The True Face ofKindness
Stories from the covid crazy years
Thirty personal stories, by a wide range of New Zealanders, mostly from the West Coast, about life during the covid era.
Read a Sample Order the Book
Stories from the covid crazy years
Thirty personal stories, by a wide range of New Zealanders, mostly from the West Coast, about life during the covid era.
Read a Sample Order the Book
Sweet are the uses of adversity,William Shakespeare, As You Like It
which, like the toad,
ugly and venomous,
wears yet a precious jewel in his head.
There is something healing about telling our stories, about being heard and understood. It is an opportunity to look back and to look within, to find the jewel in the ugly head of adversity, and honour it in each other.
— Christopher GojThe True Face of Kindness is a collection of personal narratives documenting the lived experiences of everyday New Zealanders who were excluded, silenced and stigmatised during the pandemic era. It was compiled to provide a voice for those whose stories were often suppressed or forgotten, and to document the stark contrast between the official government display of "kindness" and the reality of the treatment meted out to dissenters.
The book matters because it acts as a permanent record — a guarantee against the quiet forgetting of this period's social and professional consequences. Running through every chapter is a thread of unexpected resilience: the "silver linings" found in new communities that formed even in the face of deep adversity.