“I am disappointed that so little new blood got into our local ruling bodies this time round.”
Jonny’s latest column published in the Northern Advocate’s 48 Hours on Saturday 29th October 2016.
Well, you throw your hat in the ring and see what happens.
You put your hand up and say “pick me”. You and the other contenders want people to look at your smiling face over and over again and when the time comes, it is what it is.
In fact, I’ve found the whole election process (for a seat on Northland District Health Board) has given me opportunities to wheel out a collection of revolving clich&eeacute;s.
Yes, resilience is a virtue, however no narcissist likes public failure, believe me, and to stand for public office, one has to be a little narcissistic on some level or another.
This time around I girded myself, preparing for either outcome, so that I would take the news in a nonchalant way – and it worked.
Slightly annoying, but life goes on.
One of the biggest narcissists on the planet, Donald Trump is showing truckloads of outstanding resilience, but it’s not that enchanting. I used to think resilience was an attribute to be held in great esteem but I’m now considering that resilience come what may is not a good thing in all circumstances. Sure, a good dollop of it helped me to get over the election result, however, sometimes resilience en masse can lead to people stubbornly sticking to the status quo.
Take, for example, the masses in Whangarei who did not want the Hundertwasser building to go ahead. They were resilient in wanting no change or grandeur in our city but rather opting to laboriously pay our rates into the usual infrastructure needs.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not wanting a whining overtone to deafen you as you read this – I’m simply observing the need to reflect, as opposed to stubbornly carrying on come what may.
Resilience is something many disabled people have – the ability to get back up and carry on or (to be a little Shakespearian) to suffer the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune”. Is this the way to cope? Or (to continue being pompously Shakespearian), “whether to take arms against the sea of troubles and by opposing end them”? I wonder if people sometimes confuse being resilient with not wanting to see change.
The results of the election saw some new blood come in but retained a comparatively vast amount of fairly old DNA.
I am disappointed that so little new blood got into our local ruling bodies this time round.
So, maybe we need a bit of a blood transfusion next time to keep the pulse of our community beating with a little more vigour. If you've got fresh ideas and a penchant to throw your hat in the ring in three years, do it with a good dollop of resiliency, tempered with an enthusiasm that shakes the status quo up a bit. Good luck!
Downloadable pdf below:
| Available Downloads | Type | Size |
|---|---|---|
| Resilience can mean two things | 313 KB |