Thankyou Lismore

You should never post anything to social media on a Friday night, I’ve recently concluded. There are far too many people with “opinions” that, perhaps, become a little more extreme at the end of the working week, and perhaps after a glass or two of something. I was reminded of this again last night, after posting to a Facebook group a video of the Lismore flood thankyou parade at the Lismore Show.

In the midst of the overwhelming number “likes/loves”, there were maybe half a dozen people who were overly negative and nasty. Though they had legitimate points to make about the inclusivity of the parade, they could have phrased their feelings better.

In the flood coverage you might have seen mention of the Fijian and Sikh community members who helped volunteers, and sang (beautifully) as they worked. They were at the start of the parade, singing along the way.

Personally, I would have loved to have seen some kind of representation from the Koori Mail who did an amazing job, helping with food and shelter.

There are still strong feelings locally about the wonderful role played by the “tinny army” (the volunteers outside the state emergency service).

There was also criticism of the apparent delays in the arrival of the army to assist. Seated at a cafe the other day I overheard two people talk about the floods in Victoria, observing “the army turned up much faster for them than they did for us”.

However, I didn’t want to debate who was there and who wasn’t, and simply posted the video.

In response to some the criticism, a couple of comments resonated for me, including this one…

The local SES are local people from your community who give up so much to be there at the drop of a hat at any time for any call. Don’t condemn them for the decisions made by head office.
Facebook Resilient Lismre

In the midst of the criticism, I hope the video captures the heart and spirit of this community.

At the moment of posting, the Weather Bureau has issued a preliminary warning for the possibility of “minor to moderate” flooding AGAIN, as very heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow. Fingers crossed.