Diana Wichtel: ’Tis the season to reflect

Matariki was celebrated for the first time in 2022. Image / NZME

OPINION

The holiday season: Southern Hemisphere rhythms demand that we stagger through December negotiating an obstacle course of extreme shopping, Secret Santas, work deadlines and vacation planning, arriving at the festive finish line broken human beings. Ask anyone how they are this month and see the wild look in their eyes.

Our family is adding to the chaos by hosting a post-Covid-restrictions international gathering of the multitudes at ours. Why did I decide this was the time to renovate the disgraceful downstairs bathroom? Why is catching a ferry no longer public transport but a cruel lottery? Inflatable Santa has sprung a leak, the Hanukkah candles I ordered still haven’t arrived ... Just breathe.

‘Tis also the season for reflecting on a not-so-jolly year. Nearly three have passed since Aotearoa had its first case of Covid. What a crazy ride it has been. In November 2021 I wrote about a typical day: “Get up. Figure out what freaking day of the benighted Covid week it is … Walk up to the French cafe and line up - masked, scanned and sanitised - for a cappuccino ... A demain et demain et demain.” Traffic lights, MIQ, the alienation of social distance - it messes with memory. It’s all a blur.

Is it nearly a year since the anti-mandate protesters set up camp outside Parliament? People wore actual tin foil hats. Violent scenes shook the nation.

What a crazy ride it still is. There’s to be a Royal Commission of Inquiry into New Zealand’s Covid response. The PM: “Every country in the world has grappled with Covid-19 and there was no playbook for managing it.” It’s hard to recall how much we didn’t know in March 2020, when I was contemplating having to make my own hand sanitiser and washing my groceries.

Much uncertainty, headless chookery. Now we’re living a new, wary normal: Covid cases on the rise, a sniffle or tickle still derailing best-laid plans. Kids doing ram raids, too many homeless people in motels - it’s worrying and wearying.

Despite everything, things got on with changing. There is a lot of talk of a nation divided, over vaccines, Three Waters, climate change action, the cost of living …

People are cross. It often seems that those who think we are careering to hell in an overpriced shopping trolley are the same ones who don’t really like change. As someone once said – not Einstein, apparently - insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Heaven forbid we try something new.

Yet we have. Almost suddenly te reo is a valued part of our discourse. It seemed the whole nation came together for a new public holiday that isn’t just an excuse for a lie-in. Neighbourhoods buzzed with Matariki activities. We went to Auckland’s Stardome Observatory for a light show and a lecture that demonstrated that Mātauranga Māori can add to, rather than detract from, an understanding of the cosmos.

This year showed that things don’t need to be either/or. “And” is an underrated word. The Rugby World Cup was a dazzling celebration of women’s rugby and a dazzling celebration of rugby.

I am, by nature, a pessimist. Don’t expect a lot and you won’t be disappointed.

A reason to be less pessimistic: Trikafta, a drug for people with cystic fibrosis offering, it has been calculated, 27 more years of good health, has been approved by Pharmac. Long overdue, as is approval for many more vital drugs. At our best we are a nation that takes care of its people.

We’ve had visitors from overseas. When talk turns to how things are where they come from, it’s deja vu all over again. Cost-of-living horrors? Check. Supply chain problems? Check. Worker shortages, public transport chaos, severe weather events? Check. And Covid, Covid, Covid …

We really are all in this together. When we sit down for Christmas dinner this year with family we haven’t been able to see for the duration, there will be a lot to be grateful for. Happy Holidays.