Owen Harries

Are you scared about the world’s future?  Worried that so many things could go wrong?  One of the smartest people I know says let’s keep it in perspective:

Owen Harries has seen panic come and go. Picture: Memento Photography

The future is not to be seen as something preordained, something already existing and impatiently waiting in the wings for its turn on the stage of history.  The future does not exist; it is not something there to be discovered, like an island or a mountain.  It is something which has still to be made. And how it is made, and what it will become, will depend on people like you, here and throughout the world.

The speaker was my friend Owen Harries.  The occasion was a function at Sydney University where he received the highest honour possible, the Doctor of Letters.  It recognised his contribution to the intellectual life of Australia and the US over more than fifty years.

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  • hel says:

    04:23pm | 25/04/10

    I promise I read the intelligent stuff too, but that tiger ballet clip was the funniest thing I have seen in a long time. Tears were shed. Also, there’s another standing cat adaption you might like too… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5T8xuU18goo Read more »

  • Lady Fong says:

    11:05am | 24/04/10

    Thanks for high lighting his comments. I remember hearing a radio commentator say that the stone age did not end because they ran out of stones but found something better. That something better is waiting to be discovered. Read more »

 

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