How long can New
Zealand survive as a culture that “bags” everyone? Watching the journalists at
work this last week I have see seen St Johns Ambulance service, Winston Peters,
police, universities, sundry politicians, Helen Clark, insurance companies and
drug companies come under such scrutiny you are left believing there’s not an
ounce of humanity in any of them. It’s one thing to criticise an action, its
thing to obliterate character. It appears to me that this kind of behaviour is
becoming a character trait of New Zealand culture. Is it a virtue? I don’t
think so.
Much of our public
knowledge regarding “events of interest” come to us through our diverse news
media channels. Some of that information is very general and merely keeps us
vaguely informed. Yet other material is distributed ad nauseam under the guise
of “public interest” - stuff that we apparently need to know. But is it?
Is the apparent NZ
First scandal really a scandal in the wider context? Is it going to make much
difference to NZ politics over time? Is their activity that unique among
political parties? And is Peter’s inconsistency actually quite consistent for
politics generally? I can only guess.
Again, as I drove
through South Auckland last week I had an irrational sense that I was heading
into a dark and dangerous place. The geographic centre of violence and P
production – “don’t get out of the car”. When I pulled myself together I saw
pretty ordinary people going about their business.
Is it possible for us
to see the world more positively than negatively? It’s difficult when all we’re
bombarded with is violence, inconsistency, moral failure, fraud and corporate
cover-ups. It’s easy to see how we can become cynical at almost every level. No
one can be trusted. But where does such thinking lead us personally and
corporately? Such a vision of the future is not a pleasant one.
So what’s the
alternative? Does seeing the best in people make us naïve? In one sense yes and
in another, no. Secular cynicism perceives such a view as irresponsibly naïve
because some people are just bad and we can never be sure who they are. Yet
Christian virtue looks for keys to redemption in every person. We see the image
of God in all people. Will we get ripped off from time to time? Absolutely. And
when we do we should see it as nothing less than part of being Christian.
Jesus saw the best in
every one of us. We sent him to the cross for doing so. He was ripped off. Was
he naïve? I don’t think so – in his naivety he won redemption for all who
become his disciples. If we want to follow him, we must take up the same cross
– the one that leads to redemption for all people - people made in God’s image.
“Bagging” people leads nowhere really. Hoping the best for them and working to that end is to walk a different path.
Digby Wilkinson © 2008