World to see 'closed' Adelaide

AdelaideNow... World to see 'closed' Adelaide:

"With thousands of visitors expected to converge on Adelaide for the Rugby Sevens tournament at Easter, the debate about Good Friday trading continues to simmer, with sharply divided views.

Business, tourism and major retailers are pushing for deregulation to allow them to cash in on the influx."

We cannot have international events with village thinking. Can't stage big tournaments with small talk. Good Friday is sacrosanct to the people who care about it. We do need to uphold our traditions and family values in a time when there is chaos and anything goes. Its the traditions and rituals which keep us grounded and stable. Small towns do close everything up for the days they hold sacred. Bigger cities are able to manage the events and the special days. In a way it is a chance to built a bigger and more important Good Friday, as they do elsewhere, because there are more people here. We have won this event and so we are obliged to be hospitable and treat incoming visitors with respect.I think it's a chance to make the religious aspect of Good Friday more public because it would become part of the overall ambiance. It would be an opportunity to bring it out in public because we shut everything in Adelaide and no one gets to hear about Good Friday and what it means. I think it's about using the opportunities to get through to people . I do not believe anyone should be required to work and I think all businesses need to look at the staffing issues and see what they can manage. At work we cater to people who have special religious days. We are notified and we work around it. It's living. It's adapting to circumstance. It should have been notified when Adelaide put in for the bid...or before then. Maybe we wouldn't have wanted the Rugby. Catering to visitors does not make the day less holy. I have lived in places where the holiness of any day is nice and obvious when you are there and it is small places which close everything for their special days. We need to decide...but before would have been better.