New Zealand- World leader in Peace and Hope

March 23, 2019, from Nelson, New Zealand

Photo- NZ Herald by Rachel Das

It has been just over one week since the horrific mass murder in two Christchurch mosques. The event that killed fifty innocent people as they prayed, shocked the nation and the world. “How could this happen here?”

Johanne and I have a unique perspective that I hope to share. We are here in this lovely country and we have just spent three weeks in Christchurch.    We feel like we know the city. We often strolled through the very neighbourhood of the Al Noor Mosque and in Hagley Park where events were unfolding. The news seemed unimaginable. If you asked us for a few words to describe Christchurch, they would be; peaceful, friendly, welcoming.

So “How could this happen here?” is a very valid question. “Why us?’ is another obvious reaction but it is the language that victims use and it does not look forward.  Shocking news such as this is jarring to our psyche and time for healing is essential. However, accepting what has happened and asking “What are we going to do about it is?” is the key to moving past the emotion.

As the week unfolded, we have been able to witness how New Zealanders respond to “What are we going to do about it?” and it is profound and heartwarming.

Their young Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, was instantly on the news and amongst the people mourning with them. The entire country turned to her for hope and healing.

Photo of Jacinda Ardern by Kirk Hargreaves

In my estimation, she demonstrated all the traits of a great leader; empathy, compassion, enlightenment, awareness and steadfast resolve. She was out in the public embracing a broken community, its people and the entire nation.

“This is not who we are” were her initial words for the country and they understood that because it is what people were feeling. Soon after she vowed to quickly change the gun laws.

In the United States, the undisputed world leader in mass shootings, the mantra touted by ineffective politicians has always been “Now is not the time to talk gun control.” The only thing that ever changes is that the sale of weapons goes up.

Keeping her promise, in less than one week, the New Zealand parliament passed legislation to ban all military weapons.  Gun owners began to surrender their rifles, and there was a buyback offered. That is what effective leadership looks like. The people could be assured to know that something positive was being done.

The weekend after the shooting, we attended what is called Race Unity Day in Nelson. Nelson is a lovely city of just over 50,000 people, yet in the park, there were 36 nations proudly represented. They were sharing with each other their diversity with traditional food, costumes, and entertainment. The sun shone and warmed us all.

Diversity is a word we proudly tout in Vancouver, but this was actually much more than that. Unity was the mood of the day; people of all walks coming together. It wasn’t them and us, where this group has a booth here and those over there have another, this was a very colourful community expressing their “oneness”.  A sense that we are all in this together prevailed and our respect for each other is unwavering.

I also was aware that this is a country under “high alert” after the attack. What “high alert” looks like in NZ is; in a crowd of a few thousand people in an open park, there was just a handful of uniformed officers. They mingled about talking to people and enjoying the event. Their armament did include tazers but clearly, guns that kill would not be required here.

Maybe it is partly to do with its geography, a knowing that we are all on this small island together, that helps to foster this underlying sense of unity.  There have been many amazing stories of kiwis helping one another through this recent pain. Compassion for one’s neighbour flows easily here.

Without question, New Zealand will heal and grow from this horrible event. It is my hope that the rest of the world will watch and follow the lead of this most peaceful nation. We love New Zealand and its people!

     

                                                                                                                Photo by Sally Roome                                                                                                           

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