Sweet moderation – if we work at it
Sweet moderation
Heart of this nation
Desert us not
We are between the wars (Between the Wars, by Billy Bragg)
The holidays are over for me. Three weeks of food, friends, cricket and sun, rain, sun, hail, rain, sun (thanks Dunedin for that all in one day!). It has been a special summer as we shuffled around Aotearoa to enjoy and explore our back and front yards.
I talked to what felt like hundreds of New Zealanders, eager to tell me just how much they appreciated the opportunity to ‘‘have a summer’’. In turn I told them it was down to their actions, large and small, that we got to this place.
The relief and joy was palpable. The women who hugged me, the cafe owner who would not let me pay, the guys who gave us their freshly caught mussels. Happy, humbled, it reinforced that we had done the right thing in the face of this insidious virus.
Yet for all of the expressions of joy and gratefulness, like the baker, the bank teller or the bus driver, politicians often focus on the negative comments. Maybe two out of a hundred, but sadly, such are our natures we can’t get them out of our heads.
The guy in the cafe in Christchurch who just could not leave us to our brunch. Whose eyes were on stalks as he demanded answers about The Great Reset, Agenda 30 and the Plandemic. There was more than anger in those eyes, there was hatred. His friend was quiet, and maybe that was worse.
Or the guy in Dunedin, more drunk than angry. He wanted to know about 5G and the Chinese Communist Party. He followed us down the road, shouting, bewildered but menacing.
Of course I know they are the less than 1 per cent, but it’s worth remembering that they are here. We can easily look across the world with a sense of smugness that the mob is not storming our Parliament, but we cannot let our contentment be complacency. The disease of lies, conspiracy and misinformation easily infects the confused, the lonely, the disaffected and, yes, the straight-out privileged racists. The solutions in all of this are many, and not all mine to know. We have to call it out when we see it, not let it fester. Help our wha¯ nau see what is real and what is not. That also means calling out the racism, turning the tide of inequality, practising what we preach about mana¯ kitanga, inclusion and respect.
It is also about standing up for what we believe in. I have been thinking a lot lately about the words of Ruth Bader Ginsburg (what would she have made of the disgraceful display in DC?). She said ‘‘fight for the things you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you’’.
That is the Aotearoa/New Zealand way. We proved it as we fought Covid-19, and we must keep proving it as we continue to do so – it is the way to ensure enduring change. To make sure that we protect ourselves from all that we have seen elsewhere. It is easy to believe it is not in our nature to see extremes take hold here, but that only comes by the constant reinforcement of our values in all we do.
I have faith and confidence in New Zealanders to find our own unique way of dealing with difficult issues, local and global challenges, and of giving everyone a fair suck of the sav. We just have to keep an eye on it, OK?
For theirs is a land With a wall around it; And mine is a faith In my fellow man (sic) (Between the Wars)