QUICKER than a stolen kiss at a New Year's party, life is flying fast toward 2010.
No sooner has the pohutukawa put on its ruby red Christmas frock and the jacaranda blessing tree lay down its picnic blanket of purple petals then Super 14 shows up and it's time for another year of crouching and holding as we wait to engage in the next long-awaited summer.
Remember when summers were book ends to life and they lingered on forever from one Kaimai sunset to another? Now they seem to be notches in life's belt of longevity and the belt is getting shorter way too soon.
So how do we make the summers count instead of counting summers and what's this journey called life all about? It was a question asked at a friend's farewell just weeks ago and I have thought about it often since.
The celebrated song writer Van Morrison wrote:
"We were born before the wind and when we learned to let our souls and spirits fly by smelling the sea and feeling the sky, then and only then will we be ready to hear the fog horn blow that calls us home."
So besides Van the Man who else and what else have sent my soul and spirit flying this past 12 months?
The high point that made my spirits fly besides no cellphone, ciggies or anything else that chokes the airwaves and brain cells, was launching another book and watching my Wai Girl walk into school on her very first day.
The same school my mother attended - but this time this little girl was freely encouraged to speak her beautiful native tongue. How cool is that?
The lows - Watching the glamourising of grog take its toll, especially in low deciles Maori communities.
So much talent has been wasted by waipiro and until we recognise alcohol as a dangerous drug just like all the illegal ones, and our leaders are prepared to break the cycle of alcohol addiction, we will continue to see our talented tamariki end up in urupa and jails.
The annual Kapai Good Bugger Awards are now in their fifth year and although they mean four-fifths to anyone but me, the cool thing about having a column is once a year you get to tell 80,000 readers what sets your soul and spirit free.
So the Kapai Community Good Buggers Award goes to:
Graham Cameron (Merivale Community Centre) for being the bro we all need in times of need.
Don Bremner (Chairman of Foodbank and many other community groups) for making sure everyone gets a fair feed in times of need.
Laura Franklin (former editor). Not only one of the brightest brains in the newspaper business but an awhi angel for her partner - who needed a grateful bed.
Stan "The Man" Walker. Winner of Australian Idol and a role model for Tauranga teenagers.
HoriBop (Terry Leaming) for his services to the sideline and his giving heart that is larger than life itself.
The Kapai Kura (school) award goes to Matapihi School who are paving the way for a well-balanced learning environment.
Nationally I think Phil Goff will be off as Labour leader as will the Dancing Dwarf as leader of Act. And the chances of Winston winning back his legion of loyal followers are about the same as Hone losing his.
Auckland could become "AuckLen" as the Brown vote hooks up online with digital democracy and the boys with the big bucks realise they can't buy Banks.
Locally we will have a pair of Aces for Mayors in Crosby and Patterson who know what we need to let our souls and spirits fly and the first is a team of councillors who have the intellectual capacity to make it happen.
It will be a defining year for tangata whenua, possibly the most important ever as we draw closer to a raupatu settlement.
If we don't get it right and look beyond blame and self-centred egos, and start looking for all the right reasons to come together, then we could well slip back to the bottom of the settlement queue.
To a place we may never recover from. It will take strong leadership and mana to get us across the barrier of blame but it can be done, especially if we leave religion and politics at the marae gate.
Money has never been the currency of our culture and mana came from what you gave not received. So 2010 could well be "Money or Mana" for Tauranga Moana.
As far as what happens in 2010, as long as we all give more and take less, and Obama stays alive, we still have a shot at survival. And another summer will be notched on to the belt of life. Nga mihi o te tau hou ki a koutou katoa.
tommykapai@gmail.com
KAPAI'S CORNER: Notching up another summer in the Bay
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