In the land down under, things didn’t move very fast except the marsupials and reptiles who roam the vast spread of desert in their millions. It made sense, after all, why would anyone want rapid changes when you have everything in abundance and beautiful beaches with almost uninterrupted sunlight? However, change has many catalysts and in an interconnected world, events happening thousands of miles away can motivate some to drive the change at home. You can call it opportunism but the emergence of a brutal group called “SICKS” in a complicated foreign conflict was an opportunity for some to save their political skin and others to vent their frustration.
Mr Batbot, the leader of this laid back nation, came out and declared that we as a nation need to change and deal with this brutal new enemy along with 200 odd supporters it had at home. The change was happening, politics was leading it, media was spreading it , law enforcement was doing it and one particular community was feeling it. Soon after the declaration of war, came the unprecedented raids with live and wide media coverage to ensure that the message reached every single person including those who usually turn a blind eye to current affairs. One of these raids in a quiet suburb of a quiet city forced many in the community to change as well. I was one of those people, whose lives were going to be different since that day.
The secluded, fragmented, ill-informed, uninterested and misunderstood community could no longer afford to be laid back. None of us knew when, how and what needs to be done but one thing was for sure, something had to be done. Few from the community including myself decided to band together and respond to this crisis by being open, transparent and engaging. It was these ideals of transparency and engagement, which brought me in contact with a journalist who was recently appointed by a leading newspaper called Truth Fail, solely to report on the community. Lein took his job very seriously and made right contacts to ensure that nothing about the community goes unreported. After all it was his job to make sure that the community stays in the news.
In all fairness, Lein did some positive stories, too. But these were often lost amongst brutal photos and spicy stories of the local members of SICKS. Mr. Batbot was hailed as hero by many on the political right, who by now not only started to fear the community but hatE it for disturbing the peace of this laid back nation. Mr. Batbot would not let the momentum slow down and capitalise on every opportunity to appear on the TV screens and in articles of Truth Fail as a sole protector of the tranquility of his nation. It may seem a little odd but all this was having an impact on exports of a large foreign nation, which manufactured the flags of down under. The sales were soaring, not only because Mr. Batbot kept on buying a flag for each appearance but those who were scared wanted to fight back with a flag of their own.
While the media and Mr. Batbot was fixated on the community, he was failing on other arguably more important fronts. Down Under’s economy was going down the shit creek and the paddle was no where to be found. While most of the nations around the world were busy debating ways to tackle climate change, Mr. Batbot’s climate policy was becoming as old as fossilised coal. According to the polls with every scared and angry vote, Mr. Batbot was loosing two from the voters who were on the ball. Some of his colleagues knew that Mr. Batbot is loosing the plot but like the nation itself, the politicians of down under take their time to lead change.
Some of those who were arrested in the spectacular raids were getting their charges dropped against them and a year passed without a single successful conviction. There were hardly any more houses to be raided or passports to be cancelled. The world was moving on but this time it was going north, while Mr. Batbot was travelling to Antarctica. The world was moving on from SICKS and starting to talk more about those who were running away from civil war. Lein was struggling to write about the community and my day job started to take more time than answering Lein’s phone calls. Then came the final straw, an image of a dead child washed up at the shores of the ocean. Mr. Batbot could no longer hide behind the image of the warrior he tried so hard to maintain. Even Truth Fail could not ignore the young dead body and none of the stories by Lein appeared that day.
Mr. Batbot did show compassion but the last boat up north had sailed and Mr. Batbot was destined to spend rest of his days in the cold expanse of political wilderness. He was finally abandoned by most of his own men and he was replaced by Mr. Calm Ball, who was always looking for his moment of change. Lein knew his days at Truth fail are numbered and he was smart enough to make alternate arrangements. It took two days and Lein handed his resignation to move on to something else. As for me, being a small part of a large game means, I will get to keep my community role and have time to write blogs.
alimkadri 