What gives you hope?

Ru | Whāingaroa

Ru reflects on the value of being present and supportive in your community. 

“I lost my sister, probably 18 months ago, to cancer. She was the most positive person I’ve ever met, and we maintained that throughout. So being anything but positive felt like a disservice to her.

We don’t squander time. I’m pretty good at it around Raglan, while I’m retired, but all that’s done with, bothering people in the nicest possible way I can. And just being an ear for people. I think given a lot of young people around here, there are some that look on us as a parental figure, who’ll give bad advice like I’ve already demonstrated.

I heard a very great thing that there’s a professor in an auditorium that held a glass of water out and asked how heavy it was. And people told him what they thought. And he says, “Well, how long do you think I could hold that glass?” And it was like an hour, yeah, no problem. Could hold it for a day, could hold it for two days. He said, “That glass of water is like a problem. The longer you hold onto it the heavier it gets.” I thought that was a great analogy.

And I remind people that sometimes just sharing it can completely take the load off.”