How’s That Line in the Sand Going?

It’s been over a week now since I went public with the article “My Line in the Sand”. What a rollercoaster ride! In this time I’ve been inundated with messages both supporting my line in the sand, some suggesting I smooth over the sand and choose a new location for the line, and others questioning my character, sanity and motivations. So in this piece, I will share my reflections on the reaction to my article.

The Positives

Firstly let me reflect on some of the positives. A highlight for me has been realising I am not alone. There are a lot of us out there. Never before in my life have I received so many encouraging messages about what I am doing most of them from complete strangers. Thank you to all of you who shared messages of support. Our family was blown away with the support and humbled to see the care and concern of many for our plight, and the plight of many good citizens in New Zealand.

A number of supporters have been extremely generous. There have been suggestions and practical tips to help deal with stress and anxiety (thanks Juana from The BFD), multiple offers of financial assistance should we require it, offers of a holiday spot for the family this summer, offers of work, offers of help setting up a small business and many new contacts and alliances formed. Frankly, I’ve been astounded by the love and generosity of these people many of whom have come from the Christian community, and most who do not know me personally.

Another positive has been the way people who sit on different sides of the debate regarding the vaccine have set aside their differing opinions to show solidarity. Kind friends who think I should just get the vaccine and who don’t really understand what I’m trying to do here have shown support and concern for our welfare nonetheless without getting into nasty politics. I appreciate these people, and continued dialogue with them will hopefully be fruitful for us all.

To avoid this becoming too long, I will mention a final highlight, and that is the widespread, diverse and growing opposition to the government’s totalitarianism. Big respect for Sue Grey and the people behind Voices for Freedom as well as Joe (and to protect him I will not use his surname), a teacher who is tirelessly working to encourage and unite teachers with video posts each day.

Finally, what a great protest in Auckland as a result of the mandates. We locked the place down with horns blaring for over an hour and a half. Was anyone surprised the mainstream media completely ignored us? Brian Tamaki, they will mention because he is almost universally disliked, but teachers they will not because it goes against their narrative. We tend to be seen in a generally positive light, and it goes against the narrative that good old teachers could be opposing what the government is doing. It might get the populace to think!

The Ridiculous

I’ve also seen the amusing and frankly ridiculous side of human nature. Here I am not talking about the people who sincerely and politely disagree and respectfully engage with me. I really appreciate those people.

But there are people who comment or message me with vitriol and hate (ironic since their message is usually along the lines of love your neighbour and get the vaccine!) who have clearly not read what I have written and assumed I am a conspiracy theorist or an anti-vaxer. Sadly, given my position as a teacher, I have to acknowledge the fault of our education system for such a failure in reading comprehension and the failure of parents for allowing such a moral character flaw to remain unchecked in their children.

One of the prizes for the most ridiculous was a comment that I should give up my principles and do what is right. When I saw this I couldn’t stop laughing. You couldn’t make this stuff up! Presumably, my principles are not based on any moral convictions whatsoever. Or perhaps they are objectively evil. Others, in a similar vein, have been so unselfconscious to assume their own position as objectively good and that everyone should do as they, Lord of the universe and emperor of truth and righteousness, decide. How dare I suggest people should make a choice on something like whether or not they take a relatively new vaccine that has not yet finished phase three trials and does not seem to stop the spread of covid?

Unfortunately, there has been a lot more worthy of ridicule, but I will spare you the details.

Interpretations and Motivations

Moving on to interpretations and motivations. It is so interesting to see how different people managed to interpret my actions in diametrically opposed ways. Some have called me proud and full of hubris. Others have suggested I am demonstrating humility. Being a fallen human being, of course, pride is something I wrestle with as frequently as the next person, so I’m definitely on the lookout for it in all my actions.

Another area of interpretation has been on why I am doing this. Some have called me selfish and suggested that I am not loving my neighbour. Others have suggested I am a selfless and loving neighbour. While I am not willing to defend myself on the issue of pride, on this issue at least, my conscience is clear. I am not doing this for selfish reasons. In fact, I wrestled through several sleep-deprived nights with lots of prayer before I came to this decision. I did not want to go through with this. I actually love my work, and am very comfortable in my home and with my life. I knew this would mean disruption. Selfishly, I could have very easily justified getting jabbed. It would have been more convenient. This is not to say I am criticising anyone who does get vaccinated to keep their job. We do need to care for our family, and I can see why someone would feel they have no other choice. However, as far as I can tell in the murky depths of my own heart, love for my neighbour is driving what I am doing. If I were doing this for myself, I would just get the jab. Then I could continue on with the job I love. I actually care about New Zealand, and I truly believe we are heading down a very dark path. I am appalled that so few (even Christian leaders) perceive where this is likely to lead. I urge you all to read more history. I want to wake people up and attempt to protect the freedoms I have enjoyed up until now so that my children and their children will enjoy them too.

I guess all of this reminded me of the importance of carefully searching my own motivations, but also to be careful not to attribute motivations to others when I do not know their hearts. In fact, as I’ve found in all of this, it is even hard for me to know my own heart. Truly God alone knows the heart.

A Gentle Nudge

In a conversation with a good friend the other day I shared these thoughts on motivations and he had some excellent comments to make. He pointed out that in these times, it seems that there is only an expectation for those who take action to search their motives and intentions. Nobody is asking those who just go along with what is happening in our country to search their motivations. But the truth is, in both action and inaction sinful impulses can be at work. It seems strange that only those who act in these times are being called upon to search their motives. This is more cultural than biblical. Our culture seems primed to reject strong speech, bold action and masculinity. It seems to assume that inaction is automatically a virtue. Is this necessarily so? Could it be that in some cases inaction is because of cowardice or love of comfort? Of course, it might not be, but let us all subject ourselves to careful scrutiny whatever position we take.

Controlling The Narrative

One final comment I would make is I have come to realise even more how much the narrative around covid is controlled and strictly enforced. A good friend had the audacity to link to my article and ended up locked out of his Facebook account. Now as readers of the original article can attest, I was very careful not to spread ‘misinformation’ about the vaccine. My main issue was focussing on the mandate. Nevertheless, in getting back into his account he was asked whether he wanted to delete the post he had made about my article and whether he wanted to reverse his decision to join the group Free to be Church. If you think you are getting the whole truth by our government and the mainstream media and social media giants, you might want to think carefully about the definition of naivety.

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