About 30 years ago, when my wife Nuu and I were in Auckland visiting rellies, we decided to take a tour of Northland. Somewhere outside Dargaville the bus driver stopped at a take-away. I walked across the road to look at the scenery. As I was standing there,the tour guide joined me.
I pointed out how beautiful the stream and bridge were. He seemed oblivious, mentioning that he'd never noticed them before.
Today is Anzac Day. It is the day that Kiwis gather at 5.30am for parades to honour their military. This morning Nuu and I went to the dawn service at the Auckland War Memorial Museum.
Anzac Day does not commemorate a victory. It commemorates a terrible WWI defeat in which Kiwi soldiers were ordered to charge up steep hills in an attempt to overrun Turkish positions at Gallipoli. Their charges ended in retreat, and cost over 2700 Kiwi lives.
As Reveille was sounded feelings of patriotism flooded in, feelings that I had rejected during the Vietnam War. I was filled with pride for God's country, proud of its health system, its commitment to human rights, its tasteful remembrance of the fallen, its efforts to educate the young, and even its unnoticed bridge over a Dargaville stream.
New Zealand is not a utopia, and in the last 30 years its clean/green image has been tarnished, but coming from elsewhere, "To be a Kiwi is a blessing that does not go unnoticed."
