Way back in 1980 on this very day, 11th November, my wife and I were walking through the very large Indooroopilly Shoppingtown in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.
It was around 10:59 in the morning, when a voice surprised us as it boomed over the public address system. It was an announcement that at 11 a.m. everyone would be invited to stand still for a minute's silence to honour the fallen in WWI. 🕴🏻️🕴🏻️🕴🏻️
Having recently through a study of the Bible come to appreciate that those who support the governments of this world are against government by God, we decided to NOT stand still.
We were caught off guard. Forgot it was the 11th of the eleventh at at 11 a.m. If we'd realised we would have waited in our car so as not to risk upsetting anyone.
We did not make a hulabaloo about it - we had no wish to interfere in the worship of others who wanted to worship the dead who chose to sacrifice themselves to the god of war - we merely quietly sorted through some items on sale on a stand. Enough movement to make it clear to observers that we were not participating, but not enough to disturb those who wanted to worship.
It was amusing that a few did glare at us, but they couldn't say anything, because they were trying to be silent!
That was 41 years ago. Our stand has not changed. It's an interesting exercise to speculate what would happen today if there was some sort of public ceremony to worship the dead who have not survived the current pandemic.
Probably we would be arrested if we refused to worship the dead - at least in Australia.
But here in Vanuatu people are free to worship however they want.
It's one of the nice things about becoming a citizen or getting permanent residency so you have the freedom to spend time here.
I know you will like it, so get cracking and book an appointment for a discovery call: https∶//in.vu/cal
Lance (enjoying the freedom) in Vanuatu
