E koutou e te aumangea kei hea koutou hei aki?
I nga hau kino o te wa, i te wao tapu nui a Tane
Uru tapu ana ururu ana, matomato ana te tupu mai o te kahikatoa, o te totara haemata
I te hinganga tupapahu ana te whenua
Kia kore koutou kei hea te taunga o te manu kaewa?

E Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu, moe mai i to moenga roa.
Ko te iwi Maori e tangi ana ki a koe e te kui. Haere, haere, haere atu ra.

Nani, e moe, haere koe ki a Uncle, ki o matua tupuna e tatari mai na ki a koe. Ko matou te whanau, me o iwi maha hoki e mahue mai nei ki te ao turoa, ko te aroha tenei ki a koe ake ake ake.

Otira ki nga mate huri noa i te motu, i te ao, haere koutou ki tua o te arai, moe mai.

Apiti hono, tatai hono, te hunga mate ki te hunga mate
Apiti hono, tatai hono, te hunga ora ki te hunga ora
Tihei mauri ora e.

- Rerenga

I was trawling through my old TIG posts and came across this comment that illicit great thinking on my part. What a profound comment...hahahahahaha...makes sense...

Anyways, here's what I posted:

Deep Thoughts from a Philosophic Mind

Why is a fork called a fork? Why fork? Why not syft...or prung...why fork?
And spoon?

I mean, what's up with that???

But then again, the question would still stand if a fork was called a syft, or prung...why is a syft/prung called a syft/prung?

Hmmm.

I guess what I'm trying to say is...

What are words but words?

- Rerenga

philosphy begins and ends our life!
I think that we all need conventions, so whatever it is called it is called so cause someone(s), who named it, had his/her own reasons to name it the way it was named or from which the contemporary name stems:)
Now what matters most is that it has some name and some names are just words some have meaning! So perhaps better ask yourself if that particular word means anything(in which csae you might understand the historical framework of its name), something(s) on your or other language, otherwise you will end up realising that everything is, one way or another, just reconstruction of external "things" and "events" by your own neurocortex, which is, by its definition, subjective, and therefore not fixed or permanent nd changes from oneperson to another. And in this case any question of what is.. or why is.. looses its meaning :)
- Hayk Hakobyan

Thanks for the comment Hayk! It's lead me to believe that it's logical to say that every word in any language can mean anything? And nothing? Since each and every person's neuro mechanisms are different...

Which would mean that consequently, without language there is no meaning? And yet, so much meaning?

Or maybe language - words - are meanings personified...and actions are intentions personified...

Also, it makes for the meaning of life to mean nothing doesn't it? There is only meaning to life of which we give it...? Just in the way of how we give meaning to meaningless words and questions...because they are just symbols that we give meaning to...and different symbols put together is another meaning...

Yes, I'm going on a tangent here...just following my neurological paths on a philosophical journey...feel free to join in! :P

- Rerenga

Who are we as a country? In a time where ‘globalisation’ is the trend, where do we fit in and where will it take us?

As a small country at the bottom of the globe, traditionally known for the haka, the All Blacks, the pavlova, the kiwi and all the sheep; we’re seen as hard-working people with a laid-back attitude who live in the ‘land of the long white cloud’. Although most of these things seem trivial, all of these things are seen as uniquely New Zealand, uniquely Aotearoa. Yes, we are known to the wider global community and we do exist.

But what about us? How do we see ourselves as people living on the same piece of land? From our own perspective of the ‘insider’, again, who are we as a country?

My vision for Aotearoa in the year 2050 is simple, and that is for us to have a common national identity that each and every person – be they Māori, Pākehā, Pacific Islander or New Zealander – can connect with and relate to. For all our people to be able to say that they belong to this country, to this land, not only when they are overseas, but here at home as well.

So what needs to be done to have this vision realized?

To implement this we must have respect for each other and our individual values and beliefs, we must always strive for understanding.
The identity of our thriving nation can be found of course in our indigenous culture, but it can also be found in our ability to accept the importance of other cultures and respect them as a growing part of our country. I believe the development of a multi-cultural Aotearoa that everyone can connect with and relate to is something we as a country can aspire to.
Our indigenous Māori culture makes us unique and our growing ‘multi-culturalness’ is also something that can set us apart from the rest of the world.
Yes, I see us as one nation with many cultures.

We must also be self-expressed in what we think makes us uniquely us!
Our identity can be found in our stories, in our history. Through the telling and revising of myths and legends, to the events that have shaped our country and our people today is where our identity can be found. In both the triumphs of our nation and the downfalls that have happened in the past, and also in the present and the future coming events of realising our dreams.

How does this relate to me?

Being totally immersed in my culture and language while at Kohanga Reo, Kura Kaupapa and Wharekura, and knowing my own identity and where I belonged had a significant impact on me. I was brought up in the kind of environment where knowing what it means to be Māori, and a part of a whānau in the wider sense of hapū and iwi, had a fundamental impact in who I have become today and who I become tomorrow.
It is the anchor that keeps me grounded as I learn and grow as a person. It is the foundation block in my development as a being.

Therefore, my vision for a common national identity is for us as a country to know who we are and what we stand for in order to know where we want to go into the future.

In conclusion, I’d like to quote a vision that was voiced back in the 1940’s when the Treaty of Waitangi was being signed, although it may have negative connotations when being referred to, I’d like to put it in a lighter perspective because I believe it still stands to be a great vision. Because in essence, in all our diversity and ‘multi-culturalness’ that is Aotearoa, we are one nation: “he iwi kotahi tātou.”

Our history is what brought us here to this point in time, but now the future is ours to create.
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