This week (Monday 14 – Sunday 20 September) New Zealand celebrates the Māori Language Week. In the current national effort to stump out Covid-19 as the team of five thousand, I want to quote a Māori proverb.
Ko tēnei wiki (14-20 Mahuru 2020) te Wiki o te Reo Māori. Mō te whakanui o te kapa o ngā tāngata e rima miriona e whakakotahi ki te takapapa i te mate korona, māku te kī i tēnei whakataukī:
For the first month in almost 34 years, no crude oil was imported into New Zealand in July 2020, according to a news release from Stats NZ.
That means if we are to wean ourselves off from our reliance on fossil fuel we almost need to continue the life under lockdown without driving cars or flying planes forever.
To beat Covid-19 at the same time reducing our impact on the environment, every one of us would need to be more proactive in exploring alternatives to physically travelling to keep in touch.
Ehara tō tātou āhua noho i te āhua noho whīwhiwhi, engari he te āhua noho piripiri
Hei tā te pānui o te Tatauranga Aotearoa, i kore homai te hinu urutapu ki Aotearoa i Hōngoigoi 2020 i te marama tuatahi i muri i ngā tau e kainamu ki te 34.
Nā konei, mehemea ka whai tātou ki te hoatu te koranehe, ka noho tātou i te taui mā te wara kore mō ake tonu.
Nā tātou katoa te auaha i ngā whakakapi mō ngā hāereere ki te tūhono tāngata.
It is sad to see the world is going back to the starting point in controlling the Covid-19 outbreaks after significant sacrifices as the so-called second waves are posting new record numbers of cases around the world. As it turned out, it was really easier said than done to reopen the business while putting the spread of Covid-19 under control.
Including myself, I honestly admit, the human race is overconfident in balancing acts. I often try to do two things at the same time and most of the time I fail in either one and more often than not, both.
I think that the government around the world should immediately review the current monitoring measures of the spread of Covid-19 and the efficacy of prevention strategies. Clearly there have been the overconfidence effect in those measures.
Ko te ngeru tuarua o te Mate Korona e pahika i ngā tau tōmua o ngā tūroro i ngā motu e marea i te ao. Kua paupau ngā whakatutukitanga o te whakahere nui i aua motu. He pai te kōrero, engari, he rawakore te mahi.
Ka whaiwhai koe i ngā mea e rua, ka hopuhopu koe i kore. Te tuwhera kaipakihi rānei, te pēhitanga mate rānei.
Mō te whakatikatika o te whakawākanga whakakake, me arotake ngā mahi o nāianei i te aroturuki horahanga mate me te whakamaru pokenga.
The SARS-CoV-2 which is responsible for Covid-19 is a nasty virus. It picks up a small number of reckless people as its favourite carriers and let them spread itself to lots of people in a short time including vulnerable populations like rest home residents. Once spread it is very hard and takes very long time for a patient to recover from it and for a community to eradicate it.
The disease is causing a very big trouble for otherwise prosperous entrepreneurs as they are basically risk-takers and improvisers. Not only the social impact by the disease itself but also the governments’ prevention and control measures against Covid-19 would pose significant restrictions to their business practices which would be productive and innovative in normal circumstances.
Their appetite for risk-taking should be encouraged and rewarded once the full economic recovery comes into our views as the disease is under control. However the economies agreed to their requests too early are seeing failure in containment or in preventing relapsing of the pandemic.
What we can do to reward risk-taking (especially small) business owners right now would be sincerely listening to their concerns and faithfully discuss on possible alternatives for their previous business norms and supports shifting to a new normals based on both warm empathy and hard facts. It is actually a courageous act to speak up as lots of people would like to play save at the moment.
Me pēhea te whakatītina mō ngā waewae kai kapua i ngā tikanga hou
He whakaweriweri te mate korona. Ka kōhiti ia i ngā kotoiti tōtōa mō āna kaitītaritari ki te whakamate i ngā pio tūoi. Ka roa te wā e ora ai te tūroro. Ka roa te wā e haepapa ai te iwi i a ia.
Ka āwangawanga ngā waewae kai kapua i momoho i ā rātou mahi i mua i te mate korona. He nui ngā rāhui. He iti ngā hui. He nui ngā raruraru. He iti ngā hua.
Me wewete petapeta rātou kia tae mai te wā. Engari, kia tūpato kei wawe tātou ki te whara i te mate korona.
Me pēhea te whakatītina mō rātou anāianei? Āta whakarongo mai i rātou.
A call for restructuring is never without upsetting. But this time it is global and ubiquitous with huge impact and disturbance which are unavoidable for virtually everyone on the planet. Suddenly your business, your role and your job without exceptions have been thrown into an existential question, if your business, your role or your job is essential, urgent or necessary.
This is really a tough call. As it has been long since we moved into the economy by majority comprised of tertiary industries, or service industries, most of us even with “decent” jobs would have difficulties in affirming our jobs are actually essential, urgent or necessary without any doubts.
Even for those in primary and secondary sectors things are not so different. Because most of people working in these sectors, too, are engaged in tertiary industry-ish jobs rather than stereotypical ones.
However, even if your business, role or job is not deemed essential, urgent or necessary it does not make it negligible or dispensable at all. That is why governments around the world were swift in putting job protection measures in place. First, your household requires it as the source of livelihood. Also as a human does not live only on bread, a society does not produce only bread.
He āwangawanga te whakahouhou katoa. Inakuanei, ka kōkirikiritia ia tangata, ia tangata e te whakahouhou nui o te ao. Ko tēnei te mahi waiwai, kāore rānei?
Ka mahi tokomaha i ngā mahi ratonga ināianei. He pai tonu aua mahi, engari, ehara he horipū rātou. Ahakoa tonu he ahuhenua, he itiiti ngā tāngata i ngā mahinga horipū.
Heoi anō, mahia te mahi. Kāore te tangata e noho noa ake mō te parāoa. Kāore te porihanga e mahi noa ake mō te parāoa anō.
Covid-19 is indeed a real surprise attack against humanity. Although we cannot tell how it will end up just as yet, it is sure that the world will never be the same as before.
Indeed, it is a fact very hard to swallow regardless the future prospect is bright or bleak. Quite a few people are still in denial. That is the reason why so many unproductive arguments are circulating despite they will not lead us to anywhere.
I suspect that most of them come from those who have forced to abandon their winning games. Covid-19 is a decisive game changer. However, it is not a great leveller as the strong still have better chances over the weak even though they might need write off lots of their vested interests.
Simply, we are seeing a tomorrow which is not a sequel of yesterday. We were about to be fed up with a flood of sequels, weren’t we?
Ko Kāpene Tiapana tā mātou kiripuaki waimarie. Ko te rangatira rangatahi ia i tētahi rōpū o Te Taua Moana o Murakami. Ka mauria te pōtae mārō o te tipa e ia.
The Chinese zodiac goes around the cycle in 12 years. Its first zodiac is the year of the mouse as with this year, 2020. Coincidentally, I participated in an annual photo exhibition every year in the last cycle, from 2008 to 2019. Above is the gallery of my exhibits. They ware not themed with the animal of the corresponding year. Maybe in the next round.
Ka porowhita ngā ara matua Haina i ngā tau e tekau mā rua ai. Ko tēnei tau, 2020, te tuatahi o rātou. Ko te tau o kiore ināianei. I te porowhita tōmua, kua whai wāhi atu ahau ki te whakatauranga whakaahua a ngā hoa ākonga o mua ia tau, ia tau. Ko te kiriata runga ake āku tāpaetanga mō rātou. Kaore āhuatia ngā ara matua Haina e ēnei tāpaetanga, engari, a te porowhita hou, pea?
As our new year’s resolution of 2020, or of this decade, we would like to contribute to the advancement of the whole-human communication with the latest ICT developments.
