MENTORING NOT MENACING IS THE KEY TO RAISING RESPONSIBLE KIDS

On behalf of all migrant Australians, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we live and pay our respect to their elders past and present. I’m proud to call it ‘my home’ and pay my allegiance to the flag and privileged to use my democratic rights to make inoffensive comments when I see, hear and feel something that betrays our social cohesion.

I just want to get it out of my chest about recent swimming's great Dawn Fraser’s comments about Australian tennis players at Wimbledon. I was not bewildered or surprised with her comments because I hear and see revolting remarks like that every single day.

We all may have come by different circumstances but now we have boarded on the same boat either to navigate together with family spirit by look at the more realistic picture, as they say the devil is in the detail and change for the better or sink together titanically. “Whatever we practise we will get good at, for better or worse.” –Law of nature. 
     
I believe like majority of Australians, I do think Australian swimming great Dawn Fraser stepped over the line when she unconditionally said; young Nick Kyrgios & Bernard Tomic are “being paid too much, arrogant and if they don't like it, go back to where their parents came from. We don't need them here in this country to act like that."  Can you imagine if that applies to every Australian kid if they behaved badly?

Dawn Fraser like Pauline Hanson haunted by their past both speak what’s in the minds of some Australians who couldn’t have the opportunity and celebrity status to say what, how and when they feel the pinch.  

Irrespective of Nick or Bernard’s perceived behaviour or sportsmanship they are still learning how to associate themselves with the level headed environment and persevere their new status as the world’s best tennis players.

I believe society is expecting too much of young people to stay still and behave like everyone else or want them to be someone they admire. We can’t change elephants to be like lions or vice versa. We need to accept growing up kids for what they are or drive them to the limit where they will be traumatised and stigmatised to display even more anguish and unwanted behavioural problems.

Dawn Fraser who is old enough to know better has shown us and the rest of the world how the racist past still droning around among people of her generation.

On the other hand, the media extends their support telling us that Dawn Fraser has apologised after suggesting Nick Kyrgios "go back to where his parents came from" over the claims she apparently knew they labelled him tanking during his 4^th round loss at Wimbledon.

The message still is disappointing. The media should stop playing mouth piece spreading the apology messages. If Fraser honestly wants to apologise, she should appear live and say it as she did the dreadful call on the young tennis player in first place.  

Why didn’t everyone raise their eye brows when, the then 20 years old, Lleyton Hewitt, was lobbing all kinds of racist tantrums against a black linesman for twice foot-faulting him for offences he committed in the US Open in 2001 while playing against, another black man, James Blake?

 

Kyrgios & Tomic Wimbledon 2015                          Blake Hewitt US Open 2001
                                                                          
Hewitt goes on to say, "Look at him (the linesman) and tell me what the similarity is (beckoning towards Blake)," brutal words clearly picked up by the courtside microphones. "I want him off the court, I've only been foot-faulted at one end. Look at what he's done."  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/usopen/3011926/US-Open-Crowd-chide-racist-Hewitt.html

Besides all the Australia’s past social stigmas, do you think the weight of their names, Kyrgios, Tomic vs Hewitt, made a difference?

I beg you not to step over the line to challenge and abuse me; rather take a good hard look at the whole unfolding argument mindfully if you sense this problem is incensed by Australia’s past social norms regressing again like that of the recent US wave of racial brutality by the police force against its own people.

We should take Dawn Fraser’s comments as a wakeup call for the old and new generations and embrace it seriously without making offensive judgements and learn from it and refrain not to make the same mistake again and again. Dawn Fraser and her generation grew up in a time of racial inequality and rampant era of all sorts of discrimination.

Make no mistake, things have changed and it’s time for change, we absolutely need to accept anybody that acts and does anything and everything different than us, without judging and labelling, mindfully. We realize that we are all different species and make different errs sometimes and we should accept that as a warning to check ourselves in the mirror without banging our heads against the mirror or wall.

This wisdom doesn’t come without attention, but paying attention to the things we find most offensive or uncomfortable isn’t for the faint-hearted, so it also requires courage to observe with an unbiased attitude.
Apparently, Dawn Fraser didn’t seem to have a rosy past too.

Here is a copy of bizarre online comment about her by:               [ mawson01 3:23 PM on 07/07/2015 If I recall, Dawn was arrested stealing a flag at the Tokyo Olympics. Not only that, she was not a "team" player in refusing to swim the medley relay.

Pot calling the kettle "black" maybe a risk but appropriate metaphor.]