Dear Parents, Caregivers and Friends of St Mary’s School,
During the holidays my family spent a little time in Nelson. It seemed a good idea to drive up, spend a
couple of days and then drive back, but nine hour car trips, even when it is through country that you haven’t visited before can be tiring.
During our time there we managed to see a lot of the sights—one highlight for ‘some’ of our family being a visit to the Lord Rutherford of Nelson memorial. Two points about Rutherford that I didn’t know before hand stuck with me; one was his total pride in being a New Zealander. Given that he was a man who spent by far the greater part of his life outside the country and was resident in either Canada or England when he achieved his greatest feats, he always remembered where he came from.
But he was a man who given the conditions of the world in which he lived, rose far above what were the logical expectations that people had of him.
Often we as kiwis focus our adulation on what people are achieving today, such as the young singer
“Lorde”. What she has done are feats that she should be justifiably proud of. But what Rutherford did will be remembered forever. Remember he died nearly eighty years ago but he is on our highest denominated note, he has an element (Rutherfordium) and a crater on the moon, named for him. But I think we should remember Ernest Lord Rutherford of Nelson not for what he did but rather for the attributes he showed that enabled him to complete those feats—courage, perseverance, tenacity and self belief.
Have a great week
Mike Brosnahan
Kiwi