Conscience

Moana Jackson was meant to be around forever.

He had no business dying, because he was part of our conscience. Sometimes the uncomfortable part: that's how conscience works. But an Aotearoa without it would feel depleted or lost, or like nothing at all. Conscience can seem uncomfortable, until you imagine life without it.

The news reported that Jackson came of age in the days when death threats could not be sent by social media. They had to be delivered to his house. And they were.

I am not a scholar, or an expert. And maybe if I understood all that he said, all that he thought, there would be times we disagreed.

But he spoke. He stood. He held. Some people are made that they cannot do other.

That's what conscience means.