On this day wherein the much-fabled Princess Diana is given her (inordinate) share of media attention, may many of us also reflect upon the (at least public) life of a person who left an indelible mark of his very own, in this case upon the New Zealand body politic, for time and futurity... .
Yes, another who died upon August the 31st, 43 years ago today, was a man and political leader many of us - from all shades and hues and dyes of political colours - still remember fondly and dearly...and whose death upon that fateful night, even, we still vividly remember. As the September All-Time Bulldog Band held forth with their unforgettable, irrepressible classic, 'Big Norm', we were 'humoured' with the wonderful verse (in particular) that declared, to one and all, that not only was 'the man of Big Labour...our Big Norm', but that he was moreover 'our great National figure', 'the man of Social Credit', and (something I presently cannot recall, but I think) 'the man of [kiwi] Values' (or some such thing)... . And who, watching Studio One (I believe it was) that memorable occasion, can forget how Norman Kirk phoned in from his hospital bed, where he was dying (and within hours about to meet his very death), to congratulate the guys (and gals) of the band upon their song...fully 'taking the mickey' and all (and moreover of P.M. Kirk himself!), as we say here in kiwi-land?
So let's here hear it once more for 'the man of big labour...our great national hero', Prime Minister Norman Kirk...*cut down in his very prime, while doing ever so much for the rest of us, no doubt 'simply' not taking sufficient care of himself, of his own health. He was someone who made so many of us proud to be kiwis, who strode astride on the world stage, and thus left an unforgettable impression upon any and all who dealt with him... . A politician in his very own league, someone we'll never again see the likes of surely...one who'll long be sorely missed.
Norman Kirk was someone moreover who had absolutely no truck whatsoever with the trendy as social liberalism that his own political party has subsequently embraced with its very heart and soul, and thus jettisoned the very heart and soul of a once great party led by such figures as the legendary Michael Joseph Savage...and Harry Holland (in its beginnings)...political figures who strode astride Aotearoa-New Zealand in the footsteps of the likes of the equally, even more legendary, larger-than-life Liberal Prime Minister 'King Dick' Seddon... .
May Big Norm rest in peace, ever symbolic of real, old, tried and true Labour, not the newfangled, imitation 'lite' version that since 1984 - until Jacinda Ardern, perhaps, God willing? - many of us have long since come to distrust and despise...the version that his modern-day Labourite counterpart, Tony Blair, served up such a watered-down version of that the great British people came to also learn to loathe... .
*Though not all subscribe to that 'simple' idea, the former Labour Party President (from Waitakere, I believe Bob Harvey's the name) 'famously' coming out with his own conspiracy theory a decade-and-a-half or so ago, about the C.I.A.'s (naturally clandestine) involvement in the extremely premature downfall, demise and very soon thereafter death of one of New Zealand's most popular and esteemed prime ministers. And though political figures of the day 'to a man' (and woman) either instantly dismissed outright or pooh-poohed the very idea, I find it more than a little interesting, even concerning/mildly disturbing that yours Truly a little while later - while undertaking educational training in my hometown of Christchurch during 2006 - heard wholly 'by chance' what was undoubtedly **selfsame conspiracy theory, albeit dressed (up) in rather elaborate and moreover highly convincing robes.
Though I recall 'getting in touch' (via phone etc), or at least making some such (reasonable) effort to, with relevant NZ current affairs show makers/producers etc (as a result), there was - as I well expected - no follow-up (let alone interest thereof); though one wouldn't normally expect the very purveyors of many of their own conspiracy theories, if rarely 'dressed up' as such, to be so outrightly dismissive of what was pretty nearly Aotearoa-New Zealand's own equivalent of America's JFK assassination. Of course people tend to follow up their own innate biases in such matters, but for journalists supposedly committed to pursuing truth at all costs to likewise adopt this sort of approach is depressing if not all that unpredictable. Yet, to be fair and reasonable myself, there may well have been other factors contributing to their refusal to investigate further...assuming I did actually get in touch (somehow-or-other) and am not simply guilty of a deluded memory!...such as a previous examination of such (apparently widespread) rumours... .
**(#1)What I was told by a fellow who, however otherwise level-headed and decent, nevertheless subscribed - like my younger sister - to a fairly unorthodox view of ***astrology (in his case traditional Western, in my sister's Chinese), at least for a biblical Christian...was 'something else altogether', as they say...and was it what!
***'Speaking' here as someone who had determined to become a professional astrologer, fully convinced in every which way of the accuracy of the constellations of the Zodiac and their uncanny influence(s) upon all things earthly and especially human, up until my unexpected conversion upon November 4th, 1982...mere months evidently after the equally unexpected and tragic accidental death of evangelical singing sensation, the inimitable and brilliant Keith Green, in a flying accident in a small plane with his kids, in the U S of A. .Yes, well aware of the oddity of adhering to such beliefs in our preeminently scientific, rationalistic age, let me simply add that anyone who knows anything substantial and meaningful upon the matter is equally well aware that what passes for 'astrology' - aka the well-known and oft-consulted weekly (magazine) and daily (newspaper) columns (at least Western) worldwide that pass for such, that purport to deliver day-to-day, everyday astrological (prophetic, future forth-telling) advice to one and all - ain't remotely the real thing!
What really matters is one's innate characteristics, temperament and personality makeup and tendencies as prefigured and predetermined by precisely which particular planets, (Earth's) moon(s) and 'local' solar system's sun were in the ascendancy, culmination and/or 'descendancy' at and upon the very moment one ****'arrived' upon this temporal globe.
****Though far as I know Western astrology doesn't subscribe - as perhaps Chinese astrology might well do - to the eastern religious idea that human beings, and 'other' fauna (i.e. animals) here, are simply born and reborn in an endless cycle - and moreover recycle! - of births and rebirths...much less have I ever done so.
**(#2)(At the wrong order of Asterisking Inc. I well know, but I've left the best - or worst (depending upon one's perspective) - for last: to simply 'say' that you'll have to stay tuned (in) for what that theory actually amounted to. It'll be - especially for me - exceedingly short, if not terribly sweet!
To Be Continued...
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