Reflections on a Whale Stranding

Whilst enjoying a fabulous Kiwi summer break in the Coromandel, I took a phone call from a friend saying that a pod of pilot whales had stranded in Matarangi and that we should head down and see if we could help.

In the end around a thousand people turned up to support eleven pilot whales that had stranded in the harbour. The good news is that seven were successfully refloated.

It was amazing to be part of such a huge response to this deeply unfortunate event and it caused me to ponder the scale of the public outpouring of compassion that I had witnessed.

It also got me to reflect on what an amazing world we would live in if every time a fellow human being was "stranded" then the community would rally around with the same level of compassion. When the whale stranded there was no judgement, there was no recrimination or blame, it was simply a response to help. There was no seeking of any kind of payback or benefit from helping, it was simply an unconditional act on behalf of those who were present.

I reflected that on so many occasions when our colleagues or family members or other members of the community get into trouble in some way, how often our response can be one of blaming them for getting themselves into this predicament or some other response that gets in the way of just getting in and helping.

I certainly go into 2020 thinking a bit more about the whales and how I can be less judgemental and more compassionate.