Tim Walker’s Waitangi

Prime Minister John Key’s decision to not attend the Waitangi commemorations this year has left some groups outraged.

In Uncle John’s defence though, despite each year of his leadership having turned up at the Waitangi marae thereby effectively placing himself at the feet of Maori protesters’ vicious affront, he did have a good reason…

The shameless irony is that those very groups who are now whinging about our Prime Minister’s Waitangi absence, and how it indicates a distinct ‘lack of respect’ towards the agreements upheld by the Treaty itself, are largely the same groups of activists who in years past have held assaults on Mr Key, invariably confronting the man with verbal, and sometimes physical, abuse, amid a demonstration in which translation of the ‘respect’, that these people claim to hold hold so dear, has obviously been mixed up.

…The moment Steven Joyce received his world famous turkey slap was presumably the same moment that John Key thought something along the lines of: ‘Gosh, you know, I’ve actchy had enough of ungrateful people for the time being; I do what I know is best in the long term for New Zolland – even if so much of the population remains ignorant thus intransigent and chooses to do what it does so well by going off half-cocked and complaining about a concept about which it has little knowledge because stuff nowadays is just so difficult to learn so it’s actchy sometimes easier just to not bother and to carry on exhibiting blind obstinacy – but the people of New Zolland, bless their chubby little hearts, in turn are just so nasty towards me and, you know, I just don’t understand it, like, you know, because I’m actchy a pretty nice guy once you get to know me…’

I often fill out surveys of a political nature and a question they always ask me is: In one word what do you think is the biggest problem facing New Zealand today?

Invariably I respond: Malcontents.

People who are never quite satisfied with the way things are eventuating around them are, in my opinion, the scourge of this great nation.

Therefore to New Zealand’s thriving contingent of malcontents I offer this: if something bothers you, instead of immediately kicking up a big public stink about it until the dust around you is so thick you can’t see anything else, try approaching the offending issue with a level head, and how about first trying to understand it, try to understand what it is; how about doing some research and trying to understand why it’s happening then after that, possibly the most important piece, try being a little bit vicarious, try employing empathy, try and see the issue from the other’s perspective – how would you respond given a similar situation but – and this is the most important piece, you’ll need to be true to yourself and for God’s sake don’t be a hypocrite about it.

Of the Seven Deadly Sins – Greed, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Anger, Pride, Sloth – it always amazed me that hypocrisy didn’t make the cut.

 

 

Article by Tim Walker

Edited by Nae Shorn

Photography by Mel Corn-Tent

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