Thought for the day, 17 May 2023

I don't yet know what happened. No one does. I get that.

But we know it happened in a doss house, not in an upscale hotel or a golf club or a koru lounge - and that the people who flung themselves from the windows weren't wearing suits and ties.

We know that the building didn't have sprinklers, and wasn't even required to, in this place we find glee in tearing up regulations - because we won't have a nanny state overriding our free enterprise and common sense.

We know that the second fire engine with a ladder, that could have saved more lives, wasn't working - because she'll be right or something or whatever.

We know that the emergency workers will take that horror, that inability to help, home with them to their families - but news cycles have a way of moving on, even when trauma stubbornly does not.

We know that the loved ones just wish they had their family, their lost, to come home to one more time.

Maybe I do know what happened.

What I don't know is why we let it.

The End is Naenae is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.