Extra-ordinary Times

The greatest difficulty we face is that we are not living in ordinary times. We are in extra-ordinary times.

The problem we are currently facing is that people are ‘over’ the state of our city … but the problem is that no amount of desire is going to magically revert our city to the way it was, nor is it going to rebuild the city in an instant. Nothing is going to happen fast, except for one thing: a change in our own attitude, from selfish annoyance to patient acceptance. We can change that. We can do that.

Our central business district is ‘munted’ (to use a Kiwi term), and a lot of it will be demolished. It is, perhaps, time we let go of the past, as we are forced to let go of these buildings. The same applies to ourselves, letting go of that which no longer works well, clearing away the rubble and retaining only what is working, and functioning well, and from there we take time to discover who we are, and rebuild ourselves, a beautiful new self. The same applies to our city. Remove what is rubble or precarious, plan what to do next, and then rebuild a new and beautiful city centre.

Few cities get the ‘slate clearing’ action that we have been through, where much of the CBD is destroyed clearing the way for a new city. Many other cities may even envy us that mass destruction that makes a new city possible! (I would not, however, wish 2 major earthquakes and 5000+ aftershocks in 8 months on anyone!). Can we look at our city and not look at ourselves? Can we not look at what is around us and see ourselves reflected in the chaos? For this is the case, we are the chaos. Just look at the people around you, fighting to pretend life is as it was prior to the earthquakes, and failing miserably!

We are not living in ordinary times, and we cannot bury our heads in the proverbial sand and pretend that we are. What needs to change here is us! We need to be patient with one another, tolerant with one another, and we need to work together. 

The days of living selfishly, acquiring as many possessions and as much money as we can, are—surely—over! This is a new era for both us and our city. And we have the choice of how we will handle this. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past, the selfishness, the material obsession.

Let us recreate ourselves as we recreate our city.