Kiwi spirit prevails

Photo / Hawkes Bay Today

I just love the kiwi spirit. We are such a nation of people who firmly believe "don't cry over spilt milk" or in this week's case, spilt rivers.

TV coverage of flood affected residents in the South Island and Napier on Sunday night brought a smile to my face, as interview after interview continued to show kiwis with smiles on their faces braving it out.

"Emergency services need the help of emergency services," Chris Morgan of the Napier Salvation Army told One News as he stood inside his completely flooded warehouse.

He then followed his statement with a laugh reminiscent of the late John Candy, as he continued wading through muddy waters. He said he was clearly devastated, but with a smile in his face and the support of locals, you just know he'll come out on top.

In the South Island, locals smiled as they spoke to reporters while flood waters lapped through homes and inside cars.

In Central Otago at Berwick Forest campground a slip ploughed through one of the buildings, a near miss for 42 occupants sleeping inside. The slip destroyed one end of the large building. The destroyed section then crushed several cars below.

On camera, one of the car owners looked at her vehicle, then the camera, and simply said "Bugger"...a reference to the famous Bugger ad released by Toyota several years ago. She then had a big grin on her face.

I just love how New Zealanders react to stressful moments. There's almost an element of childish fun that creeps out in us and while we know there's a huge financial cost at play there's also that "she'll be right" attitude that kicks in. No point crying over spilt milk right?

Compare this to American disasters in which the most dramatic quote seems to be the one that makes the headlines. Dramatic, loud, people either blaming someone or crying or repeatedly making references to "God" as if God was sitting there bored and felt like flooding New Orleans.

I imagine God sitting in his cloud, putting his hand to his face and going "Oh why are they dragging me in to this?"

Speaking of New Orleans...while that was a truly terrible disaster, I still can't forget the memory of seeing some incredibly overweight lady crying on TV less than two days after the disaster saying she was starving. I have no doubt she was starving. But I couldn't feel sympathy for her. The next scene showed her drinking a bottle of Mountain Dew. A far cry from those that are starving in silence in Africa.

I understand the pain of not eating. I did the 40-hour famine two weekends ago...and after 40 hours I was starving too. But I don't think, if my house was underwater up to the ceiling along with the rest of the city, that not eating for a day or two would be the thing I'd be crying about to a reporter.

I wonder how kiwis would've reacted in New Orleans?

Cut to kiwi bloke with woolly hat, checkered shirt, pale blue jeans and gumboots. He looks behind him at his flooded house. He laughs. "I guess the Mrs can't tell me to mow the lawns for a couple of months now."