I thought I had seen everything until a couple of Saturdays ago when I was watching the horse racing, and the crowd booed Hong Kong champion Ka Ying Rising as it went to the barrier at Randwick.
It was also reported in the media that at Caulfield, when it came up on the big screen, they booed as well.
I was quite puzzled until I read the next day that regular racegoers were shocked, too.
Instead, they blamed a marketing campaign targeting younger racegoers, with many regulars saying they would rather the new crowd stayed away.
Of course, there was vision of thousands of folks at Randwick singing Sweet Caroline, which was certainly a plus for racing, but in my mind the booing overshadowed it.
I couldn’t help but wonder: was it tall poppy syndrome? And yet, they never booed Winx or Black Caviar.
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Horses are fantastic companions and are aligned to humans’ emotions, so the poor horse would have known they were booing it.
The next day I was driving Old Mate to the op shop and got harassed by some kids on e-bikes, who were being idiots.
They were doing exactly what I would have done if those bikes were around in my day. However, what I wouldn’t have done was give an adult the finger for no reason, which is what they did to me.
Still puzzled, we arrived at one of her favourite op shops. There were some kids running amok in the aisles, and when staff members (volunteering their time) spoke to these kids, the parents weren’t happy.
I could see a pattern emerging.
What in the world are we rearing? That’s my question. Sure, you can call me a grumpy old man, but in my view our standards are slipping at an alarming rate – closely followed by our humanity.
A horse doesn’t wake up and decide to be a racehorse. It has no choice, so why would you boo it?
Maybe, just maybe, our parenting and our moral compass are being impacted by the way our political leaders carry on.
Particularly at a federal level, where they spread fear and loathing, all in the name of keeping their jobs.
I am not a booing-type person, but if I were, I’d boo a politician instead of a poor horse.
Ashley Robinson is Metropolitan Caloundra Surf Club CEO, chairman of Thunder Netball and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident. The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sunshine Coast News.
