Okay, so what’s the problem with Waitangi Day?

Waitangi Day can be a future for our entire nation. 

The Americans are a touch of a challenge. 
A good number in fact are so stuffed full of the crazy juice, there’s very little middle ground in the good ole U.S of really quite fat, A. 

Whether it’s politics, sport or Tennessee’s latest pie-eatin contest, Americans’ will either wildly support a cause so fervently as to suggest they might sell an organ were it guaranteed to get them closer to the action. Or conversely, they’ll scream and shout their disapproval with such furore that we all again become deeply entrenched in discussing the insanity of the country’s gun laws. 

Fortunately, in New Zealand we’re a bit more level headed. 

Sometimes though, we’re a touch…well boring. But you know what, I’ll take mundane over a mass shooting any day of the week. 

That said, what the Americans do very well that we in New Zealand do not…is celebrate the date upon which the country as they know it was formed. Their Independence Day.

At Waitangi on 6th February 1840 the document that formed the nation as we know it was signed and became known as The Treaty of Waitangi. Now yes, there is a good deal of controversy over many aspects of who meant what, misinterpretations of language, who killed whom and so on. But if I can flippantly ask that we leave these aspects aside for three or maybe even four seconds, the fact of the matter is these islands at the bottom of the world became the country we know, on 6th February 1840. And you know what, I’ll argue that is worth celebrating. But don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean celebrating in its current form. 

Firstly, let’s set the scene. You see elements of our home, good ole Aotearoa, formed over 450 million years ago, attached to the arse edge of the then one supercontinent, Gondwana. 

If we place the entirety of time and existence in New Zealand over the last 450 million years and condense all that into the last hour, then 60 minutes ago the land was formed. For the last 60 minutes our nation has boiled and bubbled, rocked and shaked, spewed and farted to the point that we now have gorgeous mountains, incredibly turquoise lakes and the stunning scenery of New Zealand we all know and love. 

The reality of human existence in New Zealand however, and here’s the shocking part, is that in this last hour of creation, we humans turned up on these bonny shores at the earliest, not 10 minutes ago, not even 1 minute ago, but one fifteen thousandths of a second ago. Does that not put into perspective the human concepts of ‘sovereignty’, or ‘ownership’? In short, who are any of us to call shotgun on anything? 

Now please, I don’t want to insult anyone, trample any tales of woe or suggest that any view is less worthwhile than another. I’m simply suggesting that the New Zealand we see today is so much more than simply human history in the form of Maori, The English and a treaty with questionable content signed 178 years ago. 

New Zealanders today represent over 200 ethnicities and tens of nations worldwide, whether they moved to live here themselves, with their families or are the descendants of those who chose to make the brave and arduous journey to these new lands many moons ago. 

They all have differing backgrounds, different ancestors, different stories to tell but one thing is for absolute certainty, all these people are entitled to call themselves New Zealanders for they each have contributed to our cultural eco-system. 

Can we not celebrate our New Zealand for what it is now, today? A land of many skin colours, faiths, cultures & sexualities. Can we stop faltering and feeling that dreadful, politically correct need to constantly fight, sometimes physically, but certainly politically whilst regurgitating versions of history. It’s just not helpful and it does enormous harm to what we could be. 

You see, I’d love to witness Waitangi Day celebrations where the flags of every nation who played a part in the development of New Zealand over the years is proudly paraded by someone of that heritage. I’d love to see a televised celebration of people and our varied, exciting cultures. A colourful extravaganza where our nations' formation and history, good and bad, are told and celebrated for what they are, stepping stones to what we are and what we could be. 

Now it’s entirely possible you may put my views down to some hideous white privilege, some naivety or idealism perhaps. Or you might suggest I don’t understand the societal consequences of actions in years past. You may be right, who knows. But equally you’ll have missed the point of this missive entirely. For me the world is about tomorrow, and I believe you can’t fix the problems of today by spending eternity mired in the past.

Let’s celebrate our New Zealand this day, a wonderful place filled with incredible diversity and enormous possibilities. Let’s learn from history sure, but let’s move forward as one people for the betterment of our home. Let’s see ourselves as a nation in that sense. Let’s be Kiwis, all as one, together under these glorious southern skies.  

Till next time.

Gordy