A chance to say thank you
LIFE is filled with potential dramas and dangers. We spend half our waking hours going about our business and the other half trying to stay out of harm’s way. When disaster looms we cry “God
help me!” and at the moment of salvation we exclaim “thank
God!”
Hashem’s help comes in many forms and, from that perspective, Australia is a pretty good place to be when, God forbid, catastrophe strikes. Our federal, state and local governments look after us in a way that would be the envy of any society. Crime? Call the police. Accident or illness: the “ambos”. Fire, well, you know who to call. There is also the State Emergency Service and even the armed forces if things get really serious. Just ask our friends in Queensland.
We all know how to say “please” in the event of a drama or emergency: it’s as simple as picking up the phone and dialling 000. A skilled operator takes our details, talks us through the early stages of the event and directs highly trained service personnel to where they are needed. You don’t even need credit on your mobile to call 000.
They come, they nurture, they protect, they defend, then they go on their way to do it all again somewhere else, while the bandaged victim or relieved parent or disaster survivor is left gasping, “I didn’t even get the chance to say thank you.”
All of the emergency services appoint chaplains. Their brief is to council distressed personnel regardless of religion, to help the public in any appropriate way and, of course, to conduct religious services in circumstances where church or synagogue attendance is out of the question. Proudly, the Australian rabbinate has been able to provide chaplains to the uniformed services for many years.
I have been an ambulance chaplain for a while now. I love the service. I have flown around the state with them and cruised the city late in the night with them. I have watched as they staunched the bleeding, dried the tears and, yes, comforted the bereaved. I quickly came to realise that there is no easy way for folks to say “thank you” when the smoke has cleared, when the wounds have healed, when the pain has ended, when the emergency services personnel are no longer around. I have spent a lot of time thinking and discussing how the community could show its appreciation for the work the emergency services do and I have formulated a plan of action.
We are launching a website, called www.thankyou.org.au. Members of the community will be able to log on to express their thoughts and feelings towards emergency services personnel and other public instrumentalities that have helped them. The mechanics of this are not new. For example, ABC Radio encourages listeners to provide feedback under the amusing heading of “type-back radio”. People like to express themselves.
We have begun to enlist a corps of volunteers. (We are actually quite experienced at that. We have a wonderful team of dedicated people who flock to Our Big Kitchen week in and week out in order to roll up their sleeves and make a difference.) These volunteers will make themselves available to receive phone calls from anybody and everybody who wants to say “thank you”.
By means of our website and our network of professional contacts, we’ll provide a mechanism for passing on the good wishes to relevant officers.
The Governor of New South Wales, Professor Marie Bashir, inaugurated “Australians Say Thank You” in mid-February during a visit to the Yeshiva’s Our Big Kitchen, which she described as “one of the most unforgettable days of my life”. She graciously consented to post the very first message of thanks to her state’s emergency services, an experience which she clearly found emotional.
As Jews, we learn to thank the Almighty for everything: for waking up in the morning, for the bread and wine we consume at the Shabbat table and, yes, for being alive. We routinely thank each other for the small courtesies of life such as an opened door, a small favour or a passing compliment. From now on we will also have a way of thanking the highly-trained, dedicated, unsung heroes who save us and keep us safe.
So many of us have known feelings of fear and hope while waiting for the sound of the siren. The “Australians Say Thank You” program gives us the opportunity to liberate our feelings and emotions when the time for gratitude has arrived.
Rabbi Dovid Slavin is CEO of Our Big Kitchen and founder of www.thankyou. org.au.
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