When will I See You again

We are in extraordinary times and we will get through it. Yesterdays announcement of a further week in Lock down Level 4 and the 2 Weeks in Level 3 has given us some certainty in NZ to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It looks like we are on the right track to stamp out COVID 19 from the contribution of the courageous actions our government and our 5 million team. It will be a very long time until we realise if this was the correct course plotted by our country’s leadership.

Unfortunately, every decision in a crisis such as this comes at a cost. At what cost? We will start to see this over the next few months and the sage adage “Time will tell” truly applies.

I was thinking back to my childhood after a great discussion hosted by Nicola Willis the National MP and Steven Joyce the former Finance Minister on face book last night. The song When Will I See you again by the three degrees came into my head and reminded me of 1974 when I was in Berlin with my family. I will get back to that later.

We have some great people and minds in New Zealand! The debate obviously covered some of the Public Health v Economy compromise scenarios and how we can get back to seeing NZ economy being touted as the “rock star economy” it once was.

It is time to help all New Zealand Businesses by being innovative. The first thing we can do is to support them by purchasing locally (Buy Local). I have seen many innovative ways of purchasing goods that can either be delivered (contact less), in the future or start ups such as SOS café (David Downs – a truly remarkable fellow and innovator) where you purchase coffees and food vouchers now that you can expedite in the future post lock down.

The Tourism Industry is been one of the hardest hit Industries and we as New Zealanders have an obligation (once the local travel restrictions are off) to take our vacations in NZ . Let us support the recovery of this industry. I am not sure international travel will be opened for 6-12 months+ so it is a great opportunity to spend some time in our beautiful country catching sights that we either have never seen before or have not seen for quite a while again.

We cannot ignore all the people that have been doing it tough. My mother in law who is 82 is literally locked up on her own in her apartment at a retirement village and is not even allowed to have a drinks night with neighbours on the balcony that connects them all. She is not tech savvy and we have tried to walk her through video conferencing, but this has not worked. (This is Isolation). However, my nearly 2 year old granddaughter asks her parents every day to speak with grandma and granddad and although in isolation we get to have a virtual face to face chat which is an amazing way to stay connected (she even knows which button to press on the phone!).

So back to Berlin and the Three Degrees. In 1974 the Berlin wall was up and there were still many families that had been separated post war between East and West Germany. People had been shot from the East for trying to escape.

The Check point Charlie Museum is a great place to go and see the enormity of the issues these families faced. That was isolation in another time and country, and I am sure the families did not know when they would see their loved ones again.

We will get through this! We will be strong again and We all need to help each other get to the other side of COVID 19 by being kind and help build resilience.

The first 2 words of the song is Precious Moments. Take some time to share these precious moments with your family and friends (some of us may never have quite the same opportunity again). You will not have to wait forever for your hearts to be together and it is just the beginning.

Our hearts will be together — be safe — be kind — support each other

Kia Kaha New Zealand – The World — we have got this — so let us do this 😊