‘Things that matter’, is edited by Tim Carkery and E.F Nicholson 10/06/2013

In Tim Carkery’s  words….

Amongst the impending doom that we are rapidly propelled towards, we believe that it’s time to be counted, time to be “The bloke with the bucket”, not the “The guy filling his pockets with gold coins”. These titles came about when trying to analogise to my 15 year old son the reasons why I wanted to be a part of a movement of revolution, change and reform when questioned about the current dilemmas that we face.

The youth of today are much more conscious of the state of the Planet that they will inherit, although like my generation feel powerless to confront the necessary changes required to repair the damage that has been done and that is spiralling into inevitable disaster.

We often discuss the issues that leave him bewildered – The catastrophic climate situation, the degradation of our natural environment, sustainability, the obvious short-sightedness and corruption of our governments and the overwhelming pain and inequality around us as a result of corporate greed.

He recently asked me “Dad, why do you bother joining causes, signing petitions and caring about something that you can never have any control over or even make a difference”, and I answered with an analogy that I feel is the reason why this project is worthwhile. … “Son, when over 2000 passengers aboard the Titanic were aware that they had struck an iceberg and had no or little chance of survival, as is human nature, two district groups emerged. There were those who stayed in the lower decks, gorged on the lavish foods and filled their pockets with gold coins and trinkets. I guess they thought – what’s the point, may as well live it up in the final moments. There were also those who grabbed a bucket and started furiously bucketing water off the flooding decks. I guess their mindset was that although there wasn’t much of a chance of survival, they were still not prepared to give up”. I then say, “Son, in all that we have before us, who do you want to be…. The Bloke with the bucket, or the guy filling his pockets?”.

Although this analogy doesn’t resemble the true facts about what happened on the Titanic, it was a perfect piece to explain to my son the reasons why I think this Task of bringing awareness is so important.

In 30 years when I am having similar conversations with my Grand Children (hopefully), when they ask me “poppy, you knew when you were young that these things were happening, yet did nothing about it??”  I will be able to answer “I was one of the blokes with the bucket, and look how many there are now”. Email us at thingsthatmatternet@gmail.com

In E.F Nicholson words

We are two fathers and two members of society who have become disillusioned and fed up with the current state of affairs of our political, economic and societal systems. As we face the annihilation of civilisation as global warming escalates into an irreversible tipping point, those who are meant to represent us and our interest have become shills to a larger corporate agenda. This agenda has managed to capture much of society and with mainstream media as its voice; it’s spread its insidious practices and values to all corners of the globe. Yet the results speak for themselves, as what can you expect to happen when they put greed and growth before anything else. We believe there are alternative options in how society is structured that are non-hierarchical and allow long term sustainability for future generations. We both have come to a point where we feel whining and grumbling about how bad it is will not suffice .So we have set up this blog to help to make a contribution to helping all of us get out of this mess, before it is too late. We will attempt to do this whilst maintaining our work, family and all the other stuff that has the capacity to bury you under .Our aim is promote awareness of what is happening and what it means for all us through articles and humorous viral videos and other content we feel adds to that mission. We are open to other people’s submissions, if you have an article or funny video that promotes the social good please let us know and we will promote where we can. We are non-profit and we will not be having advertising on our site. Email us at thingsthatmatternet@gmail.com