Worzels World - A birds eye view

 

The Worzel is a strange and particular bird given to much flapping and squawking. Over recent times there have been some moves to list this indigenous animal on the endangered species list. Most government departments regard the species as a pest not worthy of preservation. In its early years it is mostly content to forage, but at some stage during its development it begins to yearn for flight and thinks ‘It would be marvellous if I could soar above the forest and see all there is to see’.

So it will occasionally take to wing and whilst it is learning to fly comes to realise that the view is not as marvellous as expected and it doesn’t always like what it sees. It sees a monster ship called Empire, and on the bow the shadow of a sign that once might have read ‘Titanic’. It is hubris to believe that there can be such a thing as an unsinkable ship. It is likewise folly to believe that any earthly empire can stand. And pride it is said comes before a fall. There is a party aboard this rusted ship and its seaworthiness is questionable. Already laying low in the water it must surely sink soon and although icebergs ahead are clearly visible there are few on the lookout.

Those who are, and have sounded the alarm, are maligned by the drunks in the bar as scaremongers and conspiracy theorists. There is mutiny and rebellion amongst the crew – too many wanting luxury cabins and too few to man the pumps and maintain the engines. There is a very small dinghy, which might be called Aotearoa, trailing at the stern. When the claim was made and amazingly believed that the creators of the Titanic had built an unsinkable ship, its fate was sealed. 

If they’d merely said ‘Well we did our best and think it’s reasonably safe’ the insult to God, nature and common sense might not have been so great and maybe she would still be floating today. But faced with the abomination of mans pride in believing they could create an unsinkable ship gave providence no choice but to throw an iceberg in its path and sink the bugger. After considerable time had passed since the killer earthquake hit Christchurch there were still people not connected to essential services. However the pointless hearings into the causes of the collapse of the CTV building continued. Finger pointing and recrimination is a waste of time and resources especially if nothing has been learnt. It doesn’t, as they say, get the baby bathed.

The great Kiwi occupation of wanting to blame someone helps no one. It is an immutable law that if an earthquake is ferocious enough things will fall down. If a tsunami is powerful enough then even nuclear power stations will collapse regardless of how well they are built. The truth is that there is no such thing as an unsinkable ship or an earthquakeproof building.

It is not really about ‘tempting fate’ at all, it is about baseless pride, overconfidence, complacency and presumption. We’ve all done it: ‘No worries, it’ll only take five minutes’, ‘We’re a much better team, we’ll beat them easily’, ‘It’s a dead cert’. When we say such things we are lying to ourselves and everybody else because, actually, we really don’t know - yet. The earthquake-proof house of today will, in time, become the buried fossil of tomorrow. I have spoken such lies as these and lived to regret it. How many foolproof plans crumble into dust when con
fronted by harsh reality? How many safe and secure investments fall over with the first breath of recession? There are no certainties for tomorrow; the future gives no guarantee other than it will soon become the present.  When men traversed the earth in tall ships they kept a sharp watch in difficult waters.

Wooden ships were known to be very sinkable. But if you believe that you sail an unsinkable ship or that advanced technology, government agencies, tighter legislation or whatever else will keep you safe then it is natural enough to become lazy on watch.

Why stand on a cold windswept deck looking out for icebergs when you can be enjoying the entertainment and having a drink at the bar? In times of lofty flight this Worzel bird looks down upon a Titanic world sailing blithely into unchartered and perilous waters. It disappoints me to observe the great numbers in the bar, plenty arguing about the arrangement of the deck chairs but very few on watch.

Many watchmen have shouted ‘iceburg ahead’ yet those steering the ship refuse to change course and the passengers for the most part remain in the dining suite of denial jockeying for a position at the captain’s table. Even as I write many who can guess the outcome have already reserved seats in the Aotearoa dinghy but will they be smart enough to know when to cast off from Titanic globalism and avoid being sucked down by the vortex of the sinking leviathan?  

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