Simply thankful

If you could choose to live anywhere in the world where would you choose? Would you stay where you are or head half way around the world to where you believe the grass is greener?

This time last week we were celebrating Australia Day and I’ve got to say that I wouldn’t want to be living anywhere else but here in Perth, Western Australia. There are lots of places both within and outside Australia that are wonderful to visit but I can’t imagine any of them beating the lifestyle of Perth.

Life Skills Trainer, Jill Bonanno, joined me this morning on 98.5 Sonshine FM for our regular Friday morning radio segment, Simply Living. We talked about what it means to be an Australian and what we can be thankful for about living down under.

We had a few people call and email to tell us about their Australia Day celebrations and why they’re proud Aussies. You can hear today’s programme by clicking here. There is a whole range of audio options available now with 98.5 Sonshine FM’s Audio On Demand service. You can subscribe to a number of my regular radio features, including Simply Living, or just look through the archives to find something that interests you.

What about you? If you’re Australian, tell us what makes you proud about our wide, brown land.

Wherever you live, whatever country you call home, are you living where you want to live? Are
you proud of your heritage? Are you thankful that you live where you do? Does your heart stir when you see your flag raised? I’d love your input. Feel free to comment by clicking on the comment link below.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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About the author

Rodney Olsen

Rodney is a husband, father, cyclist, blogger and podcaster from Perth Western Australia.

He has worked in radio at Perth's media ministry Sonshine for over 25 years and has previously worked at ministries such as Compassion Australia and Bible Society.

The views he expresses here are his own.

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12 Comments

  • Hi Rodney, I love to live here – 4-5 metres below sea level in Hoofddorp, Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands (scary thought, if you think about the rising sea level). I do feel priviliged to be a Dutchman and I am happy to live in a free, rich part of the world. I am not proud of all things from my Dutch heritage, but I do feel that are little country is a special place and that we have a rich history with people like Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Vermeer, Erasmus… but also Corrie ten Boom, Brother Andrew and Henri Nouwen. I do love to go to other countries and enjoy the space, the atmosphere, the scenery – but I don’t think I could really get used to living somewhere else. It’s good to read about other people and other countries and the internet is a fast and cost-effective way to do just that!

  • I live in Wisconsin which is in the United States (you knew that though), and if I had the chance to move elsewhere I’d move to someplace warm on the ocean, probably the carribean. I’d have to take all of my loved ones with me though. My husband, daughter, my parents, his parents, our siblings and their families, etc….

  • I love where I live, but I don’t know if I would call it home. The longer I am alive, the more I think of heaven as home.

    My citizenship is there, so I am just waiting to arrive.

  • Rodney,

    I’m an American and I have lived overseas in Germany and Saudi Arabia.

    Of course, I prefer to live in the U.S., but my second choice would be in Australia or in New Zealand.

    Love to get over your way sometime, but got a big ole pond in the way LOL

    As for the cold and the snow here, Rodney, I can send it all your way if you want 😉

  • Hi Rodney,
    Me? UK born and bred. I find it quite humbling to read your comments about national identity; in the UK we seem to have lost that.
    I love the UK, particularly our northern countryside but I’m not sure what being British is anymore.

  • I’ve never had very strong ties to anywhere, and for that reason I really don’t mind where I live.

    I guess I’m really saying that the location isn’t the important thing – it’s about the people you know, and things like that.

    As long as I can be with Wendy, and help her through the ups and downs of our life then I’m happy.

  • I’ve learned a lot about the Aussie pride and culture and beliefs in the last 6 months and someday would like to hear what you have to say on it. I’d ask you flat out right now, mate, but I don’t know how to phrase it….I’ll think and come back later.

  • I want to leave New York so much it hurts sometimes and I will leave in the next few years. We joke here that the last upstater out should remember to turn off the lights. Until recently I saw myself spending my retirement either in the southern US or traveling. Now I’d be willing to consider other countries as my pride in my country is waning. How sad is that?

  • I would live someplace where it is always warm and sunny, where there it never snows, never gets cold, and no one knows what a shovel is. =)

  • I will always love my sunburnt country. How could anyone not? Now that I’ve travelled, I know why they call Australia the ‘lucky’ country although I prefer to thnik we are ‘blessed’ due to our heritage. I desperately don’t want us Australians to forget the God we once loved. Still, I hate how we treated Aborigines, the true fair-dinkim aussies and because of that history, I don’t we have any right to turn people away who want to immigrate.
    Best Australian Songs:
    I Still Call Australia Home
    We Are One
    The Great Southland
    And of course the National Anthem

  • I live in California. I visited Perth in 2003. If I could legally emigrate, I would. I fell in love with WA and would love to retire to a little farm outside of Mt. Barker.

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