Ngahi Bidois: One for all and all for one bro

Tatou, tatou - All aboard!

The conversation is always the same and goes something like:

"Hey bro are you going?"

"Ahh I'm not sure yet. What about you, are you going?"

"I don't know bro ... but I'll go if you go"

"What about Koa is he going?"

"He's not sure either, but he reckons he will probably go if we go."

"Well that sounds like us then ... what do you reckon?"

"Yep bro let's go, I'll let Koa know."

There is a beautiful Maori proverb that summarises these conversations nicely:

"He waka eke noa" refers to the canoe which we are all in together with no exception. It's a bit like that old Musketeers' motto of "all for one and one for all" and as Maori we tend to operate in the collective or ope. This group or ope thing has been ingrained into us from the first time we went on to a marae and had to wait for others to join our "ope" or "waka" before we were welcomed on.

In my younger days we developed our own Musketeers motto "tatou, tatou." We would use it whenever the group thing was being applied like when we wanted to share a mates bike or kai. The conversation would go something like "Kia ora bro, that's a flash bike your parents bought us aye." "Yeah I reckon - aye, what do you mean us?" "Tatou, tatou bro, just like the skateboard my parents bought you and me." "Oh, yeah that's right, tatou, tatou bro."

So how is your "tatou, tatou" group thing going? We may not share bikes or skateboards but there are many things we can share such as a seat in our car if we know someone else is going to the same place, some kai from our garden, business ideas, a bit of our time with a phone call or even some other area of our expertise to help someone out.

We are all in this together, he waka eke noa, one for all and all for one, lest tatou tatou becomes koutou - ahau. It's never a good idea to paddle your own waka alone.

Ngahihi o te ra is from Te Arawa and is a speaker, author and consultant. His book is available at Mcleods book store and the Lakeside cafe in Rotorua. His website is at www.ngahibidois.com.