Chapter 150 : Christchurch

Being “retired” my wife and I occasionally travel. Recently our travels deposited us in Christchurch eight years after an earthquake destroyed much of the CBD and three days after a horrific tragedy ended many lives.

Christchurch is a spacious, well planned city on a small river.  It is stained and marked and dominated by the two recent tragedies.

We find ourselves in a hotel very close to the recent tragedy. We wander up to the Botanical gardens and Hagley Park. We see massed flowers lying beside a wall. We see messages written in chalk. I happen to have chalk in my backpack and add a few words. A lady next to me borrows my chalk and adds her words. We both stand back silent and overwhelmed. 

All the messages and flowers express love and good will. There is a feeling of unbelievable goodwill and love towards everybody from everybody. All throughout the city we saw messages and words telling everybody that Muslims are loved.

In Christchurch we see many buildings destroyed and held up with external scaffolding looking like insects. We see many open areas with installations, street art or plants and grass.  The street art all looks fantastic. Much better than a brick wall. The installations often look fantastic and say different things to different people. My wife and I couldn’t agree about most of them. What they were saying.

We see many recent new buildings and others being built. Buildings better than in the past. All wires are underground. No ugly poles and wires. The new buildings are not high rise. 3/4 stories max.

We don’t see 70/80 percent of buildings in CBD which were destroyed.

We see an incredible powerful memorial. 165 empty chairs. One for each person who’s life ended in the earthquake.   We stand mute and overwhelmed. 

We return to Hagley Park two weeks later for the local parkrun. The day after a memorial service.  Nothing remains except the temporary fences and portable toilets. No rubbish. No signs. No people. No chairs. All gone leaving a beautiful spacious park and outside the park a wall of flowers.

All the park runners talk about running. No mention of the local tragedy. Last week the local parkrunners commemorated the tragedy appropriately. Today they have moved on.  Today they are out to celebrate their community. To prove they cannot be broken. The course is through Hagley Park. It is flat and fast.

The recent disasters have shown the world that Christchurch is a good city.  Christchurch has been tested. It has been given difficulties and proved that it knows how to cope with them.

The city has regenerated itself and is resurrecting itself from the earthquake in 2011. It will eventually finish up better looking, more livable and stronger than previously.

For Hobart the message is our planning should include rebirth, renewing and rebuilding without the death and destruction to proceed it. Our planning should involve resurrection without death?

In Christchurch the horrific tragedy this year has resulted in outpourings of goodwill. Hagley Park was full of compassionate, sensitive people with positive, good thoughts. Many of them placed flowers or wrote in chalk on the wall.  Many stood.

The tragedy has bought the best out of the people of Christchurch. Shown the world that their community can rise above; is better than a lone mad, deranged gunman.

Christchurch will be a community welcoming people from all around the world believing in every possible religion. Where everybody celebrates the differences between people and where everybody respects other people. Christchurch will triumph.  Good will win over evil.