We can make a difference

By Virginia Winder

There are people in our community who live on the fringes.

They are like a backdrop to our lives, create colour and texture to our every-day living.

You know them by sight, but no details about them except surface ones.

There’s the homeless woman who asks for money; there’s the transgender person who walks around my neighbourhood; there’s the bearded guy who can be evangelical at times, especially in regards to art and womanly forms.

Then there’s Murray, whose farewell I went to today.

He was a big guy who walked the streets of New Plymouth at a steady pace, determination in his gait.

Sometimes he had have a friend in tow, a slighter man, who grinned at the world.

Murray would wave if you tooted, in person he gave great hugs and he would always greet you with a beaming smile.

Sadly, he was a man who lived with experience of mental illness, which put him on the fringes of society. Yet, he was a capable man, adept at martial art, a great surfer in his earlier days, a butcher by trade and so damn eager to work.

What a likeable guy.

Yet, because of his ongoing battles he became marginalised.

During my time working for Like Minds Taranaki and also in the three stints I’ve had in Te Puna Waiora (the adult mental health ward at Taranaki Base Hospital), I came across so many talented people.

I met artists, musicians, farmers, writers, great orators, those with deep understanding of Maori culture, organisers, leaders, teachers and, of course, a butcher. Many of these people were jobless, some because they were too ill to work and others because their unwellness was an impediment to employment.

It’s only us who can make a difference.

There are people and businesses in our community accepting of people who are different, who don’t fit the norms.

Treating people with respect, proffering genuine friendship, offering employment if possible and just being there with a smile and warm greeting can make the difference in anybody’s life. But it’s even more important for those on the fringes.

Wouldn’t it be an amazing world if those people were embraced by society for their talents or just being who they are?

Today, when I was driving I saw a figure who looked like Murray and for a second my heart lifted and then it sunk.

I’ll miss seeing him striding our streets.