The Weekly(ish) Update - Issue 0009

The Weekly(ish) Update
17th October 2009
Issue Nine

All I can be is who I am…

As I briefly mentioned at the end of the last issue, I plan on cycling around New Zealand. At this stage the first part will take me from Wellington up the west coast of the North Island to Cape Reinga, at the top, the next part will then take me down the east coast back to Wellington, I will then cross over to the South Island and ride down the east coast, before the final part will take me up the west coast, which at the moment I am allowing a total of eighty days to complete the entire trip, which I will do to raise awareness for the start of my business, Custom Vision, and various children’s charities in New Zealand.

I would like to leave Wellington in February, so my goal now is to aim to be ready by the start of February, which will give me the option of leaving later in February if there are any hiccups, but at some point in February I will leave Wellington on my bike, prepared to cycle around New Zealand.

The first question I am expecting everyone to think of, or ask me, is “What made me think of doing it”? And to answer that completely I must first tell you that I have always wanted to do something memorable for other people, something that inspires people to something simular, to highlight that there are people willing to do things for other people, that just because we grow up in a world where people seemingly do so many things selfishly, trying to make their own lives better, in a world where a lot of ‘innocent’ people are hurt in the process, that there are still people who care about people.

I can remember when I was a young boy that I never typically wanted to be a doctor, or lawyer, when I grew up, that earning a lot of money never inspired me, I never really wanted to be anything other than who I was, and even though at times in my life I wished my life was different, I have never wanted to be anyone other than who I am.

In saying that I never really liked who I was until I stopped trying to be something I wasn’t, that until I accepted myself for being who I was regardless of how other people felt about me, and the happiest memories I have are from when I have done what I felt was right for me at a particular moment in my life, right or wrong, and stood on my own two feet.

In the world we live in today, sadly, money is the focus of so much, we are shown in so many ways that it is a major requirement to a good life, that in it’s accumulation we measure success, and judge harshly those without it, yet it is those who give of themselves for the benefit of others, regardless of their situation, who I consider the better people within our world today, those who I admire the most, because it takes a special person to give who they are for someone else, and it is those people I aspire to be more like, because it is those people who make our world a better place.

I am regularly reminded that we are all willing to show others our humanity, but unfortunately that humanity often comes from within tragedy, and one recent example of this is here in New Zealand when a young two year old girl went missing, and sadly her body was found in a drain almost a week later, after the police dug up the pipe she was found in on a hunch, as it had already been searched a few times, by various people, after thousands of people searched the neighbourhood for her, the thing that stood out for me though was how on the night her body was found hundreds of people sat outside her parents house, many with candles, most in tears, offering support to people they never met for their loss, simply letting them know that they cared.

A simular thing happened a few weeks earlier, in another part of the country, when a woman’s body was found under a house, next to the body of the wife of the guy who had murdered both woman, and on the night this womans body was removed from the house the local people gathered to offer support to the family of the murdered woman, again whom most had never met, in a gesture that can only be described as emotional for anyone who witnessed it, and I think this has been happening more and more all around the world, in a variety of situations, because we are all looking for ways we can improve the seemingly shitty world we live in, ways that mean more in our lives because we do something for others to show that their lives are important to all of us, because ultimately it is human nature to care about things other than ourselves, whether we allow ourselves to or not.

It is that part of me that has always wanted to do something for others, it is that part of me that has always wanted to write a book to share my journey to help others, to show that because I am only one person, that I am only who I am, I know I can not change the world on my own, but that I can inspire others who are smarter, and better equipped, to do what I can not do, because I know there are so many people out there who like me want to make a difference, who want to do their part, and I know is that by doing my part others may be inspired to do theirs, because I have been inspired by so many before me.

The actual idea for my trip came from a woman in Wellington recently, who on her sixtieth birthday jogged sixty kilometres, and when I saw this on the news that night I started to think about how if she could jog that far in a day, at her age, then surely I could ride my bike that far in a day, regardless of how fit I was, and if I focused even just a little bit I would certianly be able to do it a lot quicker than someone jogging.

At some point soon after that I was reminded of New Zealand Cricketer, Chris Cairns, whose sister Louise was killed in a level crossing accident that involved a train and truck, Chris walked from Auckland to Christchurch in thirty five days, to raise awareness for rail safety, and I thought to myself that if he could do that, then surely if I was on a bike I could get a lot further, surely I could get around all of New Zealand with a little more effort, in a little more time.

And almost everyone reading this must have heard of the book ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’ written by Jules Verne in the late 1800s, the story of Phileas Fogg and his valet, Passepartout, who race around the world in a balloon as part of a bet, in one of the worlds best known, and all time classic, adventure stories, a story I recently discovered has been used as the basis of a relay race this year by a group of celebrities in the U.K, to raise awareness for children’s charities, in the annual ‘BBC Children in Need’ appeal.

As there is no way I can afford to race around the world, combining the three previous points, the logical conclusion I came upon was to cycle ‘Around New Zealand in Eighty Days’ to raise awareness for the various children’s charities in New Zealand, including Canteen, Make A Wish, StarJam, Childfund, and Starship, plus launch awareness of Custom Vision, and my plan to assist the children of New Zealand with the sale of limited edition New Zealand images, including postcards, larger prints, and a uniquely New Zealand calendar, in my new bussiness.

So in mid November I will begin to raise awareness of my plan, try contacting a radio station, and maybe a T.V channel or T.V program, and see if I can get myself sponsored in some way, shape or form, but even if I leave Wellington in February on my own, with no support, I will be going, I will tell people along the way what I am doing, why I am doing it, and collect names and addresses of people interested my products along the way.

At the very least get a bit of exercise, take some nice photos, and see some more of New Zealand.

Once this adventure is completed I have a few options, one is to rent the unused space at the back of my birth fathers building (or if that has been rented out by then somewhere else), that I can start a small business from, somewhere I can put effort into making it grow, which would include setting up a shop, internet sales, local markets, tourist hot spots, cruise ships, and major events where I can maximise exposure, and expand at a sensible rate.

Another thing I have thought about doing one day is eventually opening a combined gallery and café, something that combines great quality food and a place to display my photography, somewhere unique that people tell their friends about, somewhere friendly, comfortable, and memorable, somewhere different that is definitively New Zealand.

I have travelled a lot around New Zealand, and eaten in many types of places, as I like good food, and good service, but there very few places I would I go out of my way to eat in again, the few I would go out of my way to get to, I would do so simply because they do what they do very well, and that is something I would like to be a part of, by putting a select few people into the position of being able to do something with food that they love, or perhaps down the track food maybe something I would like to learn to do more with myself, something that allows me to promote New Zealand, and my photography, at the same time.

There are a lot of things I would like to do, recently my health has been effected by pain associated with tearing a tendon or nerve in my back, pain that limited what I was able to do for a period of time that has meant I now have to juggle a few of the things I had planned to do, for now it is a case of prioritising what I want to do, with what I actually need to do, and for me that now means one of the photo competitions I had planned entering will now have to wait until next year, simply because if I do concentrate on that entry I will have to take time away from two things that are more important at this moment, my completion of the photography diploma I began at the start of the year, and getting a series of postcards ready to sell within the next few weeks so I am able to develop further options as soon as possible.

Another set back I have had recently is the printing of the postcards is taking a lot longer than expected, and that in turn has effected where I am with the other projects I have been working on, so rather than submit an entry into a competition that requires one hundred percent, when I can not give it that, I have decided to focus on doing what I need to do first.

…I don’t know where I will end up, or what will happen along the way, I just know that no matter what I do in my life that I want to be all that I can be, and even though I still don’t want to be a doctor or a lawyer, I still want to be who I am, whether people like me or not, because that is who I am meant to be.

Till soon.. Stay safe.. Be You!!!

.K

PS. To everyone having a birthday this month – “Happy birthday to us.. Happy birthday to us.. "