We all need to do what we can when needed
In an interview with Stuff’s One Hot Minute podcast, Professor Shaun Hendy said we needed ‘‘to take some personal responsbility’’ for the issues the world has found itself in. That didn’t mean taking blame. After all, we can’t be blamed for the coal emissions of a generation ago. Hendy said that, if you have something to offer – a solution, a skill, a platform – and you don’t apply what you have, then who will?
We can’t expect problems to be magically solved if we don’t get in behind the solutions.
You’ll probably recognise Hendy. He’s one of the guys who has appeared a lot on the news over the past nine months, giving us warnings, quelling our fears and delivering sage information about the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hendy’s not just a talking head. He worked with the Government and other scientists, to find ways to track, predict and monitor Covid-19. In short, he was applying the skills he had as an educator and physicist to try to help.
As a physicist, Hendy’s involvement in Covid-19 and climate change may seem slightly unusual. But he explained, ‘‘It comes back to your responsibility as a scientist. I’ve been an advocate of scientists asking themselves, ‘if not me, who?’ ’’ That applies to everyone.
This morning’s New Year honours list recognises him and many other Kiwis who have offered what they could to get us out of sticky situations. Hendy and epidemiologist Michael Baker, another salient voice in the fight against Covid-19, have been made members of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
The prime minister’s chief science adviser, Juliet Ann Gerrard, has been made a dame. And Sir Mason Durie, the legendary Ma¯ori academic and psychiatrist, received the top honour, adding a new acronym of ONZ.
Sometimes awards like the New Year honours lead to trouble. Inevitably with awards, there will be deserving people who don’t get one. Some may argue that people undeserving of one did. And awards tend to recognise people, when in reality groups and communities get things done – not individuals.
Today’s list names a few people who have helped lead the national conversation. They’ve used their unique skills – whether in music, medicine, or anthropology – to inspire and inform.
For me, 2020 hasn’t been great. But as we’ve sailed through a rough and unpredictable 12 months, there’s no doubt I’ve seen some incredible silver linings.
It’s been a year of difficulty and of inspiration. Inspiring, because we’ve seen what can be achieved through sound leadership, clear communication and participation. InNew Zealand, at least, 2020 has been the year of personal responsibility.
When I say ‘‘personal responsibility’’, libertarians might be excited at the thought ofme advocating for some sort of fend-for-yourself hellscape. What I’m talking about is wha¯naungatanga.
Wha¯naungatanga is about connections. It’s about playing your part for others. It’s about using your unique position to fill the gaps that need filling. It recognises that we all live together, and therefore we need to look after each other. Essentially, it’s about selflessness, not selfishness.
The New Year honours have recognised a few of the people who, this year, found a very public gap that needed to be filled. But their work would have been pointless had all five million of us decided not to play our part.
Some sacrificed their businesses in the interests of wha¯naungatanga. Others spent their days doing grocery runs for strangers. Some spent days on end crammed in little apartments, watching the birds fly by. Good lord, was it boring.
The awards list doesn’t recognise the full picture of who stepped up to the mark this year. It doesn’t acknowledge those who were sometimes villainised, but nonetheless played essential, albeit thankless, roles this year. I’m talking about people such as former Opposition leader Simon Bridges. The postal service, the snippy reporters, the supermarket workers – all essential.
While Parliament was closed and the Cabinet and public servants had the power to detain Kiwis for going on unapproved excursions, Bridges was in charge of questioning and inquiring to make sure the country was being run properly.
Sometimes the roles we must play aren’t all that flash. But big problems, like poverty, like pandemics, like systemic racism and the climate crisis, require that every person plays a part.
We have a personal responsibility to do what we can when needed. We did that this year.
Here’s hoping that in 2021, this communal spirit will help us overcome some of those other issues, as well. There will be more tough choices to come, but the issues having an impact on the world at large cannot be ignored even if they won’t affect your generation, creed, class or ethnicity.
Big problems, like poverty, like pandemics, like systemic racism and the climate crisis, require that every person plays a part.