The Kindness Revolution

With special guest:

• Hugh Mackay AO
  … in conversation with Bill Kable

When we looked forward to 2021 we also looked back on the disaster of the national bushfires season of 2019/20. That changed us but we did not expect the floods and then the ongoing impact of Covid 19.

Our guest today is Hugh Mackay who has been listening to what the community thinks and says for over 60 years as the country’s pre-eminent social researcher. Hugh draws on this immense experience to see where the community is now and what comes next.

It may turn out that The Kindness Revolution is Hugh’s last non-fiction book to grace our book shelves so we should all listen up. In his usual articulate way Hugh sees that the horrors of 2020 and 2021 have in fact set the scene for a kindness revolution.

We have always had kindness and cooperation in our makeup but with the decline of trust in many of our institutions such as the Church, the Government, major banks and even marriage we have not had anything to replace them. One of the major effects of the Covid crisis is that people have started looking out for each other. Neighbours are checking in to see if others in their street need a hand. Work is not the be-all. People are working from home and finding they have more time available for work because of reduced travel time. Another benefit is that they get to spend more time in the middle of their family.

This kind of revolution is one we can and should support. As someone once said, we should never waste a crisis. If this looks like a big decision think of some others we have made. Often who we marry, whether we have children, what occupation we follow, where we live are not made because of rational decision making. It may be accidental or “it just happened”.

Well here is another thing that we didn’t consciously search for. Covid 19 found us and we can use it as a springboard to form the type of society we can all be proud of. We can draw from others for inspiration on the big questions. New Zealand has the Treaty of Waitangi with its First People. Finland has excellent education systems and Denmark has a world leading health system. Let’s forget about the usual culprits of the USA and the UK.

If we really tried we could make a revolution work. At an individual level we can forge relationships with the people in our street and move up from there. Revolutions never start at the top. And if progress seems slow remember to never give up.

You may not have expected revolutionary talk from our guest today but after listening to others for so long now he is passing on a lot of the wisdom he has gained. Tune in and be surprised some more.

Hugh Mackay

Hugh Mackay is a social psychologist, and the author of twenty-two books, including eight novels. His non-fiction writing covers social analysis, psychology, communication and ethics. He has had a sixty-year career in social research, and was also a weekly newspaper columnist for twenty-five years. He is a Fellow of the Australian Psychological Society and of the Royal Society of New South Wales, and has been awarded honorary doctorates by five Australian universities. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2015, and is currently an honorary professor in the Research School of Psychology at the Australian National University.

Song selection by our guest: Try a Little Kindness by Glen Campbell

Note: This program is an encore presentation of the one aired on 13 May 2021.

Podcast (mp3)