Alas Heath...

We all march together to our eventual demise. Men, women and, all too often, children fall in our ranks. We look at each death with the incredible ability to assign a cause that somehow excludes us–providing the necessary illusion to keep marching.

Rarely, we all take pause to mourn one of us who has captured our collective attention. Death is inevidable and so its darkness would seem perpetual. But who could live in such a world? Instead we celebrate the joy of living. We look in awe at the blazing candle that burned twice as bright. We take it in, we make it part of ourselves, and we march on together smiling through tears.

These kids today...

So here in New Zealand the topic du jour is child welfare. NZ recently passed what it calls "anti-smacking" laws. Basically, parents are not allowed to forcefully strike their child. This law is not meant to prevent the occasional attention grabbing bottow-swat, but rather the full-on butt whooping you may fondly remember. Hey, this sounds good to me. While I certainly survived my butt whoopings, I do think I could have learned my lessons to the same extent without them. Further, while I don't feel in any way "harmed" by my childhood, I recognize that many others are. It is far too easy to carry physical punshiment to the extreme. Why not reign it in?

Adding more fuel to the debate are reports of school yard bullying, street racing, and widespread "tagging" (graffiti). More alarming have been recent deaths of teens in what is probably best described as gang warfare, but not nearly to the scale of the US.

This is an election year for New Zealand and a new candidate is gunning for the Prime Minister. Thus an issue like child safety is an easy target. It has virtually no downside as both sides can claim to be pro-child while debating the particulars of how to achieve more child safety and better behaved teens.

In response to one such article I wrote the following...

The discussion of child laws reminded me of a John Quincy Adams quote…

“The laws of man may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous, or happy.”

It seems many societies today struggle with raising our youth. Indeed, the reactionary policies implemented after the fact are too little too late. We can all agree that loving parents is by far the best. But when a child has no responsible parents, then one of us must become responsible for that child. Either by occupation or by personal virtue, in the end it is the same — each child needs care. Making that commitment is enormous.

No parent is perfect. It is not possible to legislate perfect parenting. I think anti-smacking is a good thing, but simply not hitting a child doesn’t make a good parent. Simply not hitting a child won’t prevent bad behavior or criminal behavior. Using physical discipline certainly will not either. My point here is that what makes a good parent to a child is something that can not be defined in legal terms. The law can only dictate financial responsibilty and physical safety.

These children today are not alien creatures. They are not mysterious or unfathomable. They are you and me just a few years back (or a lot of years back). If they seem more aggressive or frightening, it is because we have taught them our disapproval and time has tempered our hearts. Regardless of the child/teen someone must accept them in all their flawed ways. From this we teach that child to accept us in all our flawed ways. We pass on what we have done to the next generation who will then confront the next. The young do not have the wisdom to reach out to us, we must go to them.

I actually got a compliment from the editor... hmph... *grin*

I have to say if you want to be politically active... come to New Zealand. Folks (small numbers of folks) can have a huge impact on life here. The scale of everything is smaller. This includes the problems. I find some comfort in the size of the problems here. They feel managable and solvable in a way I never felt in the US. One person could really make a difference here.

Wind and Rays

Only a couple of interesting things since I last wrote. One is we say a sting ray in the harbor and the other is I got a first hand feel of "gale force" winds.

One of our developing family walks we like to walk down to a children's playground just off the harbor. The playground has a giant sized slide off a stylized lighthouse. Amy and I like it because while Gabe plays we can watch this whirling water sculpture build out in to the bay. Amy was sitting near the edge of the dock going out to the sculpture when I saw a large rock detach and glide away from under where she was sitting. Only it wasn't a rock, it was a sting ray. It glide off along a ridge of stones and seaweed. Amy and Gabe missed it. But later Amy spotted it again swimming back and we followed from the pier. A silly thing for folks that live here, but to a Nebraska boy it is pretty cool. We also watch small schools of fish and some sort of swimming bird that was fishing in the harbor.

Today the weather predicted "gale northerlies". I have heard folks talk about "northerlies" but I have often pondered how windy ol' Windy Wellington could get. It wasn't stormy, but it was windy. At 240 pounds the wind stopped me in my tracks twice on the street. The other skinny pedestrians did not fare as well. For once I had to appreciate my low drag roundness. I love the feel of the wind though. There might not be another weatherlogical phenomenon that I like more. The wind pulled up sea mist off choppy waves. Large boats rocked in their moorings like toys in a tub. When all I could do was hold my ground against the rush I could feel a small measure of the Earth's strength. It is rare for a large man to be tossed around in everyday life. In a strange way it made me feel more of the Earth. Not over it or in control of it, merely part of it. Perhaps the world needs more of this.

Weekend Walks

Today is Monday the 21st in New Zealand. We have calculated that the time here is -5 hours from you only it is tomorrow. So 5:00 PM Sunday in Chicago is 12:00 PM Monday in Wellington.

Yesterday we went to the Botanical Gardens here. This park is on top of a large hill and overlooks the entire harbor. It is an awesome view. The gardens themselves are spread out over many trails--all of them have some steep slope. Houses here are build on every hillside. It is hard to find a house *without* some sort of view. You also have to be careful about selecting your rentals because if they don't talk about parking in the advertisement then you probably have to park on the street and take a 40' vertical switch back to your front door.

We're still staying in the "serviced apartment" provided by our relocation. It is nice having a daily maid, but it is a smallish place. There are shops of about every variety within a block of our building. However you do have to get out while they are open because they pretty much close by 6 everyday. Amy says that Wellington is the smallest big city she's ever seen. A "suburb" here may only have 100 houses with 2-3 basic necessity shops. The whole metro area is only about 400,000 folks with only 180,000 in the city itself. Yet it has 5 train lines and scads of bus lines and large downtown center and all the arts/entertainment you'd expect in a much larger city.

There are 2 playgrounds in walking distance, both right on the harbor edge. There are not many "beaches" in the area, but we've managed to get to one. The water is cold enough that only the kids really play in it. The tides here are very slight so the currents are not very strong. Most of the near coast line is mix of rocks and crags.

We may do some shopping today or we may explore the trains. We're not sure yet. Talk to you all again soon!

Harbor walks

I got a battery for my old digital camera. I took a few photos along my walk on the pier. I think this shot is the best one.

I'm walking a ton more now which is good. I wanted to change my lifestyle to more healthy patterns. I have a good mile walk to work now (and back). Plus I like to get out in the evening a walk the harbor. Hopefully I can keep up the pace. My poor old feet are complaining.

Night all! Cya tomorrow.

First Day in New Zealand

Well 25 hours of travel and 14 hours of sleep (post travel) and we're here. The flights over were about what you would expect. I travel pretty well, but I forget that the rest of my family can't just fall asleep in 2 minutes or less like I can. Still they survived and seem to be all good now.

Wellington is (I'm told) at the height of its beauty right now. Mid-summer is all sun shine and cool breezes on the sparkling harbor. Morning mist barely veiled the far shores. I still look at it all like I am only seeing it on TV. I have gone through so many changes to arrive here that I feel almost like I can not take these moments. But I am sure that will pass. This is only the first 30 hours of being here!

Virtually every experience is a little game of "find what is different". Ketchup here is sweeter--like a sweet pickle in tomato sauce. Everyone has an accent except me. Some changes are bigger like it is summer here, they drive on the left and there are mountains and oceans in the same view. Other changes are very slight but still ever present.

All my phones work fabulously to call home. I suspect I'll be calling lots of folks lots and lots.

The apartment they gave us is very modern, but certainly smaller than we are used to. Gabe asked to have some kid playmates in the first 12 hours of arrival. However this downtown location has nearly all conveniences except other kids to play with. We are starting our look for more permanent homes tomorrow.

We have been given a few bags of starter groceries. Apparently Kiwi's are mad for orange juice as we've been gifted about 2 gallons. They also must love a curious little substance called Marmite. I'm not entirely sure what Marmite is... it came in a jar roughly the size of a jar of peanut butter and has roughly the same consistency only it is dark brown and not in the least bit sweet. It might be described as worchester sauce in paste form. I am not sure what you would eat it with. The bread here is better than I've tasted in Kansas. The eggs were so fresh that one still had feather fluff on it. They also had flame orange yolks. I guess I think they were still chicken eggs... They tasted normal.

I am typing to you now on my new work issues T61 laptop. It seems alright--a little quirky.

Amy is whipping up some spagetti in the micro-sized kitchen. The first day seems a complete success. Tomorrow our "relocation consultant" is picking us up at 10 AM for "orientation." I think that is code for city tour and possible house hunting.

See y'all later!

On the Eve of the Move

Tomorrow our packers arrive--4 of them. I'm guessing it will take them all of about 6 hours to box up everything we are taking. On Friday they load our container. Friday night and beyond we'll be living solely out of our 2 suitcases each until we arrive in Wellington on the 10th.

Another upshot of all this is that my cable box will be turned off and turned in tomorrow evening. My computers will be packed up for shipping to NZ. I won't see them again until late Feb if not March. My new job will be giving me a new laptop on the 14th so I won't be completely isolated for long. They also said they would be bringing me a new cell phone when they fetch us from the airport. *grin* I'm liking these guys (and gals).

We have far too much left to do for me to write on about it all night. But I figured I'd take a moment to let you all know we'll be talking to you soon. I will try to make time to post, but I imagine I'll have many other priorities at first.

May wisdom and good fortune bless us all. And now on to the next adventure...