Hamish Bidwell says kindness clearly went out the window when the Government got some disappointing poll results. Photo / NZME
Hamish Bidwell says kindness clearly went out the window when the Government got some disappointing poll results. Photo / NZME
I shudder to think of the histrionics that would accompany a whale stranding right now.
From the desperate attempts to save the animals on the shore to the collective mourning afterwards, there'd hardly be a dry eye in the country.
And rightly so, some would argue.
But who shed atear for the 104 New Zealanders who died of Covid-related symptoms last week? Their families, sure, but who else?
Covid's over, obviously. Yes, the wave of cases has peaked and there are just a few inconvenient odds and ends to tidy up, such as the small matter of people dying.
We've - at the time of writing - had seven deaths in Hawke's Bay, from the more than 20,000 people in the province who've been infected.
I was re-listening to an English cricket podcast the other day. It was from two years ago and centred on the state of the game in New Zealand, with Brendon McCullum, Simon Doull and Hawke's Bay's own Ian Smith as the guests.
We were in the midst of our first lockdown then, which was brought into sharp focus when Smith said there were five positive Covid cases nationwide at the time.
I know the world's changed a lot in those two years and I know Covid has mutated and become more infectious in between, but five cases is not a lot.
Covid fatigue is a real thing now. People are tired of wearing masks and washing their hands and we've become desensitised to case numbers.
No-one would seemingly bat an eyelid when the daily infection rate was 20,000 or the death toll in double figures.
Hamish Bidwell
Never mind that Covid is in your family or among your friends. Never mind the neighbours who're isolating or that half your child's class is at home sick, along with the teacher.
No, as I said, Covid is ostensibly over and we're all about to return to life as we knew it two-and-a-bit years ago.
Well, I'm afraid I can't be so dismissive of the death toll. And I can't celebrate the opening of our borders or the return of crowds to professional sport.
I can't just pretend that no-one's dying and no-one's getting sick.
Kindness clearly went out the window when the Government got some disappointing poll results, so the best way forward is for lots of us to get sick, some of us to die and the rest to celebrate not having to flash a vaccine passport at the pub.
If you worried about the worst possible outcome, you wouldn't do much in life. You wouldn't get in a car or hop on a plane or let your kid ride their bike to school.
We've had multiple stories in recent days about surfing and skydiving mishaps and tributes to the fabulous people who died doing those activities.
But die of Covid in this country and no-one gives a toss.
We're constantly warned not to eat this or drink that. Don't smoke, don't have too much screen time, and don't go outside without a hat otherwise something bad might happen one day.
Well, a very bad thing is happening right now. A thing that's killing Kiwis at an alarming rate.
But, hey, what's a few deaths as long as yours isn't one of them.
