"You must immerse yourself in an unfamiliar world in order to truly understand your own"
For a lot of my adolescence I believed that if New Zealand was a bigger country it would have bigger opportunities and better futures for its youth. I thought the way to
make it was to leave it and later, when all the hard work was done, come back to enjoy my home for the beautiful laid back country it is. I started out this journey by moving to America. And I have to admit one of the biggest things I have learnt since leaving is just how precious NZ is in a million ways- the most relevant been the benefits of a small country- where everybody knows one another, everybody cares about each other and everybody cares about their country. Over the last 8 months I have been reminded of this community like atmosphere and culture more times then I can count; the response to the coromandel mining proposal, the Pike River mining incident, the death of Bonnie Reynolds and again yesterday the chain
event sent out to thousands over facebook for donations to bring Ty Phillips home.
Its seems as though when a tragedy strikes, at home or close to home, New Zealanders stop and listen and everyone personally involved or not, is ready on stand-by to jump in and help. I obviously cant speak for the rest of the world but in my experiences everyone is out for themselves abroad, its all about number one, and unless its a tragedy in your own life, it goes un-noticed. But in this sweet country it goes far from un-noticed it is embraced and worked on.
Of course I could go on and on all day giving you examples or telling you why I think NZ is a wonderful place with truly amazing people but for now I will save you the boredom and simply say "cheers to NZ and all the wonderful people who reside there. You are a one of a kind magical land capable of every success and happiness and I will never doubt you again!"
Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season! xxxxxxxxx
p.s. If you would like to know more or donate money to help get Ty Phillips home with his family
click here.... I couldn't think of a better christmas present to give <3
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| Dairy |
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| Friends |
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| Raglan Beach |
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| Lake Taupo |
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| Surfcasting at sunset in the Coromandel |
xxx
gorgeous gorgeous post! I have no been to NZ but a good friend of mine came from there to Australia, probably for similar reasons to your move.
ReplyDeletewould love to go there some time :)
xStace
My daughter may have commented on your post when we were in Calgary. I am Ty's mother and you have no idea how heartwarming your post was when we were in the midst of turmoil in Calgary with Ty. He never did regain conciousness and died four hours after being taken off the respirator. Ty took his own life by hanging. You can tell he was looked up to, loved and respected from all of the people who wrote on his wall and gave money to try and get him home. He was only sad for 4 weeks from the time he arrived in Banff so it doesn't take long. He was open about how he was feeling and cried out to many of us. He wouldn't come home tho. We were listening and trying to help but in the end, or at that moment, it was the only way he could see to escape his pain. i don't pretend to understand but just don't want to see it happen again...and it does...too often!! The wonderful people in New Zealand who contributed to Ty's fund raised over $10,000.00. Ty came home on the plane with us Christmas day and we had a wonderful celebration at our home with hundreds of people. It was a beautiful day with tents in the paddock, cars doing burnouts, pig on spit and that went on into the night with a bomfire...of course! A real Kiwi experience! He would have loved it. Thankyou for your contribution...it meant a lot to us. xo Michaela
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