Dear Cameron,
I am in Christchurch.
I am not a ‘useless prick’. I have not asked to be ‘bailed out’ nor have my ‘scum friends’ in the eastern suburbs.
I lost my cafe in September, the quakes wrecked my shop that I had only owned for 8 months.
The quakes from then, have almost paralysed me! They are so scary and violent. Have you ever suffered a massive earth quake Cameron? Have you ever had to feel that fear and that for your children? Have you had to explain to your children why the world they know is shaking and why the house is coming down around them?
I opened my next shop in amongst the chaos I felt and the wreck of a house I lived in.
Then, the day after I opened my new shop, the 2nd earthquake came. Lost everything, again.
Cameron, how is your house? How is your life? Are you scared? Do you have anxiety? Do you have a bag at the door with essentials and running shoes at the ready?
Dear Cameron,
For years, I was afraid. I still had to go to my cafe at 4.30am by myself. I was so afraid, I can barely explain the fear there of another earthquake what I would do. Oh my gosh, how afraid I was then, I wasn’t a ‘prick’, I was just a terrified girl, consumed by what might happen next! The slightest noise, the smallest bump gave me a pain in my heart and a headache.
Life is different now Cameron, we care about our neighbors here in Christchurch. We care about people who are doing it hard.
Do you? Would you if this was your town. It could be your town. What would you do?
Dear Cameron,
We are part of New Zealand. Did you forget that?
We are scared, frustrated, anxious and stressed. Whether its about insurance, WQC or just will be there be another quake?
Dear Cameron,
It worries us that the rest of NZ will forget what happened here, that’s hard to think about. We’re not asking for people to think of us always but just to day to day think about how we are because a lot of us aren’t ok. Would you be ok if this happened to you? How would you be if the rest of NZ seemingly didn’t care?
How would you cope? Would you still hit out viciously at people who are overwhelmed with eqc issues, insurance and people who are just right there afraid? Would you?
I hope Cameron, that when you are home, with your wife and kids, warm, secure and comfortable in your home that you might, just might give a thought to that moment when the world shakes the living shit out of you and then, you realize life is not that predictable. In fact right then it’s pretty much never going to be the same.
Saying we in Christchurch are hurt by your comments would be an understatement. Empathy is normal, but narcissism should be adressed.
I’m scared now. Really scared. It’s hard to live in a town that shook like that. Its something that shouldn’t happen, its a weird thing that did, and every day I’m a little bit hesitant about what it will bring.
Are you?
Yours
Lyndelle Gibara
Lyndelle Gibara proudly lives in Christchurch, NZ.
I agree with you; I think it is an appalling thing to say. Why do you not send this to WO? It would be published unlike critical comments on this site.
Ben, the last two sentences are satire, right. If so, you should label it. The Herald found it necessay to do so.
But remember this , all of those who are offended by slaters sad tirades ?
He has to face himself daily . His reactions to others is really a reaction to himself . He projects his self loathing out there , in a desperate attempt to cleanse himself of how much he hates his own guts . A fly on his bedroom wall at 4.00 am when his guard would be down against his demons would be a very revealing fly indeed .
Poor bastard actually . To be so unintelligent therefore unable to imagine how awful he is being , so he will never be quite sure of why people hate him so much . Worse still for him . He’s rather homely looking . That , plus his self loathing must make his life a living Hell . And of course jonky will know of his psychological profile . Jonky would have had him covertly analysed to find out how best to manipulate him . And frankly , It’d not be that difficult . The irony is that slater is as much a victim of jonky’s clever , evil handiwork as the rest of us .
It’s my view slater could do with some serious therapy .
If , suddenly he became aware of how awful he is to innocent others believing he’s being clever and witty , then realising he isn’t with a crash might mean a dangerous and possibly suicidal episode in his life . Underneath , slater is human too .
The earthquakes took my business , my home and my lovely woman away from me and I’m now living 480 km away from my city because to be suddenly without an income I couldn’t afford rent and a mortgage on my house as well . To be criticised for being in such a position through no fault of my own would be a criticism coming from an unwell mind .
Having said that , that level of understanding wouldn’t get in the way of my kicking the fat cunt in what might be his balls .
The rest of us do care about Christchurch, he’s a slimy creep.
Yes.
I am in the same boat even though I am a single man I had my own business too.
With the global recession and then followed by the earthquakes my business has to all intents and purposes been demolished e en though I worked from home my business as I was no longer exists so I resent Slaters remarks as much as anyone else in Christchurch.
How brave you are, Lyndelle, to have opened another cafe and been hit with another quake. I can’t imagine what that must have been like. I hope you can find a slater free life somehow, somewhere and that the shaking really does stop.
I can just imagine the embarrassment of the few MSM journalists who weren’t part of this underhanded right wing manipulation of the perceived political reality who were defacto collaborators by running with the pack anyway. Now that this sordid business is out in the open even to the sheeple there must be more than a few frantically wiping egg from there faces.
Yes as has been pointed out Slater has to live in his own skin. I think the best thing we can do as caring New Zealanders is pity him and give the Chardonnay sippers in National the boot.
He truly is a sadistic, vile human being. His utter lack of empathy for the plights fellow humans displays the typical hallmarks of a sociopath. I’m actually embarrassed I belong to the same species.
Cameron Slater has to look upwards (through a telescope) in order to see the people he is referring to as scum
I can’t add anything more than the other posters. Great post.
Respect, Lyndelle. Kia kaha to you and to all the people of Christchurch.
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