Rotorua letters to the editor: How did living on the streets become the norm?

I no longer live in Rotorua but I read your online articles. The homeless situation is heartbreaking. It is no different nationwide.

Now in my 70s, homelessness was an unknown concept when I was young. When did we get so heartless that people living on the streets has become the new normal?

So many empty houses standing silent waiting for their owners to arrive for the holidays.

So many short-term rentals making money for those who have invested into the currency of multiple properties.

Our National Government is wealthy and sorted. While the vulnerable make me feel ashamed to be part of the human race.

Lesley Haddon

Takaka

Striking balance

Sharoo Rao’s “Striking balance in a changing society” (Comment, June 7) was right on the button.

As children grow and are exposed to the wonders of creation that surround them, they develop a sense of connection to something greater than themselves, encouraging them to search further through a sense of trust, hope, love and belonging, instilled through family and close friends. However, when individuals make themselves the centre of all that is attractive and beautiful, they lose this connection.

The fight for recognition, identity and self-worth has become overshadowed by moral relativism that blinds too many. “Growing the economy” has caused parents to be overwhelmed to the extent that too many no longer have the time or energy to guide their offspring along the paths of shared common values. Instead, the surrogate parent is now social media, which allows rapid information and temporary visual highs that in the long term create a sense of worthlessness, isolation and confusion, leading towards loneliness, mental illness, fractious behaviour and suicide.

She is right in saying we need to look towards the core values that made us strong. The values she recommends have stood the test of time and helped to grow prosperity, civilisation and wellbeing for the majority, in the name of God.

G Parker

Rotorua

Big tick for healthcare

It seems if one wants to pick a subject to cane the Government on, healthcare gets the tick!

Recently we had a family gathering, all the siblings, five of us, and spouses, all in our 70s none with sticks though we’ve had issues, some have hearing aids, new eye bits, a pacemaker, renewed arterial plumbing in a couple of cases and a plethora of pill takers.

Our father passed at 65, heart issues, and we can trace the genetics of that, but the overwhelming consensus is that this country’s health system is amazing.

We’ve each had great attention when needed. Yes, it’s not perfect, it’s underfunded, under-resourced, short-staffed, but boy it functions!

There are anomalies, missed diagnosis, cracks that patients slip through, mistakes that cost lives, and these are unfortunate, but in every country, there are the same issues – staff, money, human error – but among all the other issues we have as a country that demand government attention, our health service personnel are absolute stars.

John Williams

Ngongotahā

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