For nearly 20 years we have been told we're not good enough, not smart enough, not quick enough, not tough enough, not industrious enough to heave ourselves into the 21st century.
For years we have constantly been compared negatively with other countries, such as the United States, Ireland, Israel, Hong Kong - none of whose people bear the slightest resemblance to us in character or personality - and told that unless we pull our socks up we will never foot it with the rest of the world.
For nearly 20 years we have been promised a better deal for ourselves and our families, but those empty promises have never come true.
Rather we have seen the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and more numerous, our public utilities and businesses sold off to foreigners, our health, social welfare, law and defence services decline and, for the majority of us in the middle, a sharp erosion of our disposable incomes.
And day after day, year after year, those of us who make up the majority of the populace have been bombarded with the idea that somehow we're to blame for, and must pay for, alleged injustices perpetrated by our ancestors on our indigenous people.
The result for us collectively has been the same as it would be if all this happened to us personally.
If you tell a man (for clarity I use man throughout for both sexes) long enough and often enough that he is not good enough, he will get angry, bitter, resentful, rebellious and either violent or apathetic.
If you tell a man long enough and often enough that he's not as good as the bloke across the street, he's not going to try to be like that bloke, he's going to adopt an attitude that says, "Thank God for that, I wouldn't be like that so-and-so for all the money in the world."
If you keep promising a man something worthwhile and don't deliver, then he's not only going to lose faith in you but in all your kind, which explains why politicians, bureaucrats, economists and businessmen are held in contempt in this country.
And if you tell a man often enough and long enough that he should feel guilty because he is responsible for the sad and sorry state of a large number of neighbours - when he knows damn well he isn't - and must pay, then what you get is not empathy but enmity.
So it's not surprising that most of us look at the articulate, well-endowed and self-important peacocks who strut their stuff at things such the Knowledge Wave Conference, yawn mightily and whisper, "Get stuffed".
I wonder if it ever occurred to anyone to ask the man in the street, your everyday New Zealander, what he wants?
Does he want to work better, smarter, quicker, tougher and for longer hours just to acquire more and bigger and dearer and flasher consumables? Does he see slaving at a job for a pittance paid by an increasingly wealthy boss (and probably a foreigner to boot) as the be-all and end-all of his existence?
Does he want to be like the Aussies, the Irish, the Americans, the Israelis or any other foreigner you like to name?
Does he really give a damn whether his wonderful little country at the bottom of the world, richly endowed by nature and conducive to a laidback lifestyle, stays only on the fringes of the global community?
Or would he rather just be himself, a Kiwi, doing what he does best to the extent that he wants to, cheerfully paying his taxes to help those less fortunate than himself, satisfied with a roof over his head, three meals a day, a warm, dry bed, sufficient clothing for all seasons and a serviceable vehicle to get around in - with a few dollars left over to indulge in whatever takes his fancy?
If we can first, by treating him fairly and equitably, deal with his anger, resentment and bitterness, and by apologising and making amends heal his sense of betrayal, perhaps somebody might ask him?
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garth_george@nzherald.co.nz
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