Friday, March 29, 2024

OFF THE CUFF: It starts with something as simple as a smile

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“That should stop the bastards.”  It’s a quick throwaway comment I should not have been so shocked by except it came from the mouth of my four-year-old daughter.  We had just finished fixing some goat holes in the boundary fence and my two girls wanted to know why I thought the wild goats that push through from the neighbour’s farm are such pests. 
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After the initial surprise and smiles faded with what she had just said I realised taking the kids out on the farm during lockdown adds many different elements to my day that I am not familiar with. 

Remembering not to swear in front of them had just become an essential service on my behalf.

Like many families in rural New Zealand our lives over the lockdown have been incredibly different but similar in many regards. 

We are privileged to have the freedom to go about our daily jobs reasonably unrestricted but with greater elements of isolation and organisation. 

Our little bubble of four has spent lots of time together, enjoying each other’s company for the most part, rediscovering the many enjoyable facets of farming life. 

I don’t think there is any doubt we all feel very lucky to live where we do and enjoy a lifestyle in lockdown many around the world would envy. 

But our lockdown bubble burst just one week into the experience when an unfortunate accident took down one of our family. 

After enjoying a bucket-list horse ride with our daughter, wifey made a couple of errors in judgment around two horses. 

The end result was she got herself in the way of some quickfire kicking while our daughter looked on in horror. Our brave little eight-year-old girl had the presence of mind to get herself out of the way and come running to the house to find her dad, yelling “mum has been cut”. 

My first reaction was to think she must have grabbed onto some barbed wire or the like and cut her hand so the shock at what I saw when I went around the side of the shed was real and horrific. 

She was as white as a sheep, trembling and struggling to stay conscious with a number of visible cuts and bruises. After assessing her injuries to the best of my ability it became very clear 111 was needed. 

Luckily, an ambulance was only 10 minutes away and two of our frontline heroes, the paramedics, cared for and medicated wifey for her trip to hospital. After a number of x-rays and tests she had her right elbow operated on to repair a broken bone and plenty of bruised ribs and cuts. 

Because of covid-19 we were not allowed near the hospital, which was not, ideal but the staff were incredibly efficient and helpful for us to deal with. Wifey was fixed up within 24 hours and our little bubble of three was allowed to pick her up from the hospital entrance. Now the patient is home and recovering and making good progress and our bubble is readjusting to the hand we have been dealt.

So why am I sharing this story? 

Like anyone who witnesses a loved one suffer some terrible injuries I went through a whole range of emotions – fear, anxiety, worry for our children, gratitude for the support we have received and relief the injuries were not life threatening as they could so easily have been. 

We all live with emotions in our lives daily but traumatic events accentuate them sometimes and there are those in our communities who cannot bear this extra burden.

This world that we live in is filled with fear, uncertainty and worry. What such upheaval has also highlighted is our need to care for and be kind to one another as human beings. 

Before this virus upended our world we all could be accused of living busy lives. But busy lives don’t always translate to lives of fulfilment and enforced time with those we love has provided us a wonderful opportunity to readjust workloads, life goals, values and ambitions.

The world that comes out the other side of this outbreak will be dramatically different. We will need to innovate like never before, love each other unconditionally and help those in need such as we do in times of war. 

We need to afford the same affection to total strangers as we have offered to those within our bubbles, for the enrichment of everyone. So let’s start our post lockdown lives (touch wood) with compassion, empathy and kindness, none of which cost a cent.

It starts with something as simple as a smile. 

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