I have been reflecting on a Saturday evening in Christchurch, collecting dinner. I set off to walk five blocks to a Fish & Chip shop we regularly go to when in that suburb. It is run by a Chinese couple. We have always admired their work ethic and they make fantastic food.
As I walked, folk were coming and going, in and out of other Takeaways, the Supermarket and the couple of Pubs along the route, good people, but clearly not living an easy life.
I sat for some time in the crowded shop. The owners' daughter was serving, and the three family members worked efficiently, happily and with the utmost courtesy to their customers.
I found the flow of people to be a study, and a sad narration on our society.
A lady in her 60s came in and asked for a Spring Roll and Half a Scoop of chips, she then carefully counted out coins. I sat quietly, knowing that to pay for her meal would be to humiliate her, but equally I listened to ensure she didn't pull up a few coins short.
Another couple came in, they were both my age I reckon. The young lady serving seemed to know them well enough to ask if they were paying separately or together tonight. The couple discussed it, and the man replied in a kind manner that he would pay for both as she didn't have any money.
While you don't engage with people across a busy room in a setting like that, I reckon he was someone I would be happy to chat with in a workplace, but it was clear that life was tough. His lady had a glimpse about her of a life that promised so much 30 years ago.
As my order was completed, I thanked the young lady and as I went to leave, the man remarked on how lucky I was to have such a big package of food to take away. I didn't know what to say.
There were many more good folk in that shop that night, but clearly from the conversations I heard, the life they lived was hard.
I have been thinking about that half hour ever since.
I'm not convinced that the radical path of social transformation that the Academics, Activists and Political Elites wish to force us all down has any relevance, interest or benefit to the good people of that night.
I'm not convinced that they support the amalgamation of our Health Boards into some mega entity based in Wellington with a name few of us can pronounce or spell. I think they just want to be able to see a doctor if they get sick.
I'm not convinced that they want Co-Governance of their sewer pipes or drinking water delivery.
I'm pretty sure they don't support John Tamihere's argument that people of Maori descent own the water in this country, and even if they did, it would only be to the benefit of the Tribal Elite. Not one coin would make its way down to the lady buying a spring roll and half a scoop of chips for her Saturday night meal.
I'm not sure these folk want to fund a Restructure of TVNZ because Willie Jackson thinks New Zealand is more than Country Calendar.
I don't think Marama Davidson announcing inside that shop that Men of European descent were responsible for family violence would have been met with agreement.
Whether a man who wants to identify as a woman is free to use a woman's toilet or play woman's sport wouldn't be on their list of concerns in life I reckon.
It is my belief that the Academics, Activists and Political Elites in this country are driving a social revolution that is completely isolated from the needs and concerns of our people.
Those people in the shop are just pawns in the game.
For those people in the shop, life was hard, it was a grind, there isn't a lot to look forward to.
As I walked back to my life, I wondered, where has our education system failed? Where have our training institutions and Apprenticeship schemes gone? Where have the manufacturers who provided rewarding employment gone? Why do we make it hard for our businesses to prosper? How did our political system get hijacked by the radicals?
*As a footnote, there have been many extremely racist comments made by observers on this post and its re-shares, by folk who are determined to justify or excuse the racially separatist agenda that is being pushed currently. Please be very careful in assuming that the people in the shop I talk of were of Maori descent. That could well be a near fatally incorrect assumption.
Policies that lift all New Zealanders equally regardless of race or creed are the only ones I have any time for.
The above appeared at the David Clark's Facebook page