The end of the innocence as Christchurch mourns

Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud, New Zealand again mourns, for the quintessential Garden City of Christchurch, which was just beginning to find its character again after the earthquakes of 2010 and 2011 that left its population to mourn more than the 185 dead. It took a long time for its joy to return. Now it mourns 50 of its people, all Muslims yes, but as the Prime Minister of the island nation, Jacinda Ardern, told the world’s media, “Christchurch was the home of these victims. For many, this may not have been the place they were born. In fact, for many, New Zealand was their choice. The place they actively came to and committed themselves to.” Most of those who have perished sought safety in a country with a reputation for freedom of expression, compassion, and diversity, where practicing their culture and beliefs would be embraced, rather than tolerated. They were not immigrants, they were New Zealanders, Kiwis, they were us! New Zealand is a country that has bathed, perhaps naively, in the innocence of being too far from the machinations and political intrigue that has riven the greater world, convinced that our relative isolation, our lack of size, and our perceived neutrality, marked us as, “not worth worrying about.” To our cost, we have been rudely awakened. We will never, repeat never be the same again. We have reveled for a hundred years in the responses to the question, “Where are you from?” We have blithely accepted that to answer, “New Zealand,” is to draw a smile, a twinkle in the eyes, and an envious sigh. After all, we are the home of Sir Ed Hilary, conqueror of Mount Everest, the world’s No 1 ranked rugby team, the first country to give women the vote, the home of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ Trilogy, the gateway to the Antarctic, and for decades have marketed our clean green nation as ‘100% Pure.’ Have we been too proud, too arrogant, too ready to believe, “It won’t happen to us?” The uncomfortable reality is that yes, we had become too complacent, and sadly, as a nation, we must now, it appears, pay the price of that complacency. This is all rhetoric however, and our thoughts and prayers must be with those who are now lost to us, who can never live, grow, share, and make us stronger. The grief and loss of those bereaved must be immeasurable, and all we have is words... and tears. A nation and its people grieve for fifty souls, unknown, yet ours, and of us. The American poet Walt Whitman wrote, in ‘A Passage to India’ of a world where we would embrace each other, making the sum of our parts stronger and better, the germ of a philosophy this tiny country sought to embrace: Lo, soul, see’st thou not God’s purpose from the first? The earth to be spann’d, connected by network, The races, neighbours, to marry and be given in marriage, The oceans to be cross’d, the distant brought near, The lands to be welded together. So, we may well ask therefore how this has happened to us: Why us, we couldn’t be more friendly, more welcoming, less threatening, not seeing tourists as a source of income, but as someone different to talk to? Not seeing immigration as something to fear, but something to be embraced, that would strengthen our nation’s people and culture, through its experiences and diversity. One evil, despicable, hate-filled wretch, who betrayed the hospitality of a ‘cousin country,’ taking advantage of our gentleness, our trust, and our nature. Our message to you, and those of your ilk will certainly be, you haven’t changed our policy, but you have made us more determined than ever to embrace others, whatever their race, religion, or colour. We have lost today... but you have lost forever. And again, as Ardern said, “You may have chosen us — but we utterly reject and condemn you.”