Wally Salinger – Is that new?

We sat at dinner in a swanky pub. It is the end of summer. The warm air becomes a little cooler on the skin.

The beer garden has an open roof that rivals the ceiling in the Forum Theatre. Yes, even the stars twinkle.

In the current revival of old buildings and city addresses, dank laneways, dingy streets and footpaths are renewed. The gatherings of Gen Y and the more senior cashed-up yuppies move quickly to the new areas and venues.

The new wine, new car, new furniture, new outfit, the new must-have cyber toy. A few young bloods on the team and suddenly punters back impossible odds as team fortunes are renewed.

Contemporary consumption-driven society, we are told, is based on rampant materialism, too much cash in the hands of a burgeoning middle class. We have an insatiable desire for the new. This too is supposed to be new.

A mere 3000 years ago, a monarch who could afford anything that took his fancy, including a scribe who recorded his words, said, “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun. Is there a thing of which it is said, ‘See, this is new’? It has been already in the ages before us.”

Is bullying new? A lack of tolerance in society? Those who love sport and action not understood by those who don’t? Feeling lazy, tired?

Our new fitness régime, the gorgeous fellow participant in our aerobics class, sports club or team, the new moves, the new flexibility routine which promises a new lease of life between new satin sheets.
The next new thing on the agenda is as old as the hills. It’s time to visit somewhere new.

A great place to begin your journey is on the QSAM website. Find a new group of friends, a new outlook and new passion for your boundless energy. QSAM is proud to promote groups and clubs who encourage people to be active and participate in sport. Queer Sports Alliance Melbourne: www.queersportsmelbourne.org