Baffled
Leaving Kaikoura felt like approaching a threshold. Something changed. Couldn’t put a finger on it. Just felt the change.
In the bus, I sat next to a German young woman, talked about our travels. Seemed, we made some similar choices, and some different once, of course. She told me about het experience confronted with lock down, when she first was in Christchurch. How is was and how it felt to be back, also just for a day.
In Christchurch, I settled into the motel and choose the green strip along Queenspark and Oxford terrace to reach the city centre.
At one point, affront of me, a memorial. So much memorials are dedicated to one or another war. I was about to change my ways. To me, war memorials are a celebration of wasted lives. Mostly sent to young in a war which wasn’t even theirs. A kind of honoring wars, the worng king of heroism. Can’t deal with that.
In this case, I followed my instincts, wanted to check out and not conclude on an assumption.
It hit me straight away! Powerful!
This one is the memorial for people lost due to the earthquake, EXACTLY 15 years ago, to the date. 185. The amount of names, amount of lettertypes – Chinees, Japannees, Thai, Indian, Hebrew, cyrillic , western….
A strong acknowledgement asite.
The town is repaired, the relations stayed broken. Letters given faces to the people lost. Fresh flowers, butterflies, toys.
The town is repaired, the relations stayed broken. Letters given faces to the people lost. Fresh flowers, butterflies, toys.
At the start of the memorial, a greenstone – a maori sacred stone. To mark a threshold. To give the opportunity to touch the stone, connecting through EARTH with all beings – nowadays, future and past once. I stayed there. In silence. Experienced the connection.
A lady, which also passed the memorial, pulled me in a conversation. About the meaning of this place to her. And me. Us.
And a reminder: you only can care for others when you take care for yourself.
A lady, which also passed the memorial, pulled me in a conversation. About the meaning of this place to her. And me. Us.
And a reminder: you only can care for others when you take care for yourself.
In the evening back home, I got curious, when the earthquake in Kaikoura took place. Before they decided to turn the reinforcement project in an Art Work Package. 10 years ago. To the year.
They try to make better choices.
