The thing that makes me feel particularly upset is the national memorial service in Hagley Park on Friday.Just who is this memorial service for? It's not for Christchurch. It's not for the families who lost loved ones in the February 22 quake.
It's a grandiose, empty gesture starring so-called V.I.Ps - Prince William, Prime Minister John Key, Aussie PM Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and presumably other assorted boring people in suits.
Lite background entertainment provided by Hayley Westenra, parachuted in from elsewhere, to sing the national anthem.
Some say it is just too soon for a memorial service and I agree. Life is still too raw here for us to have a memorial. With a memorial comes some form of closure - we're just not in that place yet. To the rest of New Zealand and visiting dignitaries the earthquake might be old news but it's not to us, the ones living through it.
Vicki Anderson, The Press, March 18
I couldn't agree more.
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