little while later, I found a dead snake on the pathway. Being used to snakes in Australia that are pretty poisonous, I generally make it a habit to treat all snakes with respect. I had no idea what this snake was, and still have not identified it. But I was happier to see it after I had left the reeds.
Running further down the footpath, I started closing on an old ‘grandfather’ type character. He was adorable. Dressed in his Mao styled suit, he just wanted to talk. And talk. And talk some more.
My Chinese was pretty scant, but he had the impression that I knew enough to have a chat. I put it down to the fact that he was lonely and wanted to have a chat. It didn’t seem to bother him that I was a foreigner, but he was full of compliments for my gong fu uniform. In the end, I just had to run off. I couldn’t stand there and listen for a long time. I didn’t know how to say “sorry, but I had to run”, but he soon got the message.
And perhaps he was just showing my premises where this blog began. Sharing stories is part of makes us who we are. But it is in the sharing.
Thanks for sharing this journey Kent.
Terrible Tragedy
Glasgow has been devastated by a terrible accident where a lorry overturned and killed six people, injuring eight others.
It is a terrible incident to occur at any time, which is compounded by the proximity to Christmas when focus is so heavily set on family.
This news is troubling for anyone, and I think that the response in Sydney last week shows the extent of outpouring that will precipitate this tragedy.
My decision now is to determine the way forward:
- Proceed to Glasgow as planned with an intention to run 28 December
- Delay arrival to run on 31 December and bridge the New Year
- Travel to another city in UK to run
I havent decided either way at this point, but welcome your input. What would you do? What is your advice?
A Funny Thing Happened In The Subway Last Night
December has been unmistakably cold in Seoul with temperatures down to -13 degrees celcius. There is a lot of ice and snow on the streets, and it makes doing distance in training difficult. Last night I ran through one of the extensive subway stations for training. Jongno 3-Ga has six platforms and 15 exits, so I could get some good distance, and even work in plenty of stairs into the run.
Jongno 3-Ga station became the world’s largest indoor gym for me last night as I sought refuge from the cold and ice during my training run.
Six platforms and 15 exits provided a good route to traverse without freezing entirely. I even had stairs!
Glasgow, Toronto and New York will be slightly warmer, and I expect wet, not snowy or icy. Running in cold for extended periods comes with its own challenges.
Here is the schedule for the journey ahead:
- Christmas Day fly to London
- 26 December arrive in London and directly transit to Glasgow
- 28 December run in Glasgow
- 28 December fly to London
- 29 December fly to Toronto
- 31 December run in Toronto
- 31 December fly to New York
- 3 January run in New York
- 3 January hold a wake for my brother and after-party to celebrate the conclusion of the running stunt ahead of the Design Forum ahead
- 5/6 January return to Australia
A Journey Of 240 km
I’m looking ahead a few short weeks to when I will complete the end of this running stunt in New York which I began in Port Moresby on Papua New Guinea Independence Day in September this year.
The running stunt has consisted of running 10 sub-marathons each of 24 km, in 10 cities across 10 countries. The stunt is to open a conversation asking a question asking: “how might we use our networks to improve the delivery of child survival?”
It wasn’t until I reached Osaka which was the fourth city where I ran, that I had an insight to this series of Design Forums that would unfold to address that question. Up until that time, I had envisaged one Design Forum to cap off the running stunt where the whole conversation would come together.
One conversation would not be enough. There are many voices and many ideas. Ideas that need to be played out, tested, refined and developed. That involves time. Additionally, there are different culture, different languages, different time zones. Across the space of two weeks, our lives can change. What are we likely to observe across a period of eight months?
In Osaka, I had an insight that the Design Forums were going to be a journey in themselves. It wouldn’t have worked out to convene these Design Forum while I have been running. I know things now I didn’t know at the beginning of the journey. It has been a necessary journey.
Was it the best way to make a difference? Hard to say. Will we make a difference? Well, we won’t know until we make the journey. Will it be worth it? Define ‘worth it’.
When I run those final metres in this journey in New York, I will have covered 240 km across a marathon effort which has joined 10 cities that offer a lot to this conversation, and all which have no other connecting link to this conversation about child survival. It is the running journey that will make the Design Forum possible.
Of course, there are plenty of other lessons learnt along the way too. I have done the hard work to date, but come next year when we commence the Design Forum, the conversation will open to one of participation and collaboration more than has been the case now.
To get there, I need some help. Already, many people have been extremely generous. I am seeking to win the support of 240 people who have yet to support the 10 City Bridge Run who might all be in a position to make a small contribution of $10. The remainder of this journey is especially important to me because for me it is a tribute to my brother. That doesn’t diminish the cause of creating a space where we can all work together to ask how we might improve the delivery of child survival.
Would you please help? Would you please share this link to someone who might be able to contribute $10. You might want to make a contribution yourself, and even if it only a small sum that is enough to buy a cup of coffee, I would appreciate it. It will help us to reach our destination. https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/epic-quest-to-honour-my-brother-s-legacy/x/1194797
Moving On
I need to say thank you. Thank you to the many friends who have left comments, given their encouragement, and assisted with their support of this project which I began in 2010 calling it the 10 City Bridge Run.
There is a period soon after the death of someone who was close to you which is an awkward period. At least, I find it awkward. Awkward because it is time to get back into ‘business as usual’, begin again to focus and work hard, but you know in yourself that there is still some grieving to be done.
I know that it is far from business as usual. Yesterday, I found myself with a particularly short fuse over an incident which was trivial. That was an indicator that all was not as it should be.
Here, I am talking about my brother. On a personal level, I have dedicated the remainder of this journey to honouring my brother’s legacy and in doing so to live out his last words to me: “stay there and keep doing what you are doing.” I don’t want to labour the point. I am not a victim. Life must go on.
It is somewhat surreal to have a personal experience overtaken by external events. The personal experience I am referring to is reconciling the death of my brother with the interruption that came from the extremely tragic incident of the Lindt siege in Sydney, and to a lesser degree the ever-increasing Christmas-paraphenalia that fills the pages of emails and Facebook posts. It is an observation, not a complaint.
It mirrors to some extent the experience following the destruction of MH17. A sad event by any measure, made more poignant by a personal connection with my uncle and his three grandchildren aboard. Shortly after that event, the media were tracking down relatives to interview, and with a relentless pursuit. Hungry for a story compounded by the time-sensitive nature of a story.
I discussed the approaches I had received from the media with some family members after the MH17 had been reported, and argued that I ought to engage with them so as to protect those family members who were closer to the loss. Give the media what they want and little more. With the family’s permission, I contacted a couple of media leads who had been chasing me.
It is a funny experience to be chased by the media. One minute, you are invisible. Then the world changes, and the resources they will deploy to get their man are remarkable. Quite an industry.
Within 12 hours of agreeing to an interview, I was on CNN. Within 24 hours, I was speaking with an Australian TV channel, SkyNews, and had a direct line to Anderson Cooper where we had a personal chit-chat. Credit where it is due, they were all very sensitive to the loss. but also with a pragmatic focus to get what they needed. An impressive machine.
In that regard, I feel some sympathy for the other hostages in the Lindt Cafe. They will largely go unseen, melt back into the community, except that they won’t. They will forever be affected by that experience, knowing that it could have been them that was killed, or maybe if they had done something differently that somehow no life might have been lost. They are the ones that know the real story. The story from their perspective.
I wonder what they make of the sea of flowers in Martin Place, that today are being collected, and then disposed in such a way as to hold that special tribute that those many bunches together came to represent. I wonder what they make of that selfie a friend of mine took when standing in line to lay his wreath with his steely look of resolve that seemed to make no sense aside from a misplaced sense of patriotism, and I wonder what they will make of my friend’s need to then post the photo on Facebook. We are a society made up of many people, and it is an interesting dynamic.
There were many people working in Sydney last Monday close to Martin Place. Many people who have been in that cafe before. Many people whose lives had previously grazed across the path of those two people killed in somewhat-unknown circumstances in the cafe. All of these people have feelings, and everyone who was laying flowers were joining to share their feelings too.
Meanwhile, today and everyday around 16,000 children will die, and many from preventable causes That is a fact. It is not a contest. It does show that media and corporate communications are awesome forces at work in our lives. We are so affected by these forces that we don’t even register the influence.
In light of the Lindt coverage, I felt somehow less entitled to share my grief about my brother. Self-censorship is the worst outcome from fear of public criticism. Legitimacy is an interesting subject, and an arena for much ethical deliberation.
We don’t just move on. We take the past with us, and it shapes us. I have resolved not to be apologetic about asking for support to honour the legacy of my brother. It is my story, it is a story of hope, and in that regard it is a narrative that we can all share. Please share the link below, even if you can’t make a contribution. Please share it because it is a message of hope, and please share it because your kindness is something I value. Thank you. https://life.indiegogo.com/fundraisers/epic-quest-to-honour-my-brother-s-legacy/x/1194797
A Glasgow Story
An Australian walked into a deep-fried haggis cafe with a good friend from Sierra Leone… Aisha and I took a moment out from the Design Thinking work we were deeply engaged with in Glasgow, and went exploring the streets of Glasgow.
An unexpected surprise was found when we met Luigi, who taught us more than we needed to know about haggis, sold us some sickly-sweet but delicious deep-fried Mars Bars, and also sang for us.
He is an opera singer as well, and I suspect his life story is something to behold.
It is quite likely I will be dropping in to say hello once finishing the 24 km leg running around rain-soaked Glasgow very soon.
In case you were wondering, this is what deep-fried haggis looks like, and it was very, very good. Best not to think about the beef lungs before dining.
Do You Want Gel With That?
Yosef is a good mate of mine in Auburn. The barber shop is on the southern side of Auburn Station, and I highly recommend you drop by to say hello, and even go to get your hair clippered.
He crafted a silhouette of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on my moustache I had grown for Movember a few years back.
Shortly after my brother was diagnosed with leukaemia, my mother did the ‘world’s greatest shave’ to raise money for leukaemia, and I joined her too.
It certainly wasn’t a fashion statement, but doing this did give me something to ‘do’ while my brother was battling out chemotherapy on his own. I’m glad I made the video, and is a good reminder of a precious two years I had with my brother across the last two years.
Josef has such a lovely nature. He was really sensitive through the haircut, asking after my brother. And he injected some excellent Australian humour into the situation asking: “do you want gel with that?” once he had finished. He didn’t charge me for the haircut either, and I think he will be one of the first places I go for a haircut after touching down in Sydney and dropping my bags.
Every time I walk past his shop, he always asks after my brother. That sort of community spirit is really welcome.
It doesn’t need to be mentioned, but I make the following comment in wake of the recent Lindt seige. Josef is a Muslim and I am not. We get along famously, as I do with all his mates. Despite our differences, we are better together. We are building bridges, because don’t we know we need them.
Why Glasgow?
Of all the cities in the UK, why on earth would I pick Glasgow? Why not London which is such a global hub with some key hospitals and organisations that have made enormous contribution to innovation, design and technology relating to child survival?
I had the chance to visit in 2013 as part of a Commonwealth Studies Conference. We had excellent access to this city which was a mercantile hub at the turn of the century, but fell into hard times as industry changed in UK. Today, it is a city that is rebuilding, and is strong like its people.
I was on the study tour with an eclectic assortment of leaders from across the Commonwealth. Three of the five countries with the largest proportion of child mortality are members of the Commonwealth and represented on the programme: India, Pakistan and Nigeria. Additionally, Sierra Leone is a Commonwealth member state with the highest rate of child mortality globally.
I was there not long after my brother was diagnosed with Leukaemia, and had just commencing his initial chemotherapy. I filmed the video below from Strathclyde University where we pad a tour through their research facility within the Public Health Department. Amazing people and exciting breakthroughs. It was stuff my brother would have loved, and taps into an important aspect of child survival which is combatting disease.
Strathclyde University is an old institution with impressive fresh thinking which is being recognised globally for their ability to steward entrepreneurial and innovative thinking. Additionally, Glasgow boasts a strong tech-med community with global reach. The answer to child survival is not going to be found in medicine, but public health is a broader discipline which probably bests describes the arena where the question: “how might we use our networks to improve the delivery of child survival?” can be mapped.
The conversation will unfold in London before leaving the UK in April next year. Save The Children originates from London, and there are many best-practice hospitals in London that focus on child and maternal health. Additionally, London is a place where ideas thrive.
It is my intention to convene the Design Forum in Glasgow and London in April, straddling the Skoll World Forum to be held in Oxford. I attended the Skoll World Forum for many years in its early days since 2005 when it was free to attend by invitation. The conference has changed a lot since then, and has gained profile but maybe lost something by becoming a little exclusive in some regards.
Gathering people and coordinating the conversation for the Design Forum will be challenging, but is not impossible.
The Design Forum that will be held in UK will frame the conversation going forward after the initia hackathon which is to be held in Osaka in February, then a Design Forum in Port Moresby to get a better understanding of the problem itself.
Glasgow, Oxford and London will be important opportunities to bring important ideas into questioning ‘how might we’ improve the delivery of child survival. There is a lot of experience and workable ideas to benefit from. There is a lot of information. It won’t be easy, but it is important.
This is essentially why the running stunt is required. It is a very long way of going about building a conversation, and a way of threading together cities that otherwise have little in common of this issue of child survival. The discussions don’t have to be huge, but they will need to be effective. Making this happen will be the biggest challenge yet and will need the collaboration from many.
Building Bridges 