Alison Smith: Compassion for the pain of Auckland

In my bubble: Photo / Bevan Conley.

OPINION

It's easy to minimise the pain that our bach owners in Auckland may be feeling over their extended lockdown.

As it always seems to do, the strictest of lockdowns gives me perspective on the freedoms we usually take for granted in this country.

New Zealanders have what's considered to be among the healthiest democracies in the world.

The Economist Intelligence Unit's 2020 Democracy Index ranked us fourth on a global democracy index against 167 countries worldwide.

Factors taken into consideration were electoral process, the functioning of government, political participation and culture, and civil liberties.

I'm hearing viewpoints around the Coromandel that we are losing our civil liberties as we fight this pandemic.

Some people in our neighbourhoods weren't capable of giving up any of their freedoms in level 4 lockdown.

Having to stay in your bubble, keep 2m apart, and wear a mask in public (when you have no medical reasons not to) was too difficult even for a matter of weeks.

Staying out of and off the sea was also especially hard for many of us whose wellbeing is so nourished by life on the coast.

I don't know if it's the stress of lockdown, or just a very alternative view, but I've also heard of unvaccinated Coromandel folk alienating those who had a rare adverse reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine, and not wanting to go anywhere near people who have had their Covid-19 jab.

These are extreme views.

Teresa King's story on page 3 of this week's HC Post ("Auckland woman emotionally distraught after being denied border crossing for Waihi mum's funeral") reminds us that the pain is real.

If you find yourself down a rabbit hole, it's good to remember the people in our community who are making more sacrifices than we are, and the many more outside our "borders" who are less fortunate such as family and our holiday home-owning neighbours and friends who are so much more vulnerable than us.

I'm so grateful we're no longer living small-town life under level 4, which felt like unusual stress without the usual ways to relieve stress, as a fish out of water, in a bubble, in a fish bowl.

But let's do what we all can to reach out to those absent neighbours and friends in Auckland. There's a bigger world with bigger problems than our temporary loss of freedom.