The Listener, a New Zealand magazine, published an article on main characteristics that define ‘New Zealandness’. Two anthropologists, specialized in sociological and psychographic research, went in-depth to map distinctive qualities. Mind you, their research was sponsored by an advertising firm that works for a few big companies, such as Coca Cola and MacDonalds. It revealed some interesting characteristics, some of which were already very recognizable during our travels.
New Zealanders are typified as the teenagers of the world, wanting to do their own thing. Doing it, actually. This is a country where you can ski, see a play, go yachting, drink a latte and go for a bushwalk, all in the same day. It’s all play, and nothing is that far away.
As you know, teenagers are often characters. A characterizing element of New Zealandness is the masculine way people express themselves. Call it stoical and blokey, put into practise by both men and women, such as: “do it yourself” (DIY), “don’t be a girl”, “suck it up” or “harden up”. And appearances count as well, as men look manly - all set with tattoos and muscles - and women throw in heaps of feminineness. But although it sounds all tough and adult, it actually isn’t.
For teenagers, friendship is their God, and ‘mateship’ may well be the single most important key to New Zealandness. In the end, all mates help each other out. They’re not so tough as they look. But there’s one thing - that often goes with mateship - which really stood out for me. As easygoing as New Zealanders are, they are pretty much afraid of conflict. Kiwi’s don’t argue and avoid strong gestures and words. They like to keep things cool!
Our host for the day, Hilbrand, is an old friend of my father who migrated to New Zealand in the seventies. He ran a successful landscaping business on the South Island. As a Dutch entrepreneur, Hilbrand has always been used to expressing his opinion. In a short matter of time, we got to know Hilbrand and his wife Marijke as talkative and direct; just the way we tend to like it. But, as Hilbrand explained, his bringing in an argument - just for the sake of taking things into account - in New Zealand is often answered with “okay mate, if that’s how you like it!” New Zealanders tend to find strong opinions intimidating, as well as the people expressing them. The article in the Listener quotes some typical things said in boardrooms, such as “well, let’s agree to disagree” and “let’s take this offline”. People really want to get on, even if they - honestly - are in total disagreement.
I remember some discussions with Americans or Italians, who - on average - have loads of strong opinions stacked up somewhere. It’s interesting to see how some cultures thrive on disagreements and individuality - without any reason or experience to back them up - whereas others keep their cool. Personally I’d probably sympathize with New Zealandness. But - as some people say - to play with the big boys you’d have to give it to them. That raises the question whether these ‘teenagers’ are ready to play with the big boys? On the Bolivian border we met David and Amelia, two New Zealanders travelling, before migrating to London. Now I got more acquainted with New Zealandness, I get curious on how they will do, job wise. Of course I know this New Zealandness thing is about average people; it doesn’t apply to individuals. But Dave and Amelia, will you let me know in half a year from now?
In the end, people are people, and all is fine. But opportunity may be on its way for New Zealand. The All Blacks won the world rugby cup this year, a triumph well deserved and long waited for. But the Kiwi’s dislike of conflict made them insist on modesty for decades. A triumphant sporting personality cannot be all humble, but New Zealandness expects them to avoid the “I rock!” Maybe it has been conformity and modesty what kept the All Blacks - generally known as the best rugby team in the world - away from victory for over 20 years. I feel their triumph might have made New Zealanders - to whom sport actually is like therapy - more aware of their abilities to play with the big boys. So maybe, the easy going Kiwi will forget about his anxiety to change, all set and ready to speak up for himself. I sure hope the youngest country in the world grows up soon, as it has a lot’s of good New Zealandness to share with the rest of the world.
Freedom camping: two appealing words that - if combined - change their meaning, but keep their appeal. Like free climbing, or couch surfing, or bike travel, or (to me and some others) cheese fondue. Now if you combine all these words, they probably make the most tacky introduction to a blog about freedom. A topic way too big to blog about anyway. But hey, let’s see where we strand.
Freedom is one of humanities top-3 desires, together with health and happiness. Although health for many people is their well-deserved number one, freedom is one of those other foundations that make life good. That explains why we punish people by sending them to prison, or by taking other liberties from them. That is how we justify a lot, actually.
A big word, freedom, though we use the word all the time these days. Well hey, we’re freedom camping in New Zealand. How lucky are we? Although the freedom bit in freedom camping is relative as well. It means we are free to camp anywhere we like, just as long as we (A) stick to all the rules considering camping in New Zealand, (B) avoid private grounds and (C and most important) avoid to accidentally get in the way of the wrong people. Yes, as free as we are, our freedom is well limited. But for good reasons if you ask me, as some freedom campers already exceeded the reasonable and spoilt some of the wonderful environment.
That seems to be a fact of life; as much as we desire freedom, we find it hard to deal with too much of the good stuff. Too much freedom is like too much power; it tends to get the better of people. In history and politics, we find endless amounts of prove on how person or people A restricted person or people B in their freedom. So I or we can have more of it for our selves. In New Zealand for example, the Maori people were shamefully played by the government for their land. But at least New-Zealand came a long way to make up for all this. A few weeks ago, in the South of Patagonia, we witnessed historic display of freedom driven crime against humanity beyond repair. I was particularly disappointed to find out Charles Darwin played such a key role in getting the Indians extinct. But don’t even get me started on politics today…
So how about a plea for the freedom to put up some restrictions? For is it not restrictions that make you aware of how good freedom feels? We are restricted by so many things, like rules and laws, the fact that we live in a society with other people, plain basics such as time and money, and even our own limitations and limited comprehension. The couple we meet on a freedom campsite demonstrate how good restricted freedom can be. Two friendly elderly people on a small government pension, travelling in a rusty old campervan with two diabetic - fat - cats in the back. And they’ve got a whole lot of serious frustration going on about all the changes New Zealand is going through. But if they get away from it all in their rusty van, they spend time on their beloved free ‘Reid farm’, named after the farmer who donated his land to freedom camping 15 years ago. And they enjoy every bit of their three days of freedom. They demonstrate how freedom loses it’s meaning, without restrictions to overcome. Without restrictions, all the excitement and achievement seems to fade.
There is much - much - more to say on freedom. For example on how we are all free to pursue it. And on all sorts of freedom; like the freedom of choice, the freedom of speech, the freedom of thought and even the freedom to mess up. I’d rather leave all that to bigger minds. But if you’re hungry for it, you might want to read ‘Freedom’ by Jonathan Frantzen. We loved it.
For now we are absolutely enjoying the freedom of travel that is given to us. Knowing how lucky we are to have some restrictions, but not too bad and not too many. Plus, we have somehow managed to learn to like restrictions, such as the lousy weather we’ve had last week. These restrictions turn out to be travel companions, or sometimes even travel necessities, as they prevent us from drowning in freedom of choice.
