Normalising Warning Signs

New Zealand sits serenely atop the rim of fire in the deep blue waters of the South Pacific, roughly 12000 miles air travel time from the densely populated and conflict ridden northern hemisphere; Home to the bulk of the worlds seven billion people

In contrast we have an envious population of a mere four point something million - shared unequally between two Islands creatively named by unimaginative colonisers/explorers as the North and Sout. These two land masses are respectively known to our indigenous Maori as Te Ika a Maui for the North and Te Wai Ponamu for - the South.

No I’m not going to translate.

Aotearoa is the name Maori gave to this land when they first arrived, centuries before European colonists ‘discovered’ it and deemed it theirs. Contrasted with other nations of denser populations, our little nation is a small village in comparison - yet in terms of global population standards we experience the same problems of nations and cities of far larger and much diverse populations such as London and New York. .....Why?

What is it with kiwi’s - why for instance, do we have such high rates of incarceration. According to statistics we have an incarceration rate of 155 people per 100,000 - placing us seventh highest in that category in the OECD - just below Mexico. (1)

Why?

And why do we have such long hospital waiting lists– which incidentally indicate a high degree of illness within the general public - (but that would be another story) Earlier this year more than 35,000 people were ‘culled’ from elective surgery waiting lists (2)
What about our shocking child and domestic abuse rate which is becoming notorious throughout the western world - Why is this happening in a little country known by its citizen as ‘gods own’ ?

In my understanding of life, all of these things taken together would be seen as huge warning signals that something is terribly amiss – something is seriously out of balance .

To some these things are disturbing - yet for others it never penetrates their consciousness.
Yet these things do not arise in a vacuum, nor do they arise over night. These things and many more not mentioned here have been happening for decades – all my life actually - and they seen to have been deemed NORMAL by the rest of us. We may not like them, but hey – that’s just the way life is – its like that everywhere- its just life, isn’t it ?

And lo and behold these shocking numbers, concealing the misery in ordinary everyday human lives - kiwi lives - is normalised and life goes on unabated -and totaly unexamined.

And every morning - someone – we don’t know who because no one has claimed responsibility – and besides its not our cliff - parks another ambulance at the bottom of the cliff – in all these years not one person has built a fence – not one – but there has been lots of talks, hui's, conferences and the like.

However we view these events, they are NOT normal – they are warning signs of a much deeper problem that fails to register on the radar of many – including governments – they are both by products from and consequence of an inhumane/insane/suicidal system of beliefs both economical, psychological and political that stem from a deep and abiding unconsciousness of who we are as human beings and our connection to the natural world that gives us life.

All these things above and more not mentioned including ecocide, - infantcide - ethnic cleansing the looming climate change - are a result of an un natural way of living and an equally un natural and unexamied system of beleifs that has enabled us to extend these beliefs throughout the ages beliefs for the most part that have never changed – they remain unexamined and erroneous. Beliefs we have fought to the death for and beliefs we have bequeathed to our off spring and passed on – still unexamined - generation after generation – until today - we stand in a world on the brink of multiple crisis wondering what the hell is going on.

Something massive is underfoot – warning signs are everywhere but we are a race - a humanity that has normalised all its warning signs so we continue the business as usual approach unaware and totally unprepared for the bigger picture beginning to unravel across the northern hemisphere and heading our way

……..to be continued


(1) http://www.stats.govt.nz/products-and-services/nz-in-the-oecd/justice.htm

(2) http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10421381