Thread by @marcdaalder

A short thread on #BeKindNZ and my interaction with an anxious reader:

On Saturday, after the PM announced the alert level system, I wrote an article examining Michael Baker's case for putting New Zealand straight to level 4. newsroom.co.nz/2020/03/21/109…

Late that evening, I received an email - subject line "please stop adding to the anxiety" - from a gentleman named Robert*. He's 75, lives alone, and shops for groceries once a week when his 77-y-o friend - who still has a license - can drive him.

*changed name for privacy

Robert hadn't been to the store in 10 days and panic-buying meant online orders were delayed for 8 days. He said my "illogical and pointless posturing article just adds to anxiety which will fuel more panic buying" and suggested I get a job stocking supermarket shelves instead.

As a journalist, you get a lot of reader emails. Sometimes they have tips or advice, sometimes they're nasty. There's still a difference, however, between a nasty email that's just been sent from a place of hate or a nasty email that comes from a place of fear, worry, anxiety.

Clearly Robert was scared. I get that. These are unprecedented times for those of us who are young and able-bodied, while Robert is neither. When I get an email - even a nasty one - from someone who is scared, I try to respond with that in mind.

I apologised to Robert for worrying him and said my intention wasn't to contribute to national anxiety, but merely to report what experts were telling me. I asked him if he was in Wellington - I'd be happy to pick up some groceries for him.

An hour after I responded to Robert, the PM told the nation we would go into lockdown in two days. Robert responded an hour later. He talked about an injury he received before Christmas, which still needs attention from DHB nurses, but visits have been reduced to once a week.

He said he managed to make it into town on his mobility scooter and pick up some supplies from the local green grocer in his city (not Wellington, it turned out). He's an ex-teacher and students and colleagues had already reached out to him to offer him help during the lockdown.

"From this afternoons announcement of a move to stage four in 48 hours I was clearly not as well informed as I thought I was and the anxiety you reflected was," he wrote. Then:

"Take care of yourself and those close to you.

Warm regards,
Robert"

No doubt everyone's a bit scared. These are scary times - lockdown is stressful even without an existential threat (two, if you count climate change) hanging over our heads. But let's try to give folks the benefit of the doubt. I guess what I'm trying to say is, #BeKindNZ.