It's not about the F-ing Flag

Few people seem to realise that there is very little significance behind the current NZ flag - it was simply adopted as a war propaganda tool in 1902.  We even fly and get teary over a completely different flag when it comes to sporting events - you will be familiar with the iconic silver fern.

Changing the flag has been on the agenda for more than a hundred years.  Finally, it is going to referendum.  

The leading arguments against a change include: "why change what's not broken", and "but it's part of our historical tie with Britain" and "we should be spending our money on things that really matter - like hospitals". 

True, true, true.  We should be spending all the surplus money we have on hospitals. In fact, we should probably lift taxes so that we have more money to spend on hospitals. We shouldn't rest until there is no more money left to spend on the hospitals and we live in a perfect world of perfect hospitals.  

In case you didn't catch it, that last paragraph was riddled with sarcasm.

There are some things which are as important to our society as public health care. These "things" are not tangible things at all but complex values which form the bedrock of our national identity.

The flag that we choose - that flailing rectangular piece of cloth that dangles in the breeze- matters. It really matters. It stands for who we are as a people and is our face to the rest of the world. Are we colonial remnants of a once vast (but now non existent) British Empire? An empire responsible for some pretty awful things.  Or are we a proud, independent South Pacific nation? A modern State that started as a union of two peoples but has now grown to encompass many more.

When I look at the current flag I see the Union Jack domineering and omnipresent. Which was a pretty good metaphor for life at the start of the 20th century but times have changed and so have we.  Colonial Britain will always be part of our history but does that mean it ought to be part of our future?  How can we transcend the old conflicts of "Maori" v "The Crown" with a flag that does not symbolise unity and reconciliation? 

There is another argument that generations of kiwis have fought and died under the current flag and changing would be disrespectful to their sacrifice. That may be true, but it is also true that it's the silver fern which appears on foreign graves of New Zealand soldiers from WW1 to the present day.

This flag debate isn't about abandoning our history. It's about embracing who we are and celebrating it with a symbol - a single icon that New Zealanders have chosen to represent us. 

And what about the cost?  The facts are these- it costs 5.60NZD per person.  That's not even the price of lunch.  That's a pretty good deal. 5.60 and you get to change history. 5.60 and you get to say to your grandchildren that you were part of the generation that finally turned their backs on the dredges of colonialism and turned to face a new and brighter future.  5.60 for the price of your national identity, not some borrowed and tainted identity of a by-gone era.

So please, change the flag. I don't care what design you pick.  Pick the one with the kiwi in a spaceship for all I care but please just change it to one that is ours.  No more flailing about, this stuff really matters.

 (for details on how the process is going to work read here).

Drop Everything and Just Go!

There comes a time in each chapter of our lives where the winds of change start to blow.  It starts like a gentle breeze, barely audible and grows to a whisper.  If you ignore it, it only gains momentum until it's a roaring tempest that threatens to dislodge your footing on reality.  Denying this wind even for a short period, leads to frustration and disillusionment. But if you give it rein, as scary as that may sound, it can take you to a place where time is suspended and you arrive in the mythical lands of "Self Awarenessville" and "Perspectivia".

I believe that these journeys, suspended in place and time, also more commonly known as "sabbaticals", are essential in the world we live in for the ability to breath, to develop and to  discern the things that really matter from the things (places and people) that don't.  That's also what separates a sabbatical from a mere vacation.  There is no going back after a sabbatical. It's not a time out, rather it marks the beginning of a new chapter.

When people take this time (and few do) it is usually only once in their lives - after school or uni and before starting "a real job". But it baffles me why the value of doing it at other points in our lives is not also universally recognised.  I once saw a Ted Talk by a Dutch advertiser who argued that we should retire 7 years later and instead disperse those 7 years throughout our lives as sabbaticals.  He argued that the sabbatical was essential for him and his staff to get perspective on their personal lives and to have the freedom to develop professionally.  It was his firm view that it made one more productive, more balanced and happier.  I couldn't agree with him more.

Some businesses/institutions and firms have designated sabbatical programs.  But if they don't or won't engage in the discussion, just leave.  Seriously, you will find another job, you will come back motivated and focused and it's likely you will be more employable than when you left.  It's a leap of faith but at the end of the day, you don't get to do this life again and I doubt you will remember all those long days spent in the office on your death bed.  Of course, it's also a myth that you can't be productive during a sabbatical - you can study abroad, volunteer or even work teaching English (or whatever language you want the world to speak).  But whatever it is, I assure you, your life will be better for it.

There are always a thousand excuses as to why you can't do a sabbatical and I can imagine some extreme cases where saying "just go" is just not possible - crippling disabilities, illness and extreme poverty.  But, on the balance of probabilities, if you're reading this post then it's unlikely those circumstances apply to you (though one day might!).  Your big excuse is more likely to be - I'm scared to leave my job, I don't have enough savings and I have children.   Having already addressed the first (leap of faith) and the second (work/study on your time abroad) let me turn to the third.

In 2011, Thomas (husband) and I dropped our lives in NZ, sold everything and flew to Europe.  We bought a beat up old camper-van (which we rechristened the Rendeavour) with the intention of spending an indefinite period of time vagabonding across the European continent with no agenda, no bucket list and very little money.  We ended up doing this for 6 months and our lives have never been the same since.  The clarity, energy and direction we found on that trip is still sustaining us to this day - it has led to post graduate study, changes in our careers and lives that spread across three countries.  But what we also learned during this trip is that this style of travel would have been (mostly) possible with small children too.  Of course, without children, this is all speculation.  But not for long.

You see, I don't have a concrete example yet to disprove the myth that you can't sabbatical with kids. However, today two (and a half) bold and courageous friends of ours are taking us up on this challenge.  They have dropped their lives and are taking their 1 year old to Europe to vagabond for 5 months.  I'm so grateful for their courage and for their voracity and I wish them the very best of luck in their pioneering journey! Without a doubt, it will be all those little family moments and experiences - swimming in a pristine mountain stream, eating gelato in a sun-drenched piazza or hiking over some ancient Roman aqueduct - that will make the hellish 50 hour flight and airport transition time worthwhile! (Or at least, that's what I've told them). 

My point? It can be neatly summarised by two adages:

1. Life is not rehearsal; and

2. Fortune favours the bold.

Whatever you're waiting for, drop everything and just go