December 10, 2023 Bits and Pieces (Day 74)
A day of rest since it was forecast that it would be a rainy, windy day, and it was! So here’s some bits and pieces of our last few days.
Artwork even on manhole covers in Miramar!
The Kaka parrot painted on the Karori water tower.
A view from the hills overlooking the suburb of Karori. Cook Strait is in the distance on the right and a bit of Wellington Harbour can be seen in the upper left.
In the Wellington Museum Attic, between two mundane exhibits.
The explanation of the sculpture. Archibald Baxter was one of several conscientious objectors during WW1, who was jailed, beaten, starved, sent to the front, and bound to a post in freezing conditions for 4 hours a day for his beliefs that war is ultimately futile.
The last paragraph if you can’t read it is;
“War will always draw both support and opposition. Supporters emphasize the bravery and sacrifice of those who fight, but it also takes courage and sacrifice to oppose war. In a time of WW1 remembrance, the Baxter sculpture highlights a lesser-known history.”
Quite a juxtaposition between this small sculpture in one museum, and the huge Gallipoli exhibit in the other museum. Makes one think.
More about Archibald Baxter HERE.
December 19th, 2023 at 10:46 am
I always wonder how one has the moral courage to stand up for what we all know is right. Are certain rare people born with it? Do they come by it from experience in the world? From education? From observation? Most of us think holding a certain ethical position is all we need to do. We rationalize our way through the world with ever really putting ourselves in situations to be tested. I applaud all of those rare beings.