Australia On My Mind

Two events dominated my time and attention over the weekend; and both involved only one subject, Australia, otherwise known as the country Down Under. First was the just concluded Australian Tennis open Championship and the second, the movie simply titled Australia.

The first was a great and historic sporting event, capped by the scintillating win of power playing 2nd seed American Serena Williams over a hapless 3rd seed Russian Dinara Safina and finally a classic 5 set thriller in the men's final, won by Spaniard Rafael Nadal, the world's current No. 1, over No. 2 Swiss Roger Federer, not too long ago the dominant player in the tennis circuit.

It was a heartbreaking loss for Federer who entered the match favored by many past champions to equal Pete Sampras' all time 14 Grand Slam Championships. He broke down unabashedly during the Awards Ceremony, watched by an appreciative and roaring full house crowd in and out of the Rod Laver Arena and viewed by millions of tennis fans all over the world. It was a scene which also made my 9-year-old kid cry in sympathy, despite the fact that all throughout the tournament and the final game, he was rooting for his favorite, Rafa Nadal.

Friday evening, while Nadal was struggling against fellow Spanaird and Davis Cup teammate, Fernando Vesdasco in a gripping and epic 5-set-semi-final thriller played in a record 5 hours and 14 min (the longest match in Australian Open history) , my wife and I were watching at a Greenbelt 3 moviehouse one of the most talked and awaited movies, Australia, starring our favorite Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, themselves both Aussies.

The movie was a touching story about Australia's aboriginal history and its past separation policy, not unlike the slavery and apartheid issues of the US and South Africa. It was only last year, as the movie's epilogue took note, that the Australian government thru its Prime Minister formally apologized to its aboriginal people for the treatment and this policy. It should be remembered that Cathy Freeman, a champion runner of aboriginal ancestry, who lit the Olympic flame 8 years ago during the opening of the Sydney Olympics, a symbolic gesture of Australia reconciling with its past.

I was in Melbourne many years ago doing several job-related missions for our steel company. My 1-week stay there during the cold winter of July 1997 was the connection of the two recent events to my steel journey.

Stay tuned!