Opinion Articles

SOUL MATTERS: Inspiration in the courage of convictions
By Tracey Edstein

While I had not followed Jessica Watson’s progress, alone and unassisted, around the world in her little pink boat, I did find the footage of her returning to Sydney Harbour that Saturday afternoon compelling viewing, and I kept watching, despite long delays.

When Jessica left Sydney, especially after that initial setback, I was skeptical. I admired her physical courage (having little of my own) and independence, but felt it was a hugely risky enterprise – and for what? I can’t have been the only one who felt this way.

When Jessica, no longer alone nor unassisted, made her way to the Opera House to be greeted by thousands of well wishers, I was amazed by her composure, her humility, her readiness to acknowledge her supporters, especially her family. She said, contradicting the PM, “I don’t consider myself a hero. I’m an ordinary girl who believed in a dream.”

Back in 2003, Donna Mulhearn, who grew up in Maitland and was a councillor there at 26, decided to travel to Iraq and use her ‘white, Western life’ as a human shield protecting lives not so fortunate as to be white and Western. She later wrote, “I believe the aggression of the US towards Iraq is not warranted or justified….This decision has been made of my own free will and I am going entirely at my own risk.”

When Donna announced this decision, I remember feeling skeptical. What would she really achieve? Was it worth it? And if she died – which was quite possible – what a waste of a young life with so much to offer!

Recently, I had the opportunity to meet and interview Donna. In preparation, I read her memoir, Ordinary Courage: My journey to Baghdad as a human shield (2010 Pier 9), quoted above. This pilgrim’s tale of abandoning a successful career to search for meaning, discovering the philosophy of non-violence and committing to Christian meditation, was compelling. It placed the decision to go to Iraq as a human shield – “really, all it took was one moment” – in the context of a longer journey, inspired by a man who said, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:13).

As I read, it made sense. Donna was not seeking to waste her life, but to offer it in the service of goodness and justice. If she lost it, it would not wasted. Donna survived, and in some ways, what she has achieved since those heady days is more significant than her presence as a human shield.

She returned to Iraq a number of times, joining other human shields to found “Our Home – Iraq”, an international group supporting children and families in Iraq with the aim of expressing PEACE in ACTION, and working with other volunteer groups. Today, she continues to be a strident voice for non-violence, peace and justice – and to meditate.

Jessica Watson’s achievement places her in a position of immense influence. Her real achievement may well be the ways in which she chooses to use that influence in years to come.

Tracey Edstein is the Editor of Aurora, magazine of the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. This article is submitted by the Churches Media Association www.cmahunter.com.au.

*This article was published in The Herald, 14th June 2010