Tobacco Roads Meets Industry Sincerely

My Brother John arrived on time to help rebuild Christchurch, but industry had a go at him in the airport as he came through customs from America to New Zealand (via Austrailia for economy). After waiting for him at the security gates for thirty minutes I began to wonder why he was being held up. Turns out, it was a modern day ‘hold up’ to be sure. A security person came out and asked me who I was waiting for. I said, my Brother John and she said, ‘we have him for too much tobacco’, and then she vanished.


So, what does industry have to do with it?

Well, since my brother is going to be in New Zealand for three months and had heard how expensive tobacco was here he decided to buy a three months’ supply. That supply cost him $60.00 for three bags of pipe tobacco in Oklahoma. Brother John rolls his own cigarettes and has a really clever roller with the empty cigarette tubes with attached filters. This way, they look just like what Kiwi’s call ‘tailor-mades’...instead of lopsided looking cigarettes that look like joints. It's always a pain to get busted for smoking tobacco.

New Zealand customs took great care to weigh out exactly how much tobacco he was allowed to bring in and confiscated the rest, but with the understanding that he could buy it back from them for $641.00. Pretty industrious, aye? The Customs officers gave Brother John a receipt that says he has a month and a half to return to the airport and buy back tobacco that he already paid $60.00 for in America for $641.00 or they will burn it (does anyone really believe they do this?).

Brother John said, ‘let it burn’.

Now, I am two days late on discussing the next virtue for this week, sincerity. I sincerely see something wrong with using any industrial act to create the above scenario. But then, no one’s been asking me for most of my life, for you see, I’m just a woman who is through pumping out and raising four children all over the age of eighteen and promptly cast aside by the chaos that surrounds the patriarchal order and left for dead, but I’m not. How sincere is that?

I tend to say, ‘let it all burn down and start over’. Yep, a flaming feminist.

I think Brother John and I are going to be some kind of dangerous together, sincerely, I do.

Meanwhile, yesterday, they let me back into university again a month from the day of the last earthquake on February 22 that caused my Brother John enough concern to come visit us for three months and see what he can do to help rebuild this, that or any other thing. Brother John is a mason, a stone mason, a laid back, ‘happy as’ soul who’s lifetime motto has been ‘don’t worry, be happy’ and ‘it don’t matter to me, I’m just here to help’.

Help is what we all need in a world where industry has gone absolutely mad, not to mention what ‘ole mother [sic] nature' is up to!  Sincerely.