Our thought-for-the-day yesterday was ‘bearing witness”.  Many of us have joined this walk to get a better sense of the land out here, the people that will be directly affected by these mines if they are allowed to go ahead.  So often mines and their ramifications like toxic waste piles, poisoned water and constant pressure from mining companies are things happen so far away from our lived experience.  Far away from our day-to-day lives in metropolitan areas.

By being out here on country with traditional owners, talking with people, being open to experiencing the land here, we are opening up ourselves

But the reality is that we all have a responsibility to speak up and speak out against this destruction.  It is a responsibility, but it is a privledge too, to enact our inherit role as a custodian of the land that gives life to us.

Many of us have come to develop a personal sense of what it here that we need to be standing up to protect as joint custodians.

This quote, by Arundahati Roy, focused our thoughts.

“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.”
― Arundhati Roy