Whanganui Chronicle
  • Whanganui Chronicle home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Taranaki
  • National Park
  • Whakapapa
  • Ohakune
  • Raetihi
  • Taihape
  • Marton
  • Feilding
  • Palmerston North

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • New Plymouth
  • Whanganui
  • Palmertson North
  • Levin

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Whanganui Chronicle

Accepting our differences beats awful ugliness of hate

Whanganui Chronicle
21 Mar, 2019 03:00 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Armed police guard the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch. What happened in this southern city last Friday was an outpouring of hate, racism and pure madness. Photo / file

Armed police guard the Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch. What happened in this southern city last Friday was an outpouring of hate, racism and pure madness. Photo / file

Rob Rattenbury

I AM still, as an old man who has seen much, amazed at the level of evil a human being can exhibit. We truly are potentially awful mammals — the most awful, really.

I live in a small provincial city where, daily, we all mix with each other on very friendly terms no matter where we are from. I enjoy the diversity of cultures in our wee burg. We have our nutters but they a fringe dwellers who hopefully are harmless.

I do not have many Muslim friends — not by choice; simply because there are not many Muslims in my community. I do have one Muslim friend whom I worked with for many years in ACC. He is a highly qualified physician who brought his lovely family to NZ to further his studies and to give his children a safe life. My friend has the greatest sense of humour; he is so humble and caring but so talented and able.

We would talk about the Koran and the Bible. He was fascinated by my lack of knowledge of the Bible and almost lapsed Catholicism and he borrowed my school Bible for a few months to read and study it. After he handed it back he would sometimes quote from it just to amaze me.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

He accepted me for what I am. He also taught me about halal food and curry. Lunch was always an adventure. He laughed at me asking for "Kiwi Hot" at restaurants, but with kindness.

My friend does not drink alcohol, but would quiz me on it and on what happened when alcohol was consumed, making me think about what most Kiwis regard as a normal part of life.

My friend is continually amazed at what he sees and hears from "you Kiwi boys and girls", laughing all the time. He eventually got our humour. Being with him made me a better person. He does not appreciate rude jokes or swearing, so I had to lift my act a bit. He had no concept of rugby, but we all helped him in this aspect and I think, in the end, he became mildly interested in the game.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

My friend is a holy man but accepting of all religions. I asked him once to come to Mass with me and he agreed. We did not get there, due to other matters arising, but he was willing to embrace a Christian service.

The only time I saw my friend get cross or angry was when we would talk about Isis or al-Qaeda. He would say they are not Muslims, just terrorists.

My friend and his family are now New Zealanders by choice, which makes me very happy. He is not living in New Zealand at present but returns often, and we always catch up for lunch and kōrero. He may come back in the future, but his career has taken him to the Middle East in the meantime.

What happened in Christchurch was only about hate and racism coupled with pure madness. That beast took the lives of innocent children, women and men practising their faith in a place where they should have been safe.

Discover more

New Zealand

Community invited to show unity at march

21 Mar 04:00 PM
Opinion

Comment: Grief and fear for millions of boys named 'Peace'

21 Mar 11:00 PM

Whanganui pays tribute

22 Mar 02:15 AM

Rob Rattenbury: The life of Riley

23 Aug 09:20 PM

I cannot describe here my feelings for this specimen, but putting him down would be the easy way out.

I have not spoken to my friend since Friday due to other matters, but I know he, his lovely wife and children will be bereft.

I hope he still wants to come back here to live and to offer New Zealand his knowledge and experience as a highly qualified medical specialist.

If anything comes out of last Friday, let it be that we accept each other for our differences of faith, politics, colour, and beliefs.

Life is too short and temporary to be hateful.

Rob Rattenbury, who is retired and lives in Whanganui, spent much of his working life dealing with people in crisis, first as a policeman and later with ACC. He recently published a book about his years with the police, So You Want To Be A Cop.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Save

    Share this article

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

Whanganui Chronicle

'He's just scared of me': Teen's Māori wards challenge to PM

06 Jul 03:55 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Brazen hammer heist: Police hunt jewel thief, staff distressed after store raid

05 Jul 05:11 AM
Whanganui Chronicle

Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

04 Jul 06:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Whanganui Chronicle

'He's just scared of me': Teen's Māori wards challenge to PM

'He's just scared of me': Teen's Māori wards challenge to PM

06 Jul 03:55 AM

Chris Hipkins agreed to meet him in Wellington after the Prime Minister said 'no'.

Brazen hammer heist: Police hunt jewel thief, staff distressed after store raid

Brazen hammer heist: Police hunt jewel thief, staff distressed after store raid

05 Jul 05:11 AM
Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

Kāinga Ora needs to be ‘responsive to need’, says minister

04 Jul 06:00 PM
Work begins on key phase of port project

Work begins on key phase of port project

04 Jul 06:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Whanganui Chronicle e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Whanganui Chronicle
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP