Editorial: Quiet achievers and reluctant heroes

Cliff Jones is not famous. Or powerful. He is a police constable in a medium-sized North Island town, a father of four and a man of the great outdoors. His name and work are known in his area and by some police colleagues. Few other New Zealanders would recognise the man, what he does, or what he has achieved.

He might, then, seem an unlikely choice as the Herald's New Zealander of the Year for 2002. Until his story is told. For in one moving demonstration of the human spirit, Cliff Jones came to public awareness and seemed to make tangible some of the intangible values this country holds dear.

Back in October he was the policeman who travelled half the North Island alone through a winter night to help in a desperate search for a 2-year-old French girl missing in freezing conditions near a river beneath the Chateau Tongariro. And, as it happened, it was Mr Jones who found her, at first thinking her dead then being stunned by the miracle of her waking to ask for her maman. It was one brilliant moment that cheered a nation. But it is, we find, all in a day's work for a career policeman who has spent his time, both work and private, trying to save us from ourselves.

He doesn't do it all. He doesn't do it alone. And he has definitely not sought individual acclaim for what is always a team effort. But as Turangi-based search and rescue co-ordinator for the great wilderness of the central plateau, he organised and led many missions this year and in the past decade in which dire prospects were conquered by professionals and volunteers who refused to let hope die.

The rescue of the little French girl and indeed the choice of Mr Jones for this recognition are testament to a generosity of spirit to be found in all of those who give up their time, comfort and safety to come to the aid of others. Their deeds are seldom noticed, sometimes unsuccessful, but they have a profound impact on those in need.

The Herald's annual tribute to 10 New Zealanders of exceptional achievements benefiting the country and its people deliberately excludes politicians because the very nature of their calling means they dominate public life. Interestingly, this year turned up many people who might be reluctant heroes. There were fewer real contenders from the ranks of those with the highest profile and more from the national comfort zone of quiet achievers. The commitment and selflessness of Mr Jones stood out but the other nine were relatively hard to rank even from different perspectives.

Two North Shore building inspectors, the brothers O'Sullivan, Philip and Greg, are whistleblowers extraordinaire in the leaky buildings scandal. Richard Taylor, the Oscar winner for his Weta special effects in Lord of the Rings, took his mum to the Academy Awards. The Cambridge boys in the Datsuns stormed the London rock scene. The work of the unfashionable Bruce Sheppard came fully into vogue as the global corporate culture and business values were rethought. Shane Jones took on one of the country's most intractable problems and stands on the verge of triumph. Ralph Norris straightened out a wrecked airline and bet the company on one big solution.

Mai Chen stepped forward to form the Pan Asian Congress and add a much-needed voice to the debate on immigration. Tab Baldwin achieved unthinkable progress for the national basketball team and the modest family man Stacey Jones took the Warriors' success and personal sporting greatness in his stride. And in a new frontier, Vicki Hyde, the editor of the leading edge Christchurch-based website Sci-Tech Daily, gained global recognition - pipped in an online vote for world best in that field by none other than Nasa.

As always, this is a thoroughly subjective list which will provoke debate. It already has. But that, literally, brings out the best in us.