• Creativity in Cold Lentils
• Recovering Hope
• Truth Is A Two-Way Street
• Our chance to stand in solidarity
• Human Rights: a common meeting place?
• The Heart of God
• Dare to Dream
• Learning to Listen
• Finding meaning in the experience
• Towards An Understanding of Home
• Silence
• Peregrinasaun Haksolok Hamutuk
• Peace
• The Big Show
• Weakness and Strength
• United in Peace
• The Ring
• ACUSA
• People as seeds of hope and change
• Being Grateful
• In the midst of 250,000 people
• UN World Habitat Day
• Praying The Rosary
• I Want To Make A Difference
• How Fragile we are
• The Challenge of email
• Being Socially Responsible
• Thirsting for Knowledge
• The Lord is my Shepherd
• Archived Thoughts of the Week
• An Idea

Last Friday I saw ‘A Well Founded Fear’, a film in the Sydney Film Festival which follows Phil Glendenning as he attempts to track down asylum seekers who had been deported by the Australian Government, having been told that their country of origin (or in some cases, another country nearby) was safe for return. The stories were just awful, and while I was troubled by the tragedies that had been forced upon the people we were introduced to in the film, what really struck me, (and what I can’t stop thinking about) was Phil Glendenning’s outstanding ability to listen.

I come from a family of talkers – I blame my Dutch heritage! I am not a great listener; my mouth often goes into gear before my brain does and I regularly remove one foot, just to replace it with the other. Phil Glendenning is an exceptional listener, wanting to really hear the stories. His compassion, his concern and his love were all reflected when he stopped to listen. Along with trust, warmth and the hand of friendship, the enormous gift Phil gave to the people he met was the opportunity to be heard, to tell their story.

When I think about the people I really admire, the ones I look up to, they are all listeners. They know things, listeners; they take the time to really hear and in doing so, they make the talker feel valued. Time for me to start working on that shift...

• Nicky Alsemgeest,
• University Relations,
• Strathfield