Luxury of the Homeless

This morning, I was driving through Subiaco on my way back from the ANZAC Day dawn service, when one of my friends spotted a homeless person pick an old cigarette up off the ground and put it straight in his mouth, fumbling in his pockets for a lighter.

"I reckon some people choose to be homeless," my friend said; "like, they enjoy it."

Is that really possible? One might wonder. No rent, no job, no tax, no stress... no responsibilities. It made me stop and think; the more we consume, the more we are accountable for.

Still; I wouldn't enjoy digging through a rubbish bin.

BHP Update

So, the BHP Iron Ore chief resigned on Friday, after 25 years with the world's largest resource company; amidst the company's current long-term $11 billion iron ore expansion.

Is the "growth" in China flattening?

Rio Tinto Media Release

Yesterday in Singapore, Rio Tinto became a member of the new China Beijing Metals Exchange (CBMX). As indicated by the Rio Tinto Iron Ore Asia president, Alan Smith, this further reflects the exciting future ahead for China trading market trends. This development represents a sustainable iron ore trading platform, and provides tangibility to trade over and above the amount already exported.

I feel inspired and motivated by this development; the Chinese century is certainly no myth, and I'm excited to be a part of it!

This image was taken in Guilin, China - July 2010

The Chinese Challenge

Last week, I asked a colleague at work whether there had ever been any discussion around generating the Rio Tinto websites in other languages such as Chinese or Indian; the company's largest importers of iron ore. She replied with a defiant 'no' - and informed me rather matter-of-factly that there was no interest and no point as English and French are the most widely spoken languages in the world.

Of the 7 billion people on this earth, over 1.3 billion are Chinese, and 1.1 billion are Indian.

Only 65 thousand are French.

Sometimes, it is so difficult to imagine numbers so large as that of those in the billions. One only needs to think of the entire population of Australia... being less than that of Shanghai. China's largest city has over 30 million people.

For a company to attract the attention of every single person living in this country, they would only need to resonate with 1.7% of the population of China.

It's a matter of life or death

Two days ago, my friend committed suicide. He fare-welled his friends after a Saturday night out, went home, and hung himself. The news came as a huge shock for everyone - no one even suspected that he was depressed.

Last week, a close friend's sister was killed instantly in a car accident. She swerved for a car that braked suddenly to turn, and the car rolled twice; taking her life. She has left behind a family that feel cheated, and two young children that will grow up without knowing their mother.

Both of these cases have rocked me. In particular, the suicide. What could really be so bad that one feels the need to quit first and foremost? More importantly, without telling anyone.

Death before one's time is always unfair; always too soon. However, the death of Mitch Constantine feels so different, knowing that he made this decision himself.

Every year, approximately 2000 Australians die by suicide; this rate has been steadily decreasing over the past decade; contradictory to the supposed 'youth suicide epidemic'. Men generally commit suicide at a rate four times that of women, however women attempt to commit suicide more frequently.

Suicide can have devastating impacts on friends, family, colleagues and potentially the whole community. This death has questioned my perception of the people close to me; perhaps "Are You OK?" day isn't such a stupid idea after all.

Life is a precious gift. It is precious to those who are living it, and those who are graced by the living's presence. One should not feel cheated in losing a loved one before their time; but thankful for the time spent with them.

Adapting to Change

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change" - Charles Darwin

Humans are a creature of habit; having to change our behaviours and patterns is frustrating because it removes us from our comfort zone, and instills a feeling of powerlessness. Whilst certain people will promote their love of new beginnings and surroundings, I have come to realise that we only truly embrace a change that is made on our own terms.

Adapting to change is one of the most essential life skills a person can have. Three out of four employees will demonstrate significant difficulty adapting to change; this costs a business money. Change, however, is crucial and an unavoidable repercussion of progressive growth.

Some of the obstacles we face - according to psychologist, Dennis O'Grady - may include:

• Fear of the unknown
• Fear of failure
• Fear of commitment
• Fear of disapproval
• Fear of success

Basically, humans are reactively frightened of change. We adopt a sense of panic; presume a loss of control. Predict a feeling of failure if we commit to goals associated with the change. Begin questioning "what do I really want?" and realising that the imposed change may eliminate our options. Even when we accept the change, there is the underlying feeling that questions our expectations; if I change, what other demands will be expected of me, and can I sustain this success?

Perception of Beauty

On 2 August 2010 in a Washington DC subway, Joshua Bell - one of the top musicians in the world - played six of Bach's most intricate pieces on the violin for 45 minutes. During this time, thousands of people passed by; only six people stopped to listen. The one who paid the most attention was a three year old boy, who was eventually pushed by his mother to move on.

This was an experiment conducted by the Washington Post, and raises questions about our perception of beauty. Do we recognise talent in an unexpected context? If we cannot spare the time to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, what else are we missing?

Two nights earlier, Joshua Bell sold out at a theatre in Boston; seats averaged $100.

Further reading on this experiment can be found HERE.

These findings struck a cord with me, and really made me question as usual our purpose in life; what are we doing here?? So much of what we do on a day-to-day basis is dictated - if not directly - by social norms. Who says you can't have spaghetti for breakfast?

On a materialistic level, since when did it become expected that women should have hairless legs? I'm not saying I don't shave my legs in protest (although I did receive a razor and moisturiser for a Secret Santa present which was odd...), but I do think that a lot of what we are expected to look like and do to our bodies highlights our inner need to conform to the norm; who sets the norm anyway?

This clip exploits the media's radical attempts to dictate 'beauty'. No wonder our perception of 'beauty' is so distorted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAnRQncZ_uk

Aside from all this, there has been a great deal of psychological study into our perception of beauty. For example, symmetry is attractive to the human eye; pity that no-one's body, face or shape is completely symmetrical. Males in Western cultures generally prefer females with a small jaw, a small nose, large eyes, and defined cheekbones. Scientists have also found that the body's proportions play an important role in the perception of beauty as well (well duh).

Unfortunately - or fortunately - when you strip it all away, no person out of the seven billion people on this earth, is born to look the same as anyone else. So why oh why do we continue to conform to the 'norm'??