Mr Opinionated,

5 % ? And, by the way, Australia has a Chinese past: they built many parts of Australia. They were the backbone of Darwin's economy and social life when I went to school there in the late fifties, even though they couldn't become citizens: when I was there, the government floated the proposition that, if any Chinese applied, they could become citizens after fifteen years. Fifteen years. One of my first funerals was for a Chinese bloke, a lovely old man (with a gorgeous grand-daughter), who had been born there in 1894, but could never become a citizen.

So what have you done for your country lately ?

Joe

Dear Mr Opinion,

They came from Lithuania.

Dear Foxy,

I bet your parents could have provided an oral history that would have made one's hair stand on ends.

Dear Mr Opinion,

My parents had a sad history. They lost
not only their country, but members of their
family, their social status, and family
posssessions. They instilled in their children
the importance of education. The war taught them
that wordly possessions can disappear over night
but what's in your head is more difficult
to lose. Anyway, I grew up in a loving family
environment. For which I am very grateful.

Both my parents have passed away - but their
legacy lives on and shall continue to live on
in my children and my grand-children.

Dear Belly,

Now something on a lighter note about what's
changed in our lifetime.

Here's something - tongue-in-cheek that I
wrote when I was such a fan of Sylvester
Stallone and the Rocky films:

"Why I like Sylvester is because he acts so tough
He's well built, good looking, and quite often rough
He's a guy who never loses, defeat is not his game
He's a real Italian hero
With victory to gain

Rocky, Rambo, Cobra are names by which he's known
But the biggest one of all of them is none other than
STALLONE
Put the two together, Sylvester and Stallone
And what you get is the toughest fighter the
screen has ever known

Fighting for good causes
For Justice, to be free
Fighting for the underdog
For folks like you and me

And as we leave the theatres,
We look up at the sky
And up there on the billboard
It's Him,
Oh what a guy!

Dear Foxy,

I gather from the way you write that you are an Arts grad. Is that so? What areas did you study?