Kia ora … and I’m going to leave it at that.
Well, there is a bit of a furore in Whangarei at the moment, over the use of “kia ora” as a greeting at the Kiwi Yo shop. Young Monet was reprimanded for greeting customers with “kia ora” rather than the officially sanctioned and company approved protocol for greeting customers. Being a young Maori woman who has grown up with Maori being her first language, in a country where Maori is recognised as an official language of the country, she thought it best to quit her job because, and I can only surmise here, being told she couldn’t use “kia ora” went against her very being.
When I first read about this in the local paper, my first response was sheer astonishment that this happened in this day and age, and in NZ. I then felt anger and disgust at the thought of such shallow minded people. But, by the end of the article my focus was on how in awe of Monet I was for standing up for something she believes in heart and soul – the girl has guts.
Whilst in Farmers today and standing at the counter being served, the lady at the service counter next to us was chatting with her customer. They mentioned how much quieter it was in town today without all of the protesters. I hadn’t heard about any protests but I automatically assumed it must have had something to do with Kiwi Yo. The lady serving then went on to comment that she couldn’t understand why they were making such a big deal about it; she then went to glance in my direction, but quickly averted her eyes so as not to make direct eye contact with me. I had to chuckle and shake my head … how easy it is to condemn an action ie the protest, when the reason behind it has no direct bearing on you. I think the fact that she lacked enough conviction to be able to look me in the eye – she should have just kept her mouth shut.
If you haven’t guessed already, I’m a Maori, a NZ Maori, and I’m damn proud of my heritage … all of it! I’m not fluent in Te Reo, I don’t send my kids to kura kaupapa, I don’t attend the national haka competition religiously every year; but I know who I am and I know where I come from, the good, the bad and all of the friggin’ ugly! So I do take great offence to think that “kia ora” is not “sufficient” enough to greet a customer? Some Kiwis obviously still have some growing up to do.
On a more positive note. A friends son was safely reunited with his family today, after being missing for 5 days! On hearing the news of his disappearance I went on to Facebook to find out what was going on. There were so many comments of hope and love to the family that I was completely blown away by it all, and just thought how comforting it must be to my friend knowing all of these people are out there thinking and praying for her. I thought to post a comment as well and found myself a bit tongue tied and lost for words, kind of awkward really. I then thought to myself – “call her for goodness sake”. I was at a complete loss for words, I mean honestly, what can you really say at a time like that that they haven’t already heard from everyone else – stay positive – but never mind. Anyhow, I called her and we talked for about 10 minutes, but I felt so much better for having spoken to her and made it personal. She’s my friend, a human being with a heart and soul – not a computer screen!
And on another positive note – wasn’t the weather absolutely gorgeous today. I managed to grab a few minutes of just sitting out in the sun and basking in the glorious warmth – roll on Summer!
ManiC