Any Ordinary Day – Leigh Sales.

So, after going to the Leigh Sales talk about her book earlier in the week, I finally finished reading it. It’s just a wonderfully written book. I have an immense amount of respect for Leigh in terms of the work she does on the 7.30 report. She’s certainly one of the many reasons I respect and trust the work of the ABC.

Leigh’s professionalism is clear for all to see in how open and candidly she discusses some of the mistakes she has made in her career.

The book is an open and honest look at how people cope when their lives are turned upside down when life throws you a 'curveball'. Can help but say I'd been very interested in reading some of the academic papers she came across in preparing the book. 

I wasn’t really expecting a big or detailed conversation about religion in the book, but that came out clearly, particularly in the interviews with Michael Spence and Louise Hope. Lousie Hope who was one of the many held captive during the Lindt Coffee shop siege during 2014. 

Michael Spence is the Chancellor of Sydney University and his wife died suddenly from cancer. The Spence family are deeply religious and there was a lot which resonated from their comments about their experiences.

The section which perhaps caught me the most by surprise was Sales discussion with former Prime Minister John Howard. Howard ]created a reputation for himself as 'mourner in chief'. He was Prime Minister after Port Arthur (1996), September 11 (2001) and the Bali Bombing (2002). He certainly spoke of our nation’s grief during these times. 

As an aside I do miss a Prime Minister like Howard (or Keating for that matter), where you knew what you were going to get, and they stayed in the job long enough to make a difference. 

In many ways the book tapped into how I’m approaching life with cancer, and how my faith interplays with the fact that I have cancer. The overarching theme I want to have or live by is why not me. Why not me, in the sense of how I can redeem the season I’m in. Thinking about how people find resilience and hope when the world the knew is turned upside down.