Could we get a little positivity in this country? Everywhere I look there's a New Zealander complaining about some other New Zealander. "This'll never work." "That person's stupid." "These idiots did this." "I hate that." It's relentless. Online commenters, mainstream broadcasters and crap talkers at dinner tables and bars. Everyone's having a go.
I get it. Being critical is fun. It feels good to be grumpy. But what it doesn't necessarily do is make the world a better place for our children.
As the great Anton Ego once said, "The work of a critic is easy. We risk very little, yet enjoy a position over those who offer up themselves to judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so."
I'm the worst. I've said terrible things on the TV, on my breakfast radio show, in this column and to people's faces. I've been rude, insulting and disgusting. Mean and small minded and that's just in the past few days. Even this article is just me bitching about other people bitching.
So to make up for my behaviour and to combat all the other negative bastards in the world, for the next month I'm going to dedicate this column to being positive. Every week I plan to champion three things. Find events, people or objects that deserve a big up. As a result I fully expect this to become the least read column in the Herald. Here we go then. Week 1.
