Kotahitanga #10: I Wish Trump Was A Myth

KOTAHITANGA | COLUMN | PŪRĀTAU / MYTHOLOGY

Written by Hirimaia Eketone (they/them) | @hiri_music | Te Ao Māori

Kia ora e hoa ma, haere mai mo te Kotahitanga pukapuka.

It’s been eons since I last wrote for this column, na te mea he tino tino pouri te ao. The state of things all over the world right now are heavy, hurtful, and constant - it feels difficult to take a breath amidst the travesties being streamed in 4K. Learning Te Reo feels admittedly pointless when our rights, land and people are actively being trampled on. Genocide is rampant overseas while news outlets focus on the wrong losses. Every glimpse of social media, which used to be a place of escape, is throwing us through the same loop of pain, anger and fear. We are living through history, experiencing dystopian level natural disasters, wars, presidencies, governments and systems that are pushing us socially towards the Dark Ages. 

I want to share ways that I have been coping, helping and striving to continue throughout everything that is happening. Ka tahi, though it may seem bleak, there are always ways we can help. Boycott companies that fund violence, vote at your local elections, show up to protests and rallies and continue to advocate for one another. He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. Continue to encourage Te Reo Māori conversations, phrases, traditions, greetings. Make it impossible to deny that Māori culture is integral to Aotearoa, this beautiful country we call home. There are so many good things happening to combat the bad - get involved, have your voice heard. Advocate for yourself and others, no matter how hard it seems.

Ka rua, take time to separate yourself from the internet. Read this epic magazine, touch some grass, make some music, see some friends. As a species, we weren’t engineered to have this much access to so much information at all hours of the day. Whenever I find myself getting overly critical of things I’ve posted, overly worked up at other people’s opinions on movies, or trivial shit that genuinely doesn’t matter, I go “Welp - that’s all the internet I can handle today.”

Ka toru, a continuation on from ka tahi - take care of what you can but cut yourself some slack. The intense pressure to consistently be feeding into online conversations on this, that and the other is wild. You won’t always have the perfect answer, nor will you always have all the information to create an informed opinion. Give yourself the space to learn, to grow, to educate yourself and others. Take care of your ngākau and your hinengaro, e korero ana au anō, anō, anō. Kia kaha e hoa ma, turangawaewae koe i te ao. You’ve got this.

I te mutunga iho, it feels difficult to prioritise whimsy and wonder amidst all this chaos. Take care of yourself e hoa ma, reach out to one another and check in where you can. Hopefully we are inching towards change, peace, and  stability, but in the meantime, ake, ake ake, āmine tātou.