The Christchurch shooting on 15 March 2019 has shocked the whole world and over the last 2 days New Zealand mourned the loss of the lives of its people and indeed, as a nation, we felt the kind of pain that we have never felt before.
As we move forward with our day to day activities and try to cope with this horrific incident, I have been reached by a few people who are having a hard time getting back to normal, and the question that they are asking me is what should they do as a business when it comes to their social media posts and updates over the next few days.
There is no right and no wrong answers in this matter. I can only urge you to do what feels right to you.
However, I will share my experience and thoughts on how I, as a business owner and a person, am coping with this tragedy.
As heart breaking as the events of Friday were, sadly, this was not the first time a country has faced such a huge loss. What we have been seeing on the news for the last 2 days, these targeted terrorist attacks are sadly nothing new.
I personally have been impacted with the loss of a friend in 2018 to a murder and a school acquaintance shot with this traumatic event resulting in the loss of their unborn grandchild.
This world is a sad place with so many worldwide atrocities taking place each day (some are not even covered by the media).
But this is New Zealand!
A special place at the bottom of the globe that is generally a very safe place to be. A place that welcomes the people from all over the world with acceptance and open arms.
What this terrorist attack did to us on Friday is that it impacted our beautiful people, destroyed family units, killed vulnerable people while they prayed and scar our lands forever.
But it didn’t break us. It only brought the us together as a nation and united communities to stand together against terrorism.
As Jacinda Ardern, the current elected Prime Minister of New Zealand, said on Friday, “They are us. The person who has perpetuated this violence against us is not. They have no place in New Zealand. There is no place in New Zealand for such acts of extreme and unprecedented violence, which it is clear this act was.”
Over 6.5 million dollars have already been raised to support the families of Christchurch shooting victims. To make your contributions visit: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/christchurch-shooting-victims-fund
As we move forward into this new week, what do we do as a nation?
I believe, in these trying times, we need to hold true to what makes New Zealand special. We need to come together as a nation and work together to show our support to those who are suffer ting through the loss of their loved ones, and have been devastated and intimately affected by these events and help each other cope with the aftermath of this incident.
Let’s remind ourselves that this is our time to stand our ground and send a strong message to the world that these terrorists have targeted and attacked the wrong nation.
They have attempted to show us the footage of negativity via body cams including a step by step recount of them committing these brutalities.
We must be stern and say NO to those who are sharing the video of this horrific event and urge them to take it down.
Report the videos if you see them online, as this is something that should not be allowed to stay alive in the digital world. We will not provide any further air time to those that have perpetrated this heinous crime against us. You may not realise it now, but this may have a massively negative impact on your mental health, not forgetting our young children who are sometimes unable to process such content.
I believe that this is what we should do to all new or any future unacceptable social media posts that we see. Report the content and take a stand against what’s inhumane and wrong.
As a nation, holding every virtue close that makes us a New Zealander, go forward into this new week and our future: Our respect for our people, our compassion for each other, our loyalty to our land, our authenticity as we grieve together, our kindness, gratitude and our absolute grace to want to make a real difference.
As we look to the future and identify how we can support these victims and support each other. What do we need?
As hard as it may be of all of us to get back to normal, we must at least try.
Let’s stand proud and tall as a nation and show the world that this horrible event will not break us, instead, it will only make us stronger.
We need to be strong and work on building a strong economy for New Zealand. People make businesses and our businesses, large and small, make our economy.
Why? Because through a strong economy we will be able to help the families of the victims and other who need support.
So, in any situation over the coming days, in everything you share online, ask yourself, is this an appropriate thing to post considering the past days? Whether it be a social media post, a news item for your business, a product launch, a media release or a general day to day activity, I would urge you to stop and ask yourself the following question: “Will this show the world who we are as a nation, am I standing in the space of a positive belief and solid virtues that I hold close. Is what I am doing or sharing kind, caring and considerate? Will this make New Zealand stronger and help me or my business support the New Zealand economy?’’ Then at that moment, if you are confident in the content and actions you are about to take, then I’d say – GO YOU!
Let’s show the world that these terrorists have chosen the wrong place to do this. Let’s show them that the incident on Friday only made us stronger and it only brought us closer as a community. Let’s make your business stronger to give back to our nation and grow New Zealand and most importantly, let’s support one another with kindness.
Cathy Mellett
Media Release – Cathy Mellett, owner of digital agency Net Branding and founder of the I’m Enough Charitable Trust.
