(Social media post)

This will be happening in thousands of homes across New Zealand today and in the weeks to come!

I picked up our two youngest children today from school. While both of them were clearly rattled it was my youngest who was devastated. His already red eyes welled up when he saw me and plonked himself in the truck.

Of course I couldn’t figure out what the drama was, oblivious to today’s date. “I’m so sad today mum.” I listen, attuned to the heavier energy settling in our truck. He continues, “So many of our teachers are leaving our school today and not coming back” Through his tears and snot I reach out to grab his hand in order to reassure him and partially myself for what’s to come.

At this moment I am grabbed by a fury that only a parent could have, seeing their child hurt by the events that unfolded before his eyes today. And there was nothing I could do to stop it. He’s quite inconsolable at this point as he repeatedly drags his school sunhat over his eyes in a futile attempt to stem his torrent of tears.

And there was nothing I could do to stop it. The kids spent majority of their day saying goodbye to some of those teachers know they may never see them again. Well, at least not in the context of school life. Today my children learned that to be treated as an equal by others is not a guarantee in life.

Today they discovered that some people will not stand up for their rights let alone anyone else’s because of fear of retribution or ridicule. This is a turning point for our nation. Over the coming days, weeks and months, thousands of New Zealanders will walk away from their jobs, careers, from their livelihoods and we will stand beside them.

There is something I can do after all. And it starts. Today and over the weeks to come!