26 September 2023

A Lot with A Little

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Reviewed by Rama Gaind.

By Tim Costello, Hardie Grant, $45.00.

Tim Costello, one of Australia’s leading voices on social justice and global poverty, admits he wrote this memoir because “I believe we all need to commit ourselves to something bigger, beyond self-absorption. I hope it stirs you to think of what grounds you and gives your life purpose also”.

Tim was the former CEO of World Vision Australia. His biography is an exploration of what it means to go deeper, asserting that both individual and community, public and private, spiritual and material, equality and liberty are fundamental to his struggle to be ethical and to find meaning. Most of all, it’s about belief and its power to sustain in the face of the world’s big issues.

His life is a faith story that is so much bigger than his bit part. “I never set out wanting to be a lawyer but ended up practising law for fifteen years … I never thought of myself as a leader, yet people see me as a leader and, even more scarily, some say they follow me! … I never wanted to be ordained a reverend, but I am one of the best known reverends in Australia … I am not a natural CEO, yet I ended up as CEO of World Vision Australian for thirteen years. This memoir is an exploration to embrace the puzzle.”

In this redolent life story, Costello explores the people and experiences that have shaped him into a socially active fighter for the world’s most challenging issues. It can be regarded as an “explanation of my life thus far”. Hence, it’s not exhaustive, nor does it draw themes to neat conclusions in the way of an autobiography.

In part, it is an exercise in trying to understand “how the memories and experiences of childhood and family upbringing scripted me in unseen ways that only became apparent later in life”.

Tracing each defining stage of his life with unadulterated perception and candour, Tim untangles an ongoing struggle to align his self-perceptions with his choices and what his life represents.

Tim Costello is the 2008 winner of the Australian Peace Prize Award and is listed by the National Trust as a ‘National Living Treasure’.

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