Wednesday, December 14

I don't normally read the results of the many polls which are taken across Australia every month.  Apart from not particularly caring what other people think, I don't trust the polls themselves.  It's surprising how often polls reflect the bias of the organisation promoting the poll.  

But I happened to notice one yesterday which asked the question, 'Overall, do you think that 2023 will be a better or worse year for Australia than 2022?'

Good question!  And the response was good too.  50% of 18-34 year olds said Better, 44% of 35-54 year olds said Better but only 29% of the 55+ cohort said Better.  Clearly, the older we get, the more pessimistic we become.  What a miserable lot we oldies are.  We live in the best country in the world where we'll never go hungry, where we'll be looked after if we are sick, where the sun shines all the time, where we don't have to worry about 'home invasions' or ratbags with guns wandering the streets, and the best we can say when asked our opinion is 'we're going to the dogs.'

It reminds me of a poem by John O'Brien:

"We'll all be rooned," said Hanrahan,
  In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
  One frosty Sunday morn.