I first heard about the Pike River Coal mine explosion when I was visiting a fire station on Friday. One of the guys was following the call-out information and incident reports on the Fire Service internet links. Being chaplain to fire fighters and ambulance officers I know that they will be frustrated that they cannot complete their job. As I write the rescuers are not able to get into the mine and rescuers, ambulance staff, fire fighters, family, the West Coast community and indeed the whole country wait for the fourth night of uncertainty. Some how because I have been involved with emergency staff and various incidents from time to time I have been quite distracted and upset by this Pike River situation. There is a part of me who would love to be there to support the emergency staff, but they will have their support systems, it is out of my patch. But, like everybody in the country, I feel for their situation.
The media...
I am thankful for the media when they give information at a time like this. But I have been growing increasingly concerned by the sorts of things that the media people are doing. When there was the terrible mass shooting down the road from here at Aromoana I recall the actions of some media people. I was in Port Chalmers and two obviously grieving people came out of the Port Chalmers Police Station. One was weeping and quite distraught, the other supporting and comforting her friend. As they walked down the street two men with a TV camera and microphone were keeping pace with them filming them and trying to ask questions. The comforter was beckoning them away, her friend obviously did not want this media attention, but still they persisted. It was so intrusive and insensitive. I get the same feeling about media in Greymouth at this event. They are there to get a story, but nothing much is happening, so they are trying to fill their time slots by asking stupid, intrusive and annoying questions of locals who are struggling to come to terms with what is happening.
To the media people I would say, please find facts out for us. We all want to know, we feel for the people involved. But please, please don't make make what is already a terrible event a more difficult event by being intrusive, insensitive and dragging up stories out of nothing. Please don't inflame an already tense and complicated situation. Please don't keep asking the same stupid questions, you already know that the people in control do not know some of the answers for. If they knew the answers they would be acting on that knowledge.
Business house fun run...
I ran in a business house fun run tonight. I ran for the brewery team. I had hoped to have my running friend as a guest runner with us but the man responsible for putting our names in failed to put her's in. I used to run for Speights Brewery frequently, but have not done it for a number of years. When I heard it was coming up and I was running fairly freely, I agreed to be part of the team. It was a good thing I did, because you need a team of three, and on the day that is all there was of us. I growled all day about going. I got stressed because I was part of a team and I might let the team down. I am still getting over a cold/flu type thing and get wheezy easily at the moment and wondered how I would go in a race. I knew I am not running as well as I was three weeks ago, so was scared that I would make a fool of myself. My friend Don at Speights can be impatient with people who let the side down, so I felt stressed by the whole idea of going in this race.
I turned up. We were entered in the 5k race. As I looked around on the start line I estimated that I was probably the oldest in the race. My team mate looked around and agreed with me. I ran and quickly became aware that I was not as full of energy or as strong as I have been even a week ago, and I was breathing heavily. People were passing me, (though some of them stopped and walked later) and I thought I was going to disgrace myself. I kept going and even managed to put a bit of extra speed on as I came up to the line. I crossed the finish line and walked to the end of the shoot. They had a clock there that read 27 minutes, 5 seconds as I passed. I reckon that's not bad for an overweight, ailing sixty two year old. I was far from last to finish. I was expecting to be met with scathing disappointment from my friend Don and my team mates, but the opposite was the case. Don said, "You did well." He used to be an ardent runner but now faces a disabling illness. "It is years ago since I could run under thirty minutes for 5k!" he said admiringly.
I was so pleased I went, even though I was grumpy about doing it. There is something exhilarating about being among runners in a race. While I knew I could have done better on a different day, I was pleased to do as well as I did. It made me feel more alive and younger. I must admit though that when I finished there was only one place I wanted to go. Jimmy, one of my team mates, called out from the other side of the track, "Well done Dave! We are over here!" I responded with, "Tell me - where are the dunnies?" I needed a loo! That's what happens when you are an old man.
No comments:
Post a Comment