Roughly two thousand years ago, the Greek philosopher Plutarch posed a thought experiment. Imagine, he said, you are sailing on a ship and, one by one, your crew replaces every plank that makes up the ship with a new one from the cargo. When you reach the shore, and every single piece of wood is new, are you sailing the same ship?
Perhaps not—after all, isn’t an object the sum of its parts? In which case, swapping out every piece of the ship for new planks equates to swapping out the ship as a whole. Then again, the change was so gradual, and the shape so consistent—maybe it is the same ship after all?
‘Hang on,’ you may be thinking, ‘I thought this was an update from the Indigneous Hospitality House, not Plutarch’s Wikipedia page!’. You’re right, it is—and we have a major update. As of June, a few of our ship’s planks are being replaced. And not just ordinary planks, but masts, rudders.
We’re farewelling some bedrock members of our resident community. Samara Pitt, Mehrin Almassi and Chris Booth have concluded their time at the IHH, having been resis for 16 years, 12 years and 10 years, respectively. These folks, who have filled our sails with their passion and warmth and steered our course with their leadership and wisdom, will be sorely missed.
After many years of service, our three longest-standing residents are moving on to new and wonderful things. Sam has shifted up to Gembrook Retreat, a community in the Dandenongs offering a place of spiritual retreat and renewal. Chris and Mehrin are looking forward to what the future will bring, with Chris on a journey to being ordained in the Uniting Church and Mehrin continuing the work she loves in the disability sector.
So while Plutarch’s ship dilemma has puzzled philosophers for millenia (thanks Malcolm Gladwell for drawing my attention to it in this podcast episode), I believe the IHH has settled it. Even as we watch these beloved planks float off on new currents, we’re confident that the IHH ship is still the same one. This project is greater than the sum of its parts, and its core of IHH-ness remains unchanged even as these core parts of our ship are in the process of being replaced.
The continuing residents—Josh, Teash, Warrick and Rubini—have been shown over the last couple of years by Sam, Chris and Mehrin how to remain true to the IHH’s ethos of hospitality and openness. We’ve been taught how to be rudders that steer the IHH ship from the dangers of naivety or thinking we know it all. And we’ve been empowered to be sails that carry us forward new possibilities.
So, as the IHH moves into this new era, we thank these elders for their guidance, and carry their wisdom as we continue our journey of healing and justice on these lands known as Australia.
- Josh Glover, Resident Volunteer
