You know the phrase, ‘there’s not enough room to swing a cat’ – it doesn’t get used much any more but it was a colloquial way to say that an area or room was very small.

One reason that we don’t hear that phrase today is that, thanks to the internet, the world has fallen deeply in love with cats and no one in their right mind would think about swinging one around, even though the original meaning of the cat referred to was a type of whip – which carries with it its own set of issues.

Another reason that we don’t hear it much anymore, is that in Australia and our homes are so big, we have literally run out of opportunities to use it.

You see, Australia has the largest homes per square metre in the world and Western Australia has the largest houses in the country with the largest houses.

Out of every nation on the planet, out of the billions of homes from New Zealand to Fiji, Greenland to USA, Italy to South Africa, homes in Australia are, on average, bigger than all other opponents. Not that it’s a competition but we are winning – if winning was creating more space to put stuff in that we don’t use nor need. 1^st place Australia. Something to be proud of…or not.

Normally I discourage people from comparing themselves to others, but in this situation I think it is important for us as a nation to take stock of what we have. In this case, we have enough room to swing a cat and enough money to build walls around that room so that we have somewhere to come to at the end of every day. Nobody else in the world has what we have. Nobody.

Now, don’t feel guilty about that (it’s too late anyway, it’s built, set in stone/brick so to speak), but instead use what you have (wealth) to make this world a better place (by donating to Opportunity International). It’s not about getting everyone in the world a big house, but it is about providing every person with an Opportunity to reach their full potential and provide for their family.