Hugh Mackay
Hugh Mackay
american-athlete careful cheap decisions despite effective family looks might planning talk
Despite the availability of cheap and effective contraception, it looks as if we are not as careful in our decisions about reproduction as all the talk of family planning might suggest.
allowing american-athlete children create expectation instant media ourselves violence worried
Frankly, I'm more worried about the violence we do to ourselves and our children by allowing the media to create an expectation of instant gratification.
american-athlete consume media might otherwise personal relationships spend time violence worrying
Even more worrying is the violence we do to our personal relationships when we let media consume time we might otherwise spend with each other.
american-athlete enjoyed far jane people television work
Far more people have enjoyed Jane Austen's work on television than will ever read her books.
american-athlete anyone carried high moral occupation
So let's not get carried away by hubris: Australians are no better than anyone else when it comes to occupation of the moral high ground.
american-athlete contrast default dodge essence happiness obvious perhaps point rather sadness tedium
How have we managed to dodge the rather obvious point that happiness only makes sense by contrast with sadness - or perhaps with tedium - and that uncertainty, the very essence of imperfection, is our default position?
relationship people perfect
Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational.
perfection imagine persons
Actually, I can't imagine anything more tedious than a perfect person, especially if it was someone who also demanded perfection from me.
leadership responsibility understanding
One of the most important responsibilities of leaders in any setting - including business organisations - is to tell us our own story; to explain us to ourselves; to help us weave some meaning and purpose into the fabric of our lives; to illuminate our understanding of where we have come from; to paint word pictures of our future onto which we can project our aspirations.
leadership strong vision
The yearning for strong leadership is more about strength of purpose - clarity of vision - than about merely 'getting tough'.
leadership inspiration essence
Polls are no substitute for leadership because, at its very essence, leadership is about giving people what they don't already have - a sense of vision, inspiration, or even an adequate grasp of a particular subject.
choices feelings trying
One reason we resist making deliberate choices is that choice equals change and most of us, feeling the world is unpredictable enough, try to minimise the trauma of change in our personal lives.
children educational opportunity
Obviously, every child should be given the best possible opportunity to acquire literacy skills.
leadership strong australia
It is the misfortune of contemporary leaders, across the whole spectrum of Australian life, that the community's demand for strong leadership is growing in direct proportion to our lack of confidence in ourselves. The end of this century is an unusually difficult time to be a leader in Australia.