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Worzels World - Grateful to be here

 

I’m often accused of being negative and writing predominantly about things, true as they may be, that are on the depressing side of happy.

In my defence I would say that the gradual erosion of lifestyle, prosperity and individual sovereignty has occurred because most refuse to acknowledge what is often a grim truth and choose to live in denial of the true state of affairs. The more an alarmist and sensationalised media generate fear of what could go wrong, the less people are able to think about solutions to what is already wrong. Not seeing or understanding the nature of a virus never stopped anyone from catching a cold. Ignoring problems don‘t make them disappear.

However, I have just recovered from a toothache and there are few things more inclined to make a man see the world as a beautiful happy and marvellous place than such a recovery. It’s a bit like the fellow who was asked why he was banging his head on the wall and answered because he knew how good it would feel when he stopped. As one who has spent time banging his metaphorical head against an analogous wall I feel very grateful to have stopped. And as I bask in the pleasure of painless choppers and view the world through rose tinted mouthwash, many and various reasons to rejoice spring to mind.

To begin with there’s bacon and eggs for breakfast and teeth equal to the task of eating it. There is sunshine and rain, friendship, love and laughter. There’s getting older and sometimes even believing that you’re a little wiser for it. There’s work and there’s play and there are tools and toys and that as age advances the difference between them becomes less defined. There’s going to sleep knowing that the day is over, and waking up knowing that one day you will not. There is working and there is doing your best and sometimes even achieving what you planned. There is failure and there is sadness and accepting that these too are part of being. And yes there is just being. 

The suicide statistics would tell us that this is not sufficient for many, but for anyone in a post toothache condition it is enough and more. When we are, at last, relieved of a tormenting pain, be it physical, psychological or spiritual, it seems that it is the small and the simple things which bring us most joy.

Another common stroke of fortune to be grateful for is something that many of us take for granted – living here in Northland, New Zealand. 
I was a subscriber to a YouTube channel that produced a weekly collage of news stories from throughout the world. As a non-television watcher I told myself that it kept me abreast of current world events. I have since realised what wise king Solomon wrote several thousand years ago – that 'all is vanity’ and ‘there is nothing new under the sun' is as true now as ever it was then and I have unsubscribed. 

One thing that watching the tribulation, turmoil, death, destruction and despair that is common currency in mainstream media is that it generally makes me feel grateful for being here rather than there. And there are many and diverse there's. 

Some events covered by this global news channel were even from New Zealand. About these too I was grateful that they happened somewhere else. Up here in Northland the earth has not shaken or split, only a few whales have senselessly committed mass suicide on our beaches, floods are infrequent and seldom cause more than superficial damage, and erupting volcanoes and uncontrollable bush fires are rare. So far bombs and missiles have not rained down upon us. We can be grateful that we were not born in some third world backwater where disease and malnutrition can take away what life those people know earlier than is likely for us in this plentiful and pleasant land. The Northland summertime mosquito is annoying rather than a deadly malaria-carrying hypodermic.

Those of us living in Northland have been dealt a pretty good hand, but isn’t it always the way that those who have it easy become complacent. How hard are we working to preserve what we have? When banks and corporate interests robbed this district through the illegal wastewater loans the ratepayers being robbed could not even agree to stand united against the thieves. There was much internal blame. Some maligned the whingers in Mangawhai, others cited the mismanagers in Dargaville. The real culprits, the corporates, the consultants and the off-shore banks were never held to account. As I write, many in the district are selling off our real wealth, the land which is our heritage to foreign buyers, seduced by the lure of a quick but ultimately worthless dollar, yet there are few dissenting voices and our various governing bodies seem happy to facilitate this invasion. 

There are of course benefits to this foreign investment in our country. Some may get casual work caddying for rich Americans at Tara Iti. Other lucky New Zealand wage slaves may be fortunate enough to gain employment maintaining robots for a Chinese chicken farm. Maybe it’s about time to agree to protect what we are all so fortunate to have?

 Feedback? Email prof_worzel@hotmail.com


There’s bacon and eggs for breakfast. There is sunshine and rain, friendship, love and laughter. There’s work and there’s play. There’s going to sleep knowing that the day is over, and waking up knowing that one day you will not. There is failure and there is sadness and accepting that these too are part of being. And yes there is just being. 

 
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