Letters

Email: letters@ dompost.co.nz No attachments. Write: Letters to the Editor, PO Box 1297, Wellington, 6040. Letters must include the writer’s full name, home address and daytime phone number. Letters should not exceed 200 words and must be exclusive. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.

Lessons from Matariki

It is no coincidence the whale named Matariki came when it did, forcing the postponement of the fireworks. How good did your heart feel when as a collective group of conscious human beings we put this ancient sea creature and holder of universal knowledge before our wants.

Maybe the lesson here is that we don’t need $250,000 of fireworks at all; maybe Matariki is here to encourage us to lead a less distracted lifestyle; to look up from our screens at night and turn our heads to the skies, where we will see that there is a free lightshow, every night better than any fireworks!

We are all made of stardust and part of the cosmos and the time has come for us to acknowledge this. Cancel the fireworks and buy the homeless some food and blankets.

Gail McJorrow, Eastbourne

Let them lie

I cannot believe the Defence Force has such a large budget that it can afford to start bringing home the remains of fallen military personnel from around the world. Starting with the Pacific Islands and now South-east Asia. Where next? All those from the World War II, then World War I – how ridiculous. Ten million dollars for the remains of 18 personnel to be repatriated.

I have served in the military, worked in a military hospital overseas in the 70s and been a military wife. No serving member really thinks they may not lie where they fall. My cousin has a father in a war graves cemetery in Germany, she has no memory of him as she was a baby when he left in 1941 and has managed only one visit to his grave just in recent times. We also have a family member at the bottom of the Atlantic thanks to a u-boat, so what of that situation?

It seems a slippery slide to start with this expensive undertaking, roulette for families regarding who gets chosen next, and raises unreasonable expectations. Better to use the money to make sure current serving military personnel have the best equipment available to keep them safe.

Jackie Patterson, Hastings