Now we will have another with the mosque massacres on March 15 in Ōtautahi Christchurch.
If I were to be asked where I was when I first heard about these four tragedies, I could recall the moment in a heartbeat.
March 15, 2019, about 1.40pm was memorable for two reasons, one tragic and one magic, and it's the latter I want to give some light to - given the grieving has found its final resting place for me and the time to return to the living is once again with us.
The magic good buzz moment of March 15 about 1.40pm was coming face-to-face with a wise old man who happened to show up with his son at a Pilot Bay bach where I was in residence, as an ageing hippy hack trying to write my life's story.
Although we couldn't recognise each other we both knew we knew each other, it was all in the eyes and when the penny dropped - so did our jaws, as we hadn't had the pleasure since I was a pupil in his class as an 8-year-old boy back in 1963 at Omanu School; 56 short years ago.
Graham Gatwood, with his Michael Caine-eyes and Robin Williams' Dead Poets teacher-like aura, was and still is, one of life's good buggers who knew how to make learning come alive in a classroom.
We met up again exactly a week after our Pilot Bay reunion, this time outside the classroom where he taught me the lessons of life in room 1 at Omanu School, and while the world remembered the tragic events of the last week we remembered the magic of those schoolyard days back in 63.
I guess some will say it is insensitive to have reminisced and reminded ourselves of a world where life was not what it was today, and some would say it was too early to talk about joy and laughter.
However, for me, it felt fitting to sit and listen, and laugh out loud with a wonderful man who gave me the gift of knowledge, something I have always believed in since, how it would save the world and how it would someday be the weapon of salvation for this crazy planet we call home.
Who knows what the kids sitting inside the class last Friday must have thought, just after the country stood to remember the fallen in Christchurch, when these two crazy buggers sitting outside their class started singing songs from back in the day.
Velvet Waters - word-for-word perfect, as if we were back inside the class of 63.
How is it good times and great songs stay strong in our memories, when the words we need to say seem harder to recall as Father Time comes calling.
Like us all, we all have our favourite teachers and the fond memories that sit beside them when we think back to those schoolyard days.
Harry Paniora, Jean Wills, Mrs Somerville Ryan, David Gregory, Dozzy Hunt and the patter tennis and poetry maestro, Mr Gatwood.
You, sir, gave us all who had the privilege of being one of your pupils in room 1 at Omanu School a gift we can never repay, other than to use it to try and make the world a better place.
Were we destined to meet on that day in Pilot Bay, when our underbelly of racism here in Aotearoa was exposed at the expense of 50 innocent human beings?
This ageing hippy says it was a divine appointment and nothing to do with chance or coincidence.
Sitting outside in the late afternoon sun listening to the kids singing waiata in Māori said it all.
Māori culture and its rich history were never an option back then - as they are now; and should be taught more and more across every school in the country.
We have grown up and come a long way on the culturally cool pathway to racial equality in Aotearoa, far more than most others, in fact, all other indigenous cultures in the world.
Yes, we have a ways to go – however, the tragic events of March 15 will bring us all - Māori and non-Māori, Muslim and non-Muslim closer together, and for this, the lives lost will never be in vain.
To sir with love, thank you for making sense of the madness of the mosque massacres. Thank you for teaching us the lesson - life is all about laughter and learning and most of all love.
Tommy Kapai Wilson is a local writer and best selling author. He first started working for the Bay of Plenty Times as a paperboy in 1966 and has been a columnist for 15 years. Tommy is currently the executive director of Te Tuinga Whanau, a social service agency committed to the needs of our community. broblack@xtra.co.nz
