Sydney Maco

Having been born into a Macedonian family automatically makes you a member of the Macedonian Orthodox Church. Here in Sydney we have several Macedonian Orthodox Churches which we can attend, namely; Roseberry, Rockdale, Cabramatta and several newly formed churches. There has been great debate around which church is the “true” church, and I’m not going to get into that here at all. Since most of those arguing probably can’t even name the four gospels, let alone recall a key verse from the Bible. These same people make out to be members of the “true” church, but their real motivation is power, control and a sense of authority rather than serving Christ. They’re probably better off getting a job as a parking attendant or security guard if they’re really bent on that sense of authority. Enough about them.

It’s really sad to admit this, and deep down we all know it’s true, but our community is not truly Christian, we only wear a badge called Macedonian Orthodox when it’s convenient. We are not to blame as individuals, it’s the way our community has evolved here since the early 1970’s. As a family we’d attend church for Weddings, Christenings, Easter and Christmas. Treating church more as a social gathering than a place of learning about the gospel. I recall going to church as a kid to Roseberry, we’d go inside light a candle each, stand around for 10-15 minutes, then head outside for the ice cream vans. I cannot say that I learned a single thing about Jesus while growing up and attending church, and I think most others my generation would say the same.

Today it’s not quite the same, we’ll go inside, light a candle with the kids, leave some money on the icons, then go outside to find others we haven’t seen since last year (since everyone is too busy working and don’t visit anymore). Can’t say I come out of there enlightened or with any revelation, I’ll be surprised if anyone else has. Why do we do this, is it because we’re expected to, believe that it’s the right thing to do ? It’s conditioning, and we’re on auto pilot.

Best way to illustrate is with this example, everything will become clearer.
An experiment was conducted on 10 chimps in a cage, there was a ladder leading up to a platform with bananas on it. Every day at a set time, a new bunch of bananas were placed up on the platform, the chimps would go up and get them. After some time, the experiment was changed so that a hose was pointed at the ladder and any chimp going near the ladder would be blasted. They tried several times, but soon got the picture and learned that there were consequences. Again the experiment was changed, and the hose was removed and one of the original chimps was replaced by one that had never been in the cage. He’d run for the bananas, the others would hold him back. He gradually developed the same conditioning as the others and knew not to climb up, but not the reason. Gradually all the original chimps were replaced one by one with new chimps, until all the chimps now in the cage had never been blasted by the hose but had become conditioned by the others. At the end of the experiment, from time to time a chimp would make a run for the ladder, and the others would hold him back, none of which had ever been blasted by the hose.

We are more than chimps, but sometimes we can behave the same way when living on auto-pilot.
Currently we’re not going to church consciously with any intention of learning something new or becoming closer to Christ. In fact every year I’m amazed at the mass turn out. It’s like a fashion parade and car show out the front all rolled into one. Others take the opportunity to promote their business, handing out leaflets, phone directories, plastering cars with leaflets, etc. We are a miserable bunch when you step back and think about it, I’d go as far as to say that we’re downright hypocrites, and offensive towards God.

My challenge for you all is not to turn things upside down and become rebels, but to question things from time to time. Ask your parents why they have to take red dyed eggs to church for easter, ask them why they leave money, oil, towels in front of icons at the church. You’ll be surprised by some responses, some more puzzling than others. And if you’re really up for it, my real challenge is for you all to ask the priest how he intends to reach out to the younger generation parading around in mini skirts and waxed chests. I’ll be doing that this weekend and let you know how I go. You’re probably curious now about some of the questions I posed. The reason Orthodox Christians leave things at church near the altar has it’s roots in Judaic tradition where animal sacrifices were offered. It was believed that the animal being sacrificed would take away the sins of the person offering it. This is totally contrary to the teaching of Jesus who the church was established for in the first place. What should be taught in our churches is that Jesus died for our sins, through his death we are forgiven. As for the easter eggs, thats going to be another post some day.

If enough of us start posing these questions, and taking a genuine interest, I believe that we’ll get to the heart of the matter, and our community as a whole will benefit.

Something most people don’t like to think about is getting old, but we’re all heading there.
The aged pension is something that our parent’s generation aspire to, they see that as an achievement and an entitlement for long years of hard labor. The bar has been raised much higher for our generation, the aged pension should not even be contemplated as an option. We’re forced into saving for retirement through superannuation in a user pays system that would cause an outrage with the older generation. We’re forced into a private health system through tax penalties where the corporate world will now be responsible for our health and wellbeing. A world where over servicing and inflated prices swallow up any savings made through reduced government bureaucracy. Take a look at the US for example, medication we take for granted here, costs them an arm and a leg. Is a US-like society something that we all aspire to, or is it something forced upon us unwittingly by our submissive government, buckling under pressure ?

I believe that our generation will suffer the greatest strain financially in retirement since we have parents with one expectation, and a government with another expectation of us. We need to forget all talk about government pension, even public health, it’s here today, but realistically in 30 years time it’s every man for himself. Forget government subsidised medication like pensioners enjoy today, and heavily discounted public transport, these are a legacy of a bygone era. As individuals, even as a community we cannot realistically change this shift. What we can do is plan for these things and make a positive outcome, rather than let things happen, and feel like a victim. Awareness is the seed we need to plant in the whole Macedonian community, ignorance will not get us anywhere.

What can we do about this ? I see three options;

- Ignore, and let things happen
- Take action as individuals
- Take action as a community

I’ll explain why the third option is the most likely to see a positive outcome. Ignorance will get us to a state of minimal superannuation accumulation, maybe a house we own, parents in their 80’s to 90’s needing looking after. A fairly mediocre existence, forget about going on overseas holidays every year.
If we take things into our own hands, maybe invest actively, put some money aside, keep ontop of market trends, we’re likely to have only a slightly better outcome. This may sound surprising to most, especially those that feel they have a good handle on their finances and retirement planning. A little more money obviously helps, but what good is the money to you if the community you enjoyed at one stage no longer exists. Or your siblings, cousins, etc went down the ignorance is bliss path. Only a totally selfish person would say “so what, I worked for my money, tough luck to them all.”
Now hopefully you can already see why the third option is the best possible all round. More money, and people to enjoy it with at the same time. Allow me to illustrate with two extreme scenarios;

1. Community of retired Macedonians, all have a car, living in their own house, able to travel overseas regularly, attend social events, concerts, theater, sporting events, church every Sunday, etc. Enjoy each others company, meet regularly for coffee, dine out with others, etc. Independent of their children, feel free to come and go as they please.

2. Vast majority of retired Macedonians on minimal pension, most without a car, living with one of their children out of necessity, cannot travel overseas unless someone else pays for airfare, meet at the local shopping centre and talk about politics, bring a sandwich from home and wont even buy a coffee from Michell’s Patiserie. On the other hand there’s the handful of really well off retirees who are despised by the majority. They’ll go fishing, travel overseas, have a car to travel, but sadly the company is scarce.

We need to shift from the “entitlement mentality” and “victim mentality” held by most of our parents to one of prosperity. Prosperity we can build up as a community with common values, not as selfish individuals with no regard for others. The freedom we enjoy here in Australia is priceless, but even freedom with ignorance is the same being enslaved. I am hopeful that we can achieve the first scenario described above through open discussion and a forum between key members in the community, leading to a definite action plan.

We all get busy with life sometimes, and forget to check up on how our friends are doing. It’s typically the friend you haven’t heard from in some time, or when the conversation just isn’t the same with them any more. Others may have hurt us in some way and we’re inclined to give them the cold shoulder, or write them off completely.
A simple written letter in the mail is something we all seem to have forgotten about in this digital age. When you write things down, the thought process in your brain actually reinforces ideas you already have. At the same time, it’s a way to get straight to the heart of the matter, you open up to your soul. On the other hand with the convenience of email, the excuse of “I’m too busy” just doesn’t cut it any more.
Before I go on, I’d like to set some context which will make my point clearer.
We’ve all heard of the rise in consumerism, typically this is associated with shopping, self indulgence, etc. There is also a lesser known term of information consumer, we are all information consumers to some extent. Society has built up a large base of passive information consumers in many forms, movies, television, print, internet, news, etc. At the same time we can draw another parallel to fast food. A lot of the information out there is of such poor value as to compare it to the nutritious value of fast food.
We’re all aware of the mass market for dieting, cleansing, detox etc. There will soon come a time where people go on an information detox, simply due to over consumption of what is essentially poor quality information.
My argument is that it’s not healthy to be a straight passive information consumer. Many people get caught up in the trap of being a passive information consumer (popular culture, work, news, etc), until a threshold is reached. Then they escape this and flush their minds by going on a holiday as far away as possible. It’s a cycle that continues, and seems quite normal to most people.
So where does our friend come into this ? Our friend could simply be suffering from information overload, or maybe formed an addiction to some source of information (eg internet, movies, etc). A lot of teens these days get lost on the internet in chat rooms, or instant messaging with friends. Men also get hooked on internet porn, since it’s so freely available and easily accessible. Internet auctions such as ebay can also become addictive. These addictive tendencies form in all people to some extent, and can come about for a variety of reasons.
I believe that as human relationships become less valued to individuals in society, there will be a rise in addictive tendencies. By valued, I mean being appreciative towards others, as well caring towards others, respecting people enough to meet them in person rather than SMS them.
The challenge for us is to really value our relationships with others.
Make an effort to see people in person, write them a letter, keep in touch. Friends sometimes get lost, fall into a rut, and don’t think to ask for help. It’s always refreshing to have someone contact us and show a genuine interest.