I started writing this very early in the morning. 5:15 am to be percice. The romantic in me couldn’t resist the temptation.

I lit a candle and opened my MacBook, which still had 91% battery left—so I had at least 12–16 hours of juice in my trusted companion. I connected it to my iPhone for a 5G connection and set up a hotspot. The wind was howling, slashing down like in catastrophe movies, and the power outage made me feel alone in my world of words, surrounded by climate change.

In New Zealand, these natural catastrophes have become frequent. I’m waiting for the day when the news barely mentions that 500,000 people were flooded and that nothing could have been done. Tough luck. The Kiwi psyche tells us we just have to toughen up and use this ubiquitous reality as an excuse to keep doing nothing.

While this region was hammered all night with rain and wind, last week’s sewage spill was still decorating southern beaches with used tampons, human shit, and other related substances after the wastewater plant failed. It seems this storm will add its own little flavour to that smelly soup. Wellington can soon start calling itself—rather than Welly—yes, you guessed it: Smelly.

Back to light

After a few of hours of writing, the power came back, and the romantic illusion vanished with the wind. Reading those paragraphs in harsh electric light told me I’m a very lousy romantic. The scene that felt so good was just rubbish—a waste of my time—and I should have had a proper sleep instead.

Now, after a hot shower and a clearer mind, I can confess that I’m grateful for electricity, infrastructure— even in its most ill-maintained form. It’s not the fault of the workers who rush into the storm to fix the faults. They are the heroes. The leaders at the top should be sent out there instead, because they’ve let these things go pear-shaped for decades.

Wellington Water’s board chair resigned, but that’s it. No real accountability—and most likely he’s already been offered a nicer job somewhere less turbulent.

What does this have to do with my new story?

On the surface, nothing. On the contextual level, everything.

Even if I write about the drug business, the real theme is the indifference of the powerful. The colonial poison that has penetrated this society since the early 1800s has created a two-fold reality: there’s the illusion of equality and hospitality— even generosity—from Kiwis, and then there’s systemic racism and the bigoted reality of politics and business, governed in ways that marginalise everyone who isn’t part of the well-off pretenders who parrot Te Reo Māori while continuing their whitewashed actions.

So my story stands with those who don’t have the money to bleach their sins with power—to appear shiny white, well-groomed, and full of niceties while still filled with venom.

Last week’s shitstorm that polluted the waters, and last night’s merciless tempest—with no Shakespearean happy ending—made me tweak the plotlines from individual tragedies (they’re still there, for sure) into a more tightly woven power structure. Funnily enough, this happened at the same time I’d been thinking about the excellent BBC series The Night Manager and its unsettling ending. I realised my story was heading in exactly that direction. But that’s enough of it for the moment. You’ll have to wait and see.

I don’t want to preach. I want to show readers what happens when greed, anger, and ignorance are the driving forces. It’s like Gandalf says in The Lord of the Rings: “Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I have found it is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk, that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.”

OK—enough of this banter. I’m so tired after only four hours of sleep. The wind seems to be easing, and the rain is showing signs of exhaustion too. I’m going to eat my breakfast and put this newsletter on hold for tomorrow’s publication.

Stay safe—and think about everyday deeds of compassion, wisdom, and courage.

Cheers,
Janus

Janus Lucky
www.januslucky.com

Some wisdom form the Lord of the Rings

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