The strange parallels of life

Here I am in New Zealand……

back from Timor for the wedding of two very dear friends of ours- Ian and Lucy. A wedding that John officiated at as the celebrant.

My time here has been amazing…it really has felt like paradise….the weather was hot and sunny when I arrived- after a days delay when the plane just did not turn up in Dili.

As soon as I arrived in Chrtistshuch I can only describe the somatic experience that I felt- as if I had been wearing a heavy coat over all of my body and somehow landing in Christchurch the coat dissolved and I felt lighter and less constricted. I can only assume that in Timor I feel on edge all the time yet am not aware of this.

So things were going well….reconnecting with friends and family, feeling loved and appreciated, taking in the sights and sounds of beautiful Aotearoa…..paradise, peaceful, welcoming, warm,

and then….the Mosque shootings- 50 people dead, at least as many still in hospital as I write.

Incomprehensible, shocking, an altered state of reality sets in….echoes of the trauma of the earthquakes as Christchurch struggles to understand what has occurred here.

Immense pride at the out pouring of love and solidarity throughout New Zealand, yet heartfelt soul searching is beginning as we try and understand how this could happen here…..far right extremism does exist here in Christchurch, and we must all take responsibility for speaking up when ever we get a sniff of this reprehensible rhetoric, and hold all politicians and public figures to account who condone this hateful talk.

For if we don’t- we are all in danger of going down the road of facism, being bystanders to hate.

Words are powerful and need to be spoken with care.

Many schools sent in drawings and messages of love.