Whanganui's controversial Moutoa Monument. Young New Zealanders may have a different view of the nation's history with new education initiatves.
Whanganui's controversial Moutoa Monument. Young New Zealanders may have a different view of the nation's history with new education initiatves.
Graeme Bridge (October 30) opines that "the facts of New Zealand History are controversial, [being] on one hand documented records, on the other, oral folklore".
He is wrong — and his misunderstanding could be explained by the fact that only brief "sanitised" extracts, romanticised with myth and legend from theearly historians, were taught in our schools for most of the last century (eg: J. H. Wallace, 1866; S. P. Smith & E. Best, 1914-20).
In the intellectual fashion of the day, they were rarely evaluated critically before they were used, via the compulsory "school journal".
Graeme´s concern with recorded NZ history illustrates the need to counter the misinformation taught to previous generations of New Zealanders that still frames, for many, their view of New Zealand today.
Today, acknowledged historians are those who evaluate critically their "primary sources" (eg: journals from the time, Hansard, legislation, court records, land records, military records, actual letters). Their reliability is measured by how they separate the factual (provable) from mere opinion and how this compares with outcomes — and how their work has been critically reviewed by others.
Graeme is also wrong because the only controversy remaining is whether we should acknowledge the uncomfortable facts of our history or continue to put only the highest, romanticised motives to past and present practices that degrade our society.
Children in recent times have been exposed to a variety of apocalyptic scenarios from magazines, gaming platforms, toys, television themes including news items to online content. In my day it was largely Donald Duck and a few innocuous games and pursuits such as stories on radio.
Little wonder, then, with such grounding, well established for most youngsters, climate anxiety is now becoming a very real experience for many youth as highlighted in a recent news item.
The threat is real enough, true, but I suspect it's heightened for many young people by the backgrounding mentioned earlier.
PAUL BABER Aramoho
Allan Anderson
Those who knew [the late] Allan Anderson QSM JP knew he was a man with wide community and church interests.
I first met Allan in about February 1999, by which time he had for about 4 years been chairman of the Whanganui Hospital's Ecumenical Chaplaincy Committee. Allan continued as chairman for a further eight years, making a total of 12 years — the longest term of office of any chair of a hospital chaplaincy committee in the Central Region, if not in New Zealand.
Allan explained the root meaning of the title "chairman" as being "chair manager" and preferred this title to the more contemporary titles in vogue. Allan Anderson was an unapologetic advocate for hospital chaplaincy, promoting this worthwhile ministry to various stakeholders such as the Whanganui District Health Board and its management, community groups, local churches of several different denominations and regional church leaders
Allan Anderson . . . a man with wide community and church interests.
When hospital chaplaincy had a financial crisis, Allan "put his hand to the plough" and made articulate pleas for funding. One of the best true stories I heard was of the gentleman who unwrapped his fish from a fish and chip shop, found an article about the need for funding of hospital chaplaincy in the now greasy newspaper and phoned Allan to know how he could help with funding.
I shall miss meeting Allan at hospital, church and community events and my empathy is with his wife Rosemary, his children and grandchildren.
REV GRAHAM JUDEN Co-ordinating and Ecumenical Chaplain, Whanganui Hospital, June 1999 to April 2015
Living by faith
In reply to H. Norton, Kaitoke, October 26, Germany before World War II was famous for its secular humanist universities, where the worthy philosophers you mentioned were taught, and what an intolerant society that turned out to be.
You state that people who live by faith live in an intellectual vacuum. You are against the publication of Thought for Today. It's these people and their churches who feed those who can't make ends meet as they have done since early settlement, although they were more judgmental then than they are today.
As the leading affiliation in NZ has no faith, you can see it reflected in our crime, drugs, domestic violence, abortions, suicide, infanticide and euthanasia, which is assisted suicide, all of which cost the taxpayer dearly.
If it comes to that, the Government can't afford to pay many a living wage.
B. RAE Tawhero
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