February Update On My Line in the Sand

Last year, when our authoritarian government introduced a vaccine requirement for school teachers, I took a stand against this position by refusing to get vaccinated. I drew my line in the sand. Some, confused and bamboozled by government propaganda or perhaps a self-righteousness stemming from ‘having done the right thing’ immediately criticised this as an anti-vaccination position. I was knocked for demonstrating a reckless disregard for others. But these detractors were a minority. The callousness of some New Zealanders throughout the mandates has been mentioned by others, nevertheless, I want to focus on the positive. I received so much kind-hearted support that my family and I were blown away. There are some wonderful ordinary Kiwis out there who will never win New Zealander of the year, but who are true ‘salt of the earth’ people.

Some may be interested in how things have panned out for me, so I thought it was about time to give an update on my situation.

Let’s just say that Term 4 of 2021 was a turbulent time, coming as it did in the shadow of the mandate decision. It was an emotional roller coaster. It was hard to know whether I would have a job, how I would feed my family of eight and whether I would need to move to somewhere else in the country. I tried to get a religious exemption to the vaccine requirement only to have the government change the rules – something they seem to have become uncommonly good at. This demonstrated to me that there was no good-faith opportunity for conscientious objectors.

My resolve strengthened. I want my children to live in a land where the government does not have the right or power to coerce them into putting a substance into their bodies against their will. I happen to believe wanting to protect people against this kind of society is what Christ called loving my neighbour.  For me, a government that thinks it has control over a citizen’s body in this manner has way too much power and must be opposed vehemently.

My stand led to some employment consultations. My school Trust Board was put in an unenviably difficult position of trying to keep their independent school open while treating their loyal staff who were not being vaccinated in a just and Christian manner. Thankfully, despite the complications and cost, my Board ensured all teaching staff were able to remain in some sort of teaching role and will have their original positions back when the mandates are revoked. Two of our excellent part-time staff have unfortunately been unable to continue to work their ordinary roles and are now offered only casual work, although my hope is that we will be able to include these staff in a more meaningful way in the near future. I am grateful to God for giving me a godly Board who see clearly what is going on. It is wonderful to have job security when a few months ago I was wondering what I would be doing this year.

So I am teaching my high school mathematics classes from home via video link-up. Due to the current injustice, I am not legally permitted on the school site during school hours, so I’m only able to talk to my students via video link-up, or if I happen to bump into them socially outside of school (such as at church activities). The students seem very supportive and together we are praying for this injustice to end.

In the meantime, it seems like New Zealand has woken up from its dark slumber. More and more have come to see the injustice of our government’s over the top authoritarian response. Even the vaccine is being shown to be nigh on useless. When looking at the latest statistics, it seems clear that it doesn’t prevent transmission (the rate of infection amongst the fully vaccinated is almost double the rate of infection amongst the unvaccinated), and the unvaccinated seem to be at no huge risk from hospitalisation when compared to the vaccinated.

Many see that what we have been sold is not entirely truthful, and so we have the protests. In my life time, I do not remember as widespread grassroots and persistent protesting as I have seen over these last few months. Up until last year, I don’t remember ever having attended a protest. I guess that indicates a lack of concern for the plight of others of which I am now ashamed. Nevertheless, I’ve tried to make up for this in the last few months with attendance at a number of protests against the government mandates and its authoritarian covid policies. As a family, we are planning a trip to Wellington to join the river of filth as our ever so empathetic overlords like to think of us ordinary folks. This is a historic moment and we want our children to remember what standing up for righteousness looks like.

If you haven’t yet made it to a protest, I’d encourage you to do so. There are local pop up protests all over the country. This is a movement that we are going to look back on as an important part of our history, much like we do the Springbok tour protest. Your children or grandchildren will wonder where you were when it came to standing up for freedom. You want to be on the right side of this one – the side of protecting God-given individual bodily responsibility over against a despotic state.