Captain Australia’s Journal, Entry#91

Tomorrow night (Tuesday 3 May @ 8:30pm), I’ll appear on the ABC program “Good Game”, talking about games, online culture, cyber bullying and morality in computer games. I hope that I say something meaningful – and if not, I hope it’s at least worth a giggle, and attracts some people to come and learn about my Quest.

If you have not visited before, I am Captain Australia, and I belie ve that society is slowly darkening from the inside out like a rotten piece of fruit. Superficially, everything might look okay, but you don’t have to poke too hard to find the undercurrent of decay beneath the surface.

I think of this social decline as a kind of cancer, but I think that it’s reversible, if we can turn away from apathy and selfishness and find a cure for this underlying rage, fear and isolation that seems a common symptom among people I meet on the street.

This reversal relies on us to come together, and take personal accountability for making the world a better place. My own personal method is to:

Do Good Deeds, find people who need my help and be there for them, doing my best to help with problems that they are unable to solve themselves

Fight Evil, although evil wears many masks, I must persevere to find the faces of evil and face them down. When I see evil, I must intervene and never turn a blind eye. (Note that evil and crime can be the same thing, but not always)

Inspire Others, which is why I seek exposure to the public, in the hopes that other people will see the sense in what I’m doing and try to improve their own lives and the lives of people around them. I believe that we all have influence, and the ripple effect of kindness is my greatest single hope for humanity.

I started my Quest about two years ago, and I’ve been able to help a variety of people, some tangibly in direct physical ways, such as preventing assaults or helping with food or recover stolen items – some intangibly, with advice, friendship and a willingness to sit and listen to the homeless, the lost, the spiritually bereft.

I keep a secret identity, which I protect very strictly. My secret identity life has been taking control just at the moment, causing me to take a leave-of-absence from my dual life as Captain Australia to deal with some major life events, but I hope to get back on the street and resume active patrols sometime in late May.

In the meantime, there has been an explosion of public interest, and it’s come at an awkward time for me. I’ve had requests to appear on a range of TV programs (see the “A Current Affair” interview below as an example), and I’ve also had people apply to be my sidekick.

A CURRENT AFFAIR STORY

There is one candidate who seems persistent and mostly serious (he is thinking of adopting the persona “The Down Under Boy Wonder”), but for the most part the people interested in pursuing this ‘real life superhero’ path have varying degrees of seriousness, time and resources – which has prompted some of us to think about forming the “Justice League of Australia”, an affiliation of Aussies who adopt a superhero persona and set out to make the world a better place.

In the meantime, I’m focussed on my home life, the only thing I’m giving to Captain Australia right now is about 2 hours of training in the mornings, to get my health and body right for when I get back on the street.

I have a supporter fashioning my new Shield, and another artisan who was going to put together a 2.0 uniform for me (but he’s gone strangely silent just lately, so I’m concerned the project will not go forward). Also, someone randomly sent my this image which they call “Captain Australia at Work” worth a giggle I guess.

In any case, if you’ve visited after seeing some of the recent media activity, thank you & welcome, feel free to browse the archives, you might also be interested to look at my story prior to becoming Captain Australia. It’s a long read, five or six chapters, written up after a number of requests from the public.

Your friend

Captain Australia