Jo Raphael: We must take the bad with the good - we can handle it

Te Whānau a Apanui kapa haka rōpū will be competing in the Te Matatini Festival in Auckland. Photo / Supplied

OPINION

Have you ever used a boxing bag at a gym?

It’s empowering, releases tension, and makes you feel strong - ready to take on anything.

Some days you feel like you’re punching the bag, but on others, you’re the bag being punched.

These days it’s like we’re all punching bags.

Our country is navigating difficult times.

It seems at every twist and turn there’s another sucker punch with no let-up.

Be it unprecedented flooding in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, inflation and cost of living, brutal interest rate hikes or property price falls.

Or for me, it’s watching helplessly from afar as others struggle to rebuild their lives after the devastation of Cyclone Gabrielle.

Meanwhile, we’re still experiencing a housing crisis and recovering from a global pandemic.

It’s easy to feel gloomy when doom and gloom are abundant.

It adds to our daily stress and has an impact on our mental health.

As a newspaper, we’re sometimes criticised for bringing these bad news stories to light.

And I get it. If that’s what we’re faced with daily and that’s what we believe, it can be hard to see past our own confirmation bias.

Sometimes we are told, “all you print is bad news”.

In reality, that’s not the case.

We don’t apologise for keeping our readers informed about those issues.

But we also like to acknowledge the good things happening in our communities.

For example, the fantastic efforts of kapa haka rōpū taking part in Te Matatini this week is one story that stands out to me.

These hard-working competitors practise extremely hard and take the competition very seriously.

All on top of their everyday lives with work, children and other commitments.

It’s such a pleasure to watch all that hard work culminate in seamless performances at the “Olympics” of Māoridom.

Another is the brilliant achievements of three Bay rangatahi who have been awarded the Milford Foundation Scholarship, meaning they receive up to $10,000 per year to cover uni costs.

Students Ashton Zaal, Piper Moore and Jessi Rose Gould have described the news as “genuinely life-changing”. Such good news for this trio and I hope they go on to achieve great things.

There’s also the effort businesses are undertaking to support cyclone victims - Fletcher Building announced on Tuesday is was donating $250,000 to the Red Cross fund.

The TAB said it would donate $11,250.

I think it’s incredibly important to balance the bad with the good - and there is still good in the world.

We may be down for now - but we’re not out.

Donations can be made here: New Zealand Disaster Fund | New Zealand Red Cross