Thought for the day, 23 January 2026

We are bound to each other.

This is not a popular thing to say, but it's true.

The tradies who were passing and pulled up their truck, took out their tools, rushed to climb the mud and debris barefoot, began frantically to dig.

The first responders who arrived minutes later and joined the tradies, clambered up beside them, listening out for voices.

The officials who moved in with urgency soon after, standing up an emergency response: logistics, communications, a chain of command, a place for anguished whānau to wait.

The iwi and hapū who took their quiet place amidst the turmoil, their practical care and manaaki extended to the whānau and all those who wait alongside them.

Papatūānuku, from whom we have asked more than she can bear. 

We can't live like there's no tomorrow anymore. Tomorrow is finding us out.

As it does, the workers dig. They will not stop until what is precious - people - are brought home.

It's up to all of us to reckon with this; to decide that, together, we can no longer ask from Papatūānuku more than she, or we, can bear. 

We are, all of us, bound to each other.