Linda Hall: Why the blame game?

Linda Hall says people are too quick to judge.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of the people who died in Saturday's tragic boating accident near Kaipara Harbour.

As I write this seven people have been confirmed dead and one is still missing.
There will be hundreds of people out there who are absolutely devastated, their lives changed forever.

As usual before the names of the victims have even been released the blame game begins.
"It [the boat] shouldn't have been out there, it was too rough," was one comment I read.

This comment was made before it was even known if the skipper of the charter boat Francie had survived or not.

Unconfirmed reports early yesterday afternoon said that the skipper had lost his life.

His family have enough to deal with at the moment without reading comments like this.
The only ones that will know exactly what happened on the charter boat are the survivors and even they won't know how or why the skipper made any of his decisions.

At this stage it's a tragic accident and it's best left to the inquiry that will surely follow to find the answers the victims' families will be looking for.

It was the same when the four people were killed at Dreamworld.

There was finger pointing going on all over the place. At one stage I heard something about an 18 year old girl, who was on her first day on the job, and in control of the ride.
Imagine how her and her family felt when they read that.

And then there are the good old Facebook fanatics who have an opinion about absolutely everything and they aren't afraid to put it out there for everyone to read.

Again the Dreamworld tragedy was a prime example. Everyone had something to say, nasty or nice they wrote it.

I've seen some really heated arguments going back and forth on Facebook. Doesn't matter what the subject - affairs, the water, the dog pound - whatever the hot topic of the day is.

I'm not saying people shouldn't have an opinion. Of course they should, but having an opinion and getting nasty, personal and pointing the finger of blame are two different things.

It's no wonder there were 300 calls to the cyberbully line in its first five days.
I really don't think it's going to get better any time soon because the people who do it sadly see no wrong in it.

To change the subject completely I'd like to give a huge shout out to all the amazing and talented fashion students in Year One and Two at EIT who put on an incredible fashion show last Wednesday night.

The quality of their works was just outstanding. My hands were sore by the end of the evening from clapping so much.

The show opened with first year students modelling their own designs. Walking the catwalk in front of an audience is an achievement in itself.

These young women rocked out, some a little shyer perhaps than others, but all of them proud of their achievements - and so they should be.

If I had to pick a favourite outfit it would be Tori Eglinton's avant garde Fashion in the Field, which won the young designer section at the Hawke's Bay Spring Carnival.

It was a gorgeous two-piece outfit made from a material manufactured for training shoes.

The other standout for me was the Kape collection by Raewyn Paterson. Just stunning.

So well done to everyone involved including, of course, the tutors.