Ellisha | Ōtāhuhu
“I guess it’s kind of brought most of, I imagine most people together, closer as far as it’s concerned, because it kind of hit.
Not only was it a horrible, horrible act against people who didn’t deserve it, but I think it’s kind of making everyone open their eyes to know that we are, really are, a melting pot of a community and a country. I think it kind of gives everybody a chance to maybe take note of other religions and know that they’re no different to anybody else, so why would we treat them any different, I guess.
You’re not alone. You are, you are us. We are you. There’s no reason and no fear act that this person has done, and that I hope that they don’t feel as though they aren’t safe. They don’t deserve to feel like that.
I think with the, the thing that struck home for me the most is that the venomous hatred that this particular person had towards someone who did absolutely nothing, nothing to anybody, and I think it kind of, it shifted maybe the way I would necessarily approach people. I think it’s kind of given, given me personally something to think about. How am I reacting to people that maybe I wasn’t aware that I was doing and, if anything I ever have done has made someone maybe not feel so, so nice, or as welcomed as they could be. It made me sort of think that there’s no room for that kind of, that kind of hatred in anybody. There’s no need for it, nothing at all. So, I mean, for me it’s, I think tolerance is a huge thing that people maybe need to take on-board if they don’t already, to make it so that we’re not divided, that we are a country. Everybody deserves to be treated right, I guess, and if, when my time comes to have children, then tolerance and acceptance is going to be a huge thing, as far as I’m concerned.
I was born in Motueka in Nelson, in the South Island, and lived in Auckland most of my life. I guess family is a pretty big thing as far as I’m concerned. We here have got a small family, so it’s nothing huge, but I guess it’s encouraging each other in the things that they do. So yeah, pretty normal person, I suppose.”
