Time to be kind with our dollars

We’ve all done it; hit ‘‘buy now’’ and selected the NZ shipping option on those overseas website bargains. But the world has changed in the past 18 months.

Today is New Zealand Made Day, when Kiwis are encouraged to buy at least one locally-made item to give businesses a boost in the lead-up to Christmas.

But if we all made the commitment to buy local for the 12 days of Christmas, it would make an even bigger difference. And while there were, of course, many, many people who made sacrifices during the pandemic, it would be one way of showing our appreciation to the retailers and small businesses who did so.

The property and spending frenzy that seems to have continued unabated throughout Covid is a stark reminder that the economic pain has not been shared equally.

Some people have got a lot richer – at the extreme end, New Zealand’s richest man, Graeme Hart, grew his wealth by $3.4 billion during the pandemic.

In the middle are those whose jobs have been safe, while their property values went through the roof, and the businesses who have been rushed off their feet by demand from people spending on their homes and consumables instead of travelling overseas.

At the other end of the scale are those, many of them owners of small, family businesses in Auckland, who have struggled – even while much of the rest of the country stayed open for most of the pandemic.

When Auckland finally gets back to a semblance of normal next month, some of them will almost certainly be among the casualties.

Others will just be clinging on. The Christmas period could mean life or death for their business.

Remember ‘‘be kind’’? It lost some of its meaning to me when it was used a bit too often to shout down anyone who questioned the pandemic response.

But let’s try to recapture its original meaning this Christmas by looking for ways to be kind to those who’ve done it tougher than most this lockdown.

By that I don’t just mean those facing economic uncertainty. Workers in many different industries – whether it’s retail, hospitality, accommodation or the service sector – have been copping rising levels of abuse and threats by people protesting mask mandates, or lockdowns, or who are just plain angry.

It’s the same sort of ugliness that’s being directed at others, including politicians and journalists. But we have thick skin.

Many of those who are working in retail and hospitality are young and on minimum wage. And it’s probably only going to get uglier for them when vaccine passports are introduced before the end of the year.

So let’s encourage their bosses to be kind and award them more than a bare minimum pay rise, or a Christmas bonus, in appreciation this year.

Let’s also be kind by stepping up when we see someone is being targeted by anger or abuse, to show that it’s not acceptable.

And let’s try to show our support for others in other ways, including by shopping local.

This Christmas, let’s look for ways to be kind to those who’ve done it tougher than most this lockdown.