Let’s see a show of new hands
The cancellation of what would have been Otautau’s ninth Flowers, Quilts and Crafts day, and the call that it will be discontinued, mightn’t seem all that consequential. Except it is.
Volunteerism is part of the lifeblood coursing through southern communities. It reliably shows up as an adrenalised jolt of assistance in times of high drama, but in a host of slice-of-life situations it’s looking increasingly anaemic.
You won’t find a better example of how well the south can rally when it’s all hands to the pump than during this month’s floods.
It wasn’t just a commitment of a few hours, either. For instance, a lot of training went into the civil defence work. Afterwards, outfits like the Farmy Army have admirably sustained post-flood labours. Sincere gratitude has rightly resulted.
Against that feel-good background, the cancellation of what would have been Otautau’s ninth Flowers, Quilts and
Crafts day, and the call that it will be discontinued, mightn’t seem all that consequential. Except it is. Because the reasons given by Otautau Promotions president Colin Laurie will ring a tuning fork of recognition for many a small community, in particular.
He cited a combination of committee members resigning and the lack of interest from anyone wanting to replace them. All of which, he said, illustrated the difficulty that small communities have in running and sustaining events.
This would be true. It is comforting to think that, oh well, it comes down to a survival-of-thefittest deal in which those events that most engage their communities will still have the support they need, and if some of the lesser ones fall off the back then that’s regrettable but there you go.
It doesn’t always work like that, though. Consider the continuing calls for fire service and St John Ambulance volunteers to help meet the mounting demands being placed on their services in the region. This is volunteerism at the highest level. The personal rewards are profound, the net contribution immeasurable. But that doesn’t make the demands of being on call, of training, and of confronting distressing situations, any easier.
Typically the south’s most high-profile, wellattended events rely heavily on volunteerism. Again, it’s not unappreciated. But the host of smaller cultural, sporting, social, recreational and just plain companionable events that we need to be able to rely on to keep the place humming with points of interest, particularly in more thinly populated areas, are themselves precious.
It doesn’t escape notice that older people tend to be more conspicuously present in many such roles. Our younger citizens aren’t lazier or more selfish. But work hours in this country are longer than is generally regarded as healthy and spare time is not only less plentiful, but also less reliably timetabled than was the case before workplace flexibility took a stranglehold over so many family lives.
Our younger generations have more distractive options at their disposal as well. Screens large and small offer passive entertainments and globespanning communication options. Ironically, all this enhanced connectivity can isolate people from the actual communities in which they live.
Those who may yet be prepared to step forward to help those communities, even in small-scale ways, will be contributing more significantly than they might appreciate. And as many a volunteer will readily attest, it’s not a sacrificial thing. It’s part of living fully in the world around you.